Spanning more than 1.1 million acres in northeastern Minnesota, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) is an ecological treasure offering more than 1,200 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails and 2,000 designated campsites.

Our Role

Since the late 1970s, approximately 83,000 acres of School Trust lands — which were set aside by Congress in 1858, when Minnesota became a state, to “generate revenue for Minnesota’s schools” — have been locked within Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. When these lands were designated as federal wilderness in 1978, these blocks of State Trust lands were essentially locked in, causing land management issues for both the state of Minnesota and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which administers the BWCAW within Superior National Forest.

Because the School Trust lands are located within a federally designated wilderness area, managing them to produce revenue for Minnesota’s schools has been prohibited since 1978.

To solve this challenge and preserve one of the world’s last great wild places, we worked with the state of Minnesota, the U.S. Forest Service and other partners to develop a multiyear solution that will improve conservation protections on over 115,000 acres of forestland. This solution allows USFS to purchase the non-revenue-producing School Trust lands locked within BWCAW with financing from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. This solution also conserves tens of thousands of acres of private timberlands as working forests outside BWCAW purchased by The Conservation Fund, ensuring these lands remain in federal, state and county ownership while increasing public access and sustainable timber management for Minnesotans.

Why This Project Matters

This solution not only safeguards Minnesota’s prized Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, but it also consolidates the working forestlands outside the BWCAW, supports the sustainable local forest products industry and generates jobs. The state’s public schools will finally be able to obtain financial support from an asset that was previously inaccessible. These working forestlands outside the BWCAW will be consolidated while recreational access for the public will be expanded.