Who’s defending the Boundary Waters?
8 groups on the record for itWilderness area in Minnesota, 1.09M acres, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, designated in 1964.
The groups
Who’s in the fight for the Boundary Waters
Every group here is listed for a sourced fact, and each fact opens its source. Give directly; no gift routes through this site.
Local 2
Headquartered in Minnesota, or the Boundary Waters named in the mission on its latest 990.
Friends Group · Minneapolis, MN
Save the Boundary Waters
21 staff + 100 volunteers78¢ to the workFounded 2013
In the fight 6
A sourced tie to the Boundary Waters, from anywhere.
Advocacy · Gaithersburg, MD
Izaak Walton League of America
64¢ to the workFounded 1922
Advocacy · Bend, OR
Conservation Alliance
9 staff + 16 volunteers71¢ to the workFounded 1989
Legal · San Francisco, CA
Earthjustice
698 staff + 33 volunteers81¢ to the workFounded 1971
Grassroots · Salt Lake City, UT
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
39 staff + 338 volunteers92¢ to the workFounded 1983
Advocacy · Washington, DC
The Wilderness Society
178 staff + 32 volunteers75¢ to the workFounded 1935
Your group works here? Add it. Send the page on your group’s own site that says it works on the Boundary Waters. A person on the desk reads it before anything lists.
The situation
What’s happening to Boundary Waters
On April 16 the Senate voted 50-49 to kill the 20-year mining moratorium that protected 225,504 acres of the Boundary Waters watershed from sulfide-ore copper-nickel mining. The resolution heads to Trump for signature. Chilean mining giant Antofagasta, through its subsidiary Twin Metals, can now apply for federal permits to build a mine at the doorstep of the most visited wilderness in America. The Forest Service’s own assessment concluded this type of mining would cause irreversible harm to these waters. Over 675,000 public comments were submitted, 95 percent opposed. Congress used the Congressional Review Act to override all of it in a single vote. The fight continues. Legal challenges are being prepared and new protective legislation is possible. Paddle into the Boundary Waters and within an hour the only sounds are water against the hull, wind in the white pines, and the tremolo call of a loon. Some things, once lost, do not come back.
- 1964Designated as wilderness area
- 2016Mining leases denied by Obama administration
- 2019Leases reinstated by Trump administration
- 2023Mineral withdrawal protects 225,504 acres for 20 years
- 2026House passes H.J. Res. 140 to repeal mining moratoriumEarthjustice · April 16, 2026MPR News · January 21, 2026
- 2026Senate votes 50-49 to repeal mining moratorium
- 2026House FY27 spending bill (H.R. 9171) would reinstate Twin Metals leasesCongress.gov · June 5, 2026
No public comment window is open on Boundary Waters right now. A call script is ready on the Public Lands Action Network, and the groups above are how the fight gets funded and argued in the meantime.
In the courts
The cases over this place
The dockets we track that name Boundary Waters directly. Active first.
Our reporting
What we’ve published on Boundary Waters
Your move
How to stand for the Boundary Waters
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
Their donation page ↗SpeakCall your representativesA ready call script on Boundary Waters, plus any comment window as it opens.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapBuild my lineup around Boundary Waters: a group in the fight here opens it, and the other seats are the matchmaker’s picks.
Boundary Waters has defenders. It needs more.
2 local groups, 6 more in the fight, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness with 22 staff + 250 volunteers. That is who is holding it. Find your way in.