Grass roots - Minnesota: border issues - Superior National Forest - Brief Article

Sierra, Nov-Dec, 2003 by Reed McManus

This summer, Superior National Forest managers were ready to clearcut the majority of 1,700 acres of prime forest land along the edge of Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. That is, until they were stopped in their tracks by a lawsuits filed by the Club's North Star Chapter. A corridor less than two miles wide that separates two large wilderness areas would have faced construction or reopening of 38 miles of roads on lands environmental groups want added to the wilderness system.

Now Superior is finishing a comprehensive, 20-year administrative plan for the 3-million-acre national forest enjoyed by canoeists and inhabited by loons, wolves, and bears. And activists fighting the pro-timber bent aren't going to watch their effort be preempted. "When you're clearcutting to such an extent," says chapter legal chair Sharon Stephens," you're dooming the area's chances to ever be wilderness."

ON THE WEB Read about the North Star Chapter's efforts to protect Chippewa and Superior National Forests, including Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, at www.northstar.sierraclub.org/forestry.>

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