Fall 2023 Crew Member Orientation

We’ve been working hard to prepare our volunteers for fall BWCAW clearing trips. Last night we held our Fall 2023 Orientation and much fun was had by all! ICYMI: see our FB page for the full recording. There are still spots open on our crews - see if one works for you! https://linktr.ee/bwacminnesota.

Afton State Park Social Gathering and Picnic

Great times had by all at the BWAC social gathering this month! Fun to catch up with friends outside of trail time. Join our next event August 5!

Earth Day Overnight Recap

Much fun was had this past weekend at our Earth Day overnight event at William Obrien State Park. We were joined by many friends - some new, some old - despite the below-freezing overnight temps! We talked backpacking gear, adventure, and volunteering safely in the BWCAW.

2023 Crew Member Training Success!

We were thrilled to have a full house for our Crew Member Orientation in getting volunteers prepped for upcoming spring clearing trips in the BWCAW. If you missed it, the recording is on our FaceBook page.

https://fb.watch/jV4kNELRVq/

2023 BWCA Wilderness Trails Kickoff

On March 25, we joined with trail partners from the Kekekabic Trail and Border Route Trail to talk trails, needs, and all things volunteer work! We are very grateful to our various sponsors for contributing door prizes for attendees, including Piragis Northwoods Company and Trailtopia. 

The group of 30 was treated to a presentation from BJ Kohlstedt, retired Emergency Management Director of Lake County MN. BJ spent a career searching for missing hikers, hunters, canoeists, children, runaways, and people with dementia. 

Of note, BJ stresses the importance of using the US National Grid in an emergency to help responders find you more quickly if ever needed. Check it out https://usngcenter.org/

Press Release: Duluth Chapter Events

BWAC News Release 2023

For Immediate Release:

March 21, 2023

Trail clearing workshops to learn about Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness hiking trail work with an opportunity to volunteer on a trip to Eagle Mountain this spring.

Open to the public:

What: Our BWCA Hiking and Backpacking Trails (and what’s in my pack?)

When:  Wednesday, April 5,  6-7:30 pm

Place:   Frost River, 1910 W. Superior St. Duluth

What: Volunteer wilderness trail safety and standards training

When:  Thursday April 20, 6-7:30 pm
Place:   Frost River, 1910 W. Superior St. Duluth
——After Training——
Saturday May 6 all day:  Eagle Mountain Trail clearing day trip with BWAC and Frost River

Exciting Spring news from the Duluth chapter of the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee.
Thanks to successful work,  BWAC was recently given a new opportunity - the responsibility to maintain the Eagle Mountain Trail in Northeast Minnesota. The group is asking you to join them on the trail.

BWAC has been working in the BWCA for the last twenty years to reopen the heavily damaged Powwow Trail. That trail had been ravaged by the Pagami Creek wildfire in 2011. Since that time, BWAC volunteers have been hiking deep into the wilderness to clean up literally thousands of charred deadfalls that blocked the 30 mile hiking trail each spring after winter storms, using only hand saws.

New this year the U.S. Forest Service has expanded the BWA Committee’s charter to do more trail work in the wilderness, the Eagle Mountain and Sioux Hustler trails.

Eagle Mountain is the most visited trail in the Boundary Waters, so it is a privilege that the Forest Service expanded BWAC’s operating area to include Eagle Mountain.

The summit is the highest point in Minnesota and remained unknown until the 1960’s when the peak was discovered as the state’s tallest at 2,301 feet above sea level and only 15 miles from Minnesota’s lowest elevation, Lake Superior at 600 feet.

“Martin Kubik will share photos, maps, stories and more about the Kekekabic, Powwow, Sioux Hustler and Eagle Mountain/Brule Lake trails.”

The April 5 presentation will  also include a hiking Mini Workshop: Tiffanie Ellis will show "What's in My Pack", gear and clothing items for a safe day trip in the Boundary Waters wilderness.”

Reporters will like the visual of Tiffanie’s pack.

Presenters Bios:

Martin Kubik is the founder of the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (BWA Committee) and the Kekekabic Trail Club. He is a lifelong advocate for the BWCAW hiking trails and recipient of several environmental awards. Retired after a 39 year career at 3M Co., Martin enjoys hiking, outdoor adventures and sewing camping gear.

