Unsung heroes

In the annals of unsung heroes, the people who undertake the Sisyphean task of maintaining the portages and campsites throughout the 1.1-million-acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness must be at the top of the list.
With an estimated 1,200 miles of canoe routes, 175 miles of portage trails, and more than 2,000 rustic campsites, the annual workload to keep the wilderness usable for average folks, while protecting the resource from overuse, is mind-boggling.
And it is never-ending. Just as Sisyphus was forced, for eternity, to roll a giant boulder uphill only to see it roll back down again, the many people who undertake the maintenance of the wilderness each year do so with the understanding that their work will never be finished. Trails cleared of deadfall one day can be choked with newly fallen trees the next. As we experience more extreme weather, the job becomes that much greater. The June 2024 flood literally washed away some portage trails and significantly damaged many others. Beavers can work their own magic, flooding areas that were formerly passable, prompting time-consuming reroutes, or reconstructions of trails. Washouts are regular events that require considerable time and energy to repair. Boardwalks over wetlands need constant rebuilding. Throughout the wilderness, the work is completed in terrain than can be remarkably rugged, with trails comprised of little more than sharp rocks, ruts, or steep ledges.
And that’s just the portages. The campsite work is just as grueling, including repairing and replacing of latrines, one of the most critical and probably most thankless jobs in the wilderness. Protecting the pristine water quality means campsites require constant rehabilitation to prevent erosion and damage to tree cover. Overused campsites must occasionally be closed, which can mean establishment of new sites, and all the work that entails.
Making the task even more astonishing is the fact that all of it is done with hand tools. A single large tree can take hours to cut up and move out of the way with a crosscut and a single severe storm can lay several big trees across any given portage trail. And all that work is done in conditions that most Americans would consider to be brutal, in all weather and often with clouds of blackflies, mosquitoes, and deer flies swirling around, with nothing but a tent and sleeping bag at night as a refuge.
While it’s a paying job for some in the U.S. Forest Service or the Minnesota Conservation Corps, the pay is hardly compensation for the back-breaking work. What’s more, many of those who toil away in the wilderness on our behalf, do so as volunteers, for the mere opportunity to spend time in a place that they love. They’re continuing a legacy that dates back hundreds, if not thousands, of years as humans have long recognized the maze of lakes and streams in the region for their transportation potential, as long as trails between the lakes and around rapids and waterfalls were maintained.
This continuing effort is key to the very existence of this remarkable wilderness area, the nation’s most popular. And because those who make this experience possible have been so diligent for so long, it’s easy to take it all for granted. Yet, just a few years without maintenance could be the end of the Boundary Waters as we’ve come to know it, since trails could soon become impassible, and the tens of thousands of visitors would quickly disappear.
And it wouldn’t just be wilderness users feeling the loss. The Boundary Waters, as it exists today, is a remarkable economic engine for the region, directly creating hundreds of jobs in our region and tens of millions of dollars in economic effects annually. The impact of the BWCAW goes far beyond the annual spending of wilderness visitors. For many, it’s their first introduction to our region, and the lure of the wilderness is what prompts many to relocate here, either permanently or seasonally.
The BWCAW has created a thriving and sustainable outdoor recreation-based economy here and it all rests, ultimately, on the backs of those who do the difficult and largely unseen work of wilderness maintenance. So, the next time you’re heading out for a day or a week fishing, hiking, or otherwise exploring in the canoe country, take a moment to thank the folks who make it all possible. They’re out there right now, working hard to ensure the Boundary Waters remains a treasure for all of us.