The Aldo Leopold Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service co-hosted The Past, Present, and Future of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: A Symposium, in Ely, Minnesota, on September 19, 2024.

About the Event

Represented by several staff members and key volunteers, Jeanette Leehr and Thea Sheldon, the Leopold Foundation was proud to work with local conservation partners to convene a community learning symposium on the region’s important ecological and cultural dimensions. Buddy Huffaker, Executive Director, The Aldo Leopold Foundation, served as the event facilitator, while Carrie Carroll and Maia Buschman conducted additional interviews that were edited into a brief video recap (3:41 minutes) of the event, click HERE to view.



Speaker Presentations & Recordings

Aaron Kania,
District Ranger, Kawishwi District

U.s Forest Service
>> Invocation

Click Here to VIEW

Buddy Huffaker,
Executive Director

The Aldo Leopold Foundation
>> Welcome; Future for Land Ethics

Click Here to View

Lane Johnson,
Research Forester & Coordinator

UM Cloquet Forestry Center & Hubachek Wilderness Center
>> Early Forest History of the BWCAW & the Role of Fire

ClICK HERE TO VIEW

Becky Rom,
Governing Council Member / National Chair

The Wilderness Society / Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters
>> Extraordinary Leadership: The Quetico Superior Region & the 1964 Wilderness Act

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Thomas Howes,
Natural Resources Program Manager

Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
>> Treaty Rights

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Tom Hall,
Supervisor, Superior National Forest

U.S. Forest Service
>> Wilderness Stewardship

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Brian Sturtevant,
Research Ecologist

Forest Service, Northern Research Station
>> Alternative Futures

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Tadd Johnson,
Professor Emeritus / Regent

University of MN - Duluth
>> Future of These Sacred Lands

CLICK HERE TO VIEW



Select Resources Provided:

 Great Lakes Fire – media and resources  

Forest recovery patterns in response to divergent disturbance regimes in the Border Lakes region of Minnesota (USA) and Ontario (Canada)  

Forest land cover change (1975-2000) in the Greater Border Lakes region  

Comparing modern and presettlement forest dynamics of a subboreal wilderness: Does spruce budworm enhance fire risk?  

Treesearch
Each year, Forest Service scientists collaborate with one another, scientists from partner institutions, and resource managers to write and publish thousands of peer-reviewed publications in hundreds of scientific journals plus books, conference proceedings, and Forest Service reports.  

Research Stations also produce a variety of science synthesis publications that provide plain-language topic summaries and pathways to in-depth research. Each of these scholarly publications are available for free in the Treesearch collection of publications, now offering nearly 60,000 full text documents.  

If you follow this search list within Treesearch, it will identify a series of articles – many with relevance to the Boundary Waters.  


The Aldo Leopold Foundation would like to thank the following partners for making the Land Ethic celebration in Ely, Minnesota possible:

• Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe Drum Ceremony Artists
• Boundary Waters Connect
• The Ely Echo
• Ely's Historic State Theater
• The Izaak Walton League of America
• Jeanette Leehr and Henry, Terry, and Steve Carlson
• Listening Point Foundation
• Minnesota North College Vermillion Campus
• Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness
• Piragis Northwoods Company
• Save the Boundary Waters
• Thea Sheldon
• Tofte Lake Center
• U.S. Forest Service
• Waawaate Programs