Former President Jimmy Carter’s Boundary Waters Legacy
ELY, Minn. — Former President Jimmy Carter teamed up with the Friends of the Boundary Waters during his administration, to help back up his efforts around the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness.
“There’s been a lot of sacrifice, a lot of victory too, and not all of those sacrifices accumulated into what we have today,” said Riley Smith.
Riley Smith is the communication coordinator for Friends of the Boundary Waters.
He said that Carter’s administration played a large role in blocking attempts to use the BWCAW for its precious resources.
“So, it’s building him that legacy, that we don’t just have it because someone gave it to us, someone worked really hard for it,” said Smith.
That work included signing the Boundary Waters Wilderness Act in 1978. It resulted in strict restrictions within the pristine land.
“So, if ’78 had not passed, as signed by Jimmy Carter, we would not have the motorized restrictions we have today. The Boundary Waters was founded on a compromise through the ’78 Boundary Waters Act. That allowed some motorized use but closed it in many other areas. Logging at that time was forbidden in some excluded areas, like along the border,” explained Smith.
While there’s been much success in the past decades, Riley says there are still serious challenges facing the BWCAW and its Superior National Forest.
“Currently, the discussion is the copper nickel and sulfite mine controversies, which stems back a fair bit way into history. For my perspective, the boundary waters have always been controversial, right? It’s been this one-hundred-year process of protecting it from hydroelectric projects, to protecting it from logging interests, from road building. And not every single one of those projects has been successful, right?” said Smith.
“If we were to allow a project today, that jeopardizes it’s future. We sell out that legacy. We sell out the legacy of people like Jimmy Carter,” added Smith.
And it’s because of that legacy, that many outdoor enthusiasts are able to enjoy the pristine landscape to canoe, fish, camp or simply take it all in.
