A resolution urging the President and Congress to reject the Border Lands Conservation Act

A resolution

urging the President and Congress to reject the Border Lands Conservation Act.

WHEREAS, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was established by Congress in

1978 through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act, and the act restricted logging,

mining, and most motorized access; and

WHEREAS, the wilderness extends nearly 150 miles along the international border, adjacent

to Canada's Quetico and La Verendrye Provincial Parks, and covers more than one million acres;

and

WHEREAS, it is a pristine, rugged wilderness composed of rocky outcrops, streams, islands,

and glacial lakes cut from granite and surrounded by forests of old-growth pine; and

WHEREAS, because of its quietude and untrammeled beauty, the wilderness is visited by

more than 200,000 visitors annually for canoeing, camping, hiking, and fishing, and is the most

visited wilderness in the United States; and

WHEREAS, as part of the Superior National Forest, the wilderness is administered by the

United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service; and

WHEREAS, the Border Lands Conservation Act, S. 2967, is now before Congress to address

management of certain federal land along the southern and northern borders of the country, which

includes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness; and

WHEREAS, S. 2967 requires installing roads and technological infrastructure in the wilderness

to control the northern border; and

WHEREAS, the Wilderness of Act of 1964 sought "to secure for the American people of

present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness" and defined

wilderness as "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where

man himself is a visitor who does not remain"; and

WHEREAS, S. 2967 amends the Wilderness Act to allow the federal government to operate

motor vehicles, motorboats, and other motorized equipment; use aircraft, including aircraft approach,

landing, and takeoff; and deploy infrastructure and technology for detecting illegal border crossings,

including observation points, remote video surveillance systems, motion sensors, vehicle barriers,

fences, roads, bridges, drainage, and detection devices; and

WHEREAS, if S. 2967 is enacted into law, the unique and compelling characteristics of the

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness would be forever altered and potentially lost; NOW,

THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the President

and the Congress of the United States to reject S. 2967, which would greatly diminish the unique

resources of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and to uphold the purpose of the

Wilderness Act to secure the benefits of wilderness for generations to come.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed

to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the

President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United

States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,

the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, and Minnesota's Senators and

Representatives in Congress.