Tiffanie Ellis, is a middle school teacher in Duluth and member of the Duluth Chapter of the BWA Committee. She is an avid BWCAW backpacker and volunteer maintenance crew leader for the BWA Committee.

Rob Bowe has been an avid outdoorsman for several years, exploring the Adirondacks, and Algonquin mountains to desert canyons in Colorado, and now the Boundary Waters and Quetico. He is retired from a 33 year IT career, and teaches Yoga when he's not helping out BWAC.

BWAC - The Boundary Advisory Committee is a nonprofit 501(c)3 volunteer organization with active chapters in Duluth and the Twin Cities.  It was founded in 2001 by Martin Kubik who also started the Kekekabic Trail Club.  The BWA Committee works under volunteer service agreement with the USDA Forest Service. In 2022 BWAC volunteers contributed more than 9,000 hours worth more than quarter million dollars to maintain the Powwow Trail in the Superior National Forest.

Details on all these events can be found at:
Duluth Chapter of BWAC (Duluth, MN) | Meetup

https://www.meetup.com/Duluth-Chapter-of-BWAC/


For more information:

Press contact: Martin Kubik

Email:  martin.kubik@boundarywaterstrails.org

Cell:  651-214-5849 c 

Events contact:  

Email:  duluthchapter@boundarywaterstrails.org

Annual Meeting and Volunteer Recognition Recap

Our organization is built on volunteer work, and every year we spend a night recognizing all who make our work in advocacy and maintenance of BWCA’s wilderness trails possible. We had a great turnout for our Annual Meeting/Volunteer Recognition Dinner last Thursday evening! Our 2022 numbers were impressive: 18 clearing trips, 118 volunteers, and 9,475 service hours!

We attended to some business, including Board of Director elections, naming of our 2022 Volunteer of the Year, and a review of our clearing trips to include a fun fact from each crew.

We took in a wealth of information from Dr. Lee Frelich on all things forest and fire ecology, we heard from one of our enthusiastic volunteers about how much fun they’ve had on our trips, and we even had time after all that for door prize drawings. 

Talk about an efficient group! Follow us on MeetUp as we are gearing up to announce spring clearing trip registrations in the coming weeks!  https://meetu.ps/c/9wHl/KlTYv/a

First Annual Crew Leader Retreat

The first full weekend of the new year also marked Boundary Waters Advisory Committee's first ever crew leader retreat at YMCA Camp Du Nord. 

11 crew leaders and organizers attended and participated in team-building and other socializing events that included member presentations, outdoor recreation, and guest speakers from the Forest Service and the Dorothy Molter Museum. We look forward to what is in store for 2023 - stay tuned!

October News

The Mission Achieved

Here in the 20th year since its founding, Boundary Waters Advisory Committee continues to achieve its mission “to preserve existing historic and intrinsically beautiful trails in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of the Superior National Forest.” And we could not have done it without all of our wonderful volunteers!

As we near the end of trail maintenance season for 2022, we want to thank all of our member volunteers who stepped up and made a noticeable difference in the hiking condition of the Powwow Trail. Though we started off slow, due to lasting snow and high-water levels in the spring, when October is done, we will have had 20 trail trips this year, comprised of almost 130 volunteers.

Our continued focus on our mission of advocacy and maintenance of hiking trails in the BWCAW, working with the Forest Service - Superior National Forest, resulted in almost 9,500 volunteer service hours between October 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022, in planning, recruiting, training, and maintaining the Powwow Trail.

Changes in Leadership

In June of 2022, Susan Pollock announced that, effective August 1, she was stepping down as President of Boundary Waters Advisory Committee, though not stepping down from her involvement in BWAC. She continues to serve on the Board of Directors. Susan has been involved with BWAC since 2013, first as a volunteer for trail clearing, then working under our Founder, Martin Kubik, on both trail and organizational tasks, and then serving as President starting in 2020. Susan’s love of the Powwow Trail, engaging new volunteers, and successfully leading day-to-day operations of BWAC is evident in the growth of BWAC’s membership and high retention of volunteers. THANK YOU, SUSAN!!

