Friends Group · Minneapolis, MN
Save the Boundary Waters
The campaign built to stop sulfide-ore copper mining on the wilderness edge
21 staff + 100 volunteers78¢ to the workFounded 2013
Stand · Find your defenders
Who’s defending the Boundary Waters?
3 groups have it in their care
Wilderness area in Minnesota, 1.09M acres, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, designated in 1964.
The defenders
The groups doing the most work here
3 groups are on the record for Boundary Waters, each tied to it by a source our editors read, in the order they carry the weight. Give directly; nothing routes through us.
Leading the fight
Friends Group · Minneapolis, MN
Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness
Fights the copper-sulfide mines proposed at the wilderness edge, and says it was instrumental in passing the 1978 law that made the Boundary Waters what it is today
22 staff + 250 volunteers67¢ to the workFounded 1978
Also in the fight
Advocacy · Washington, DC
The Wilderness Society
Plaintiff in the federal litigation over the Twin Metals mine leases
178 staff + 32 volunteers75¢ to the workFounded 1935
4 more work nearby but are not tied to Boundary Waters on the record
On the ground in Minnesota
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 · July 23, 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
GiveGive to Save 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: the leading group here opens it, and the other seats fill from this record.
Boundary Waters has defenders. It needs more.
3 groups on the record, Save the Boundary Waters with 21 staff + 100 volunteers. That is who is holding it. Find your way in.