In August, BWAC’s Board of Directors unanimously elected Rod Markin as President of BWAC, who started in the position September 1, 2022. Rod has been a dedicated BWAC volunteer and leader since he joined BWAC in 2009, most recently serving as BWAC's Treasurer, and a member of the Board of Directors. He brings to BWAC a vast amount of business and organizational experience, including consulting other non-profit organizations on strategic development and optimization of operations.

In September, The Board of Directors unanimously elected John Mattson as Treasurer of BWAC. John has been an active member of BWAC since 2016, helping with leading trail maintenance trips, leadership and volunteer training, organizing events, and other support. He has substantial experience with budgeting, reporting on project costs and activities, vendor relations, and other relevant finance responsibilities from his prior business life.

Midwest Mountaineering EXPO

Looking forward, BWAC is once again staffing a booth at Midwest Mountaineering’s Fall EXPO on November 18-20, providing us with the opportunity to introduce BWAC’s mission and volunteer opportunities to new people. Look for the announcement later this month, inviting our members to help in staffing the booth. What is involved? Greet visitors, hand out brochures, and do your part to advocate for wilderness trails in the Boundary Waters. You can make a difference for the wilderness, take time to browse dozens of vendors and sale merchandise at the Expo, and support one of BWAC's sponsors, Midwest Mountaineering.

Rod Markin, President

Boundary Waters Advisory Committee

rjmarkin@boundarywaterstrails.org

Calling All Backpackers to Volunteer on Powwow Hiking Trail This Fall!

Dear Meetup Members,
Fall is here and so is cooler weather for hiking! We are fortunate to have an abundance of hiking trails right here in Northern Minnesota. One of those trails is the BWCAW Powwow Trail near Isabella. The Boundary Waters Advisory Committee volunteers adopted the Powwow and have kept it open for hikers and backpackers since 2015 (The trail was temporarily closed after the 2011 Pagami Creek Fire). It takes a lot of work to clear deadfalls and prune back new jack pine growth. This year we need your help more than ever. That’s because late ice out and high-water levels in May prevented many volunteer crews from getting on the trail. Our Duluth Chapter needs to clear about 40 tree falls and some brush on a trail segment 2 ½ miles from the trailhead. To make it easier for volunteers to participate this fall, BWA Committee has partnered with the Frost River store in Duluth. Frost River will provide a free van ride to the trailhead and back for the October 15th day trail clearing trip.

Volunteering is easy and takes only five steps:
1. Attend October 6, 5:30 PM training at Frost River (learn safety, trail maintenance standards and what to bring. BWAC provides handsaws and loppers).
2. Attend the "Meet and Greet" hike on October 9 at 1 PM at Hartley Nature Center.
3. Contact the October 15 crew leader Robert 218-310-2169 for a brief interview (physical fitness etc.) and permission to register for the trip on the Meetup.
4. RSVP/Pay the $10 fee on Meetup to join the October 15th trip.
5. Meet with us bright and early on October 15th and get a free ride in a Van provided by Frost River.

Why volunteer? It is a way to give back to the Boundary Waters and preserve backpacking trails for other hikers. When you volunteer, you will have a sense of personal accomplishment, and that of contributing to the BWCA Wilderness! You will meet new friends and pick up outdoor skills you did not have before in addition to exchanging gear tips with other hikers like you. And this year, the twentieth anniversary of the BWA Committee founding, we are giving away a coffee mug with commemorative BWAC logo (sure to be a collector’s piece, we hope) and the map of the trail you will be working on. Another bonus is a free rental of a Frost River canvas pack for the trip (reserve at the training session), my favorite is the “Summit” but there are several models. BWAC is also working with Trailtopia foods and the Frost River to give a 20% off discount to BWAC volunteers at the Frost River store (learn more at training session).
My hope is that you are interested in this adventure and will join us. Please RSVP today for the October 6, 5:30 crew training and/or feel free to text/call me at 651-214-5849 cell with your questions. Thank you.

Enjoy the Hike,
Martin Kubik, BWAC Founder, chair of the BWAC Duluth Chapter