Paddle and Portage

Paddle and Portage Paddle and Portage is the source for news and information from the BWCA and Quetico.

Consider it a loophole. Or a technicality. Whatever the case, a legal mishap is likely to lead to the rescinding of a 20...
01/11/2026

Consider it a loophole. Or a technicality. Whatever the case, a legal mishap is likely to lead to the rescinding of a 20-year mining ban on a large section of Superior National Forest.

Members of Congress are working to overturn former President Joe Biden's mining ban on Superior National Forest. The action will also prevent future administrations from taking steps to implement a similar mining ban in the future.

Technicalities, particularly when it comes to legal issues, are often challenging to explain in simple terms. With the help of prominent journalist Ernest Scheyder we cover the facts on this breaking story. Read the full story in the link below.

https://paddleandportage.com/2026/01/10/technicality-likely-to-lead-to-rescission-of-mining-ban-on-superior-national-forest/

Paddle and Portage first met Scheyder when he was on a book tour that brought him to Ely in June 2024. Scheyder’s book, “The War Below,” is considered the most in-depth look at the past, present, and future of copper-nickel mining available in print. We've been in communication with Scheyder in recent days and hope to get him on the Paddle and Portage Podcast in the near future to discuss the actions being taken by Congress.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: The world would be a much better place if there were more people like Mike ...
01/09/2026

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: The world would be a much better place if there were more people like Mike from Rockwood out there in it. 🌎



Rockwood Lodge and Outfitters

The Paddle & Portage Podcast team completed the first winter camping trip of 2026. About 20 miles of snowshoeing/skiing ...
01/07/2026

The Paddle & Portage Podcast team completed the first winter camping trip of 2026. About 20 miles of snowshoeing/skiing (Hok skis for the win!)and new lakes were visited.

Follow all the podcast adventures this winter by subscribing (for free) to the Paddle & Portage Podcast. Available on all the podcast platforms.

Aaron Kania recently retired from his post as the district ranger for the Kawishiwi Ranger District on Superior National...
01/05/2026

Aaron Kania recently retired from his post as the district ranger for the Kawishiwi Ranger District on Superior National Forest. The district is headquartered out of Ely. Kania arrived to Ely to the lead the district in May 2020. He spoke with Joe Friedrichs about why he is retiring now, what he's proud of during his tenure here, and what comes next for him personally and professionally.

Following Kania's retirement, the Forest Service will have a rotating district ranger leading the Ely ranger station until someone is hired full-time to lead the district.

Also discussed in the news track of the Paddle & Portage Podcast are possible changes to the start date for lake trout fishing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, as well as an update on RABC permits.

Listen to the episode here: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-baamq-1a077f1

You can also find the podcast here: https://paddleandportage.com/

This news track update is sponsored by Loons Nest Coffee.

01/02/2026

The newest episode of the Paddle & Portage Podcast takes us to an area burned in the 2021 Greenwood Fire, just south of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

As one P&P subscriber-member told us of the episodes, "This type of podcast that most people don't usually hear. Ecology is complex! Forestry is so interesting! Science changes! We learn and predominant theories shift and those shifts in knowledge change policy but policy is also so slow. Indigenous knowledge was completely dismissed as irrelevant by land managers for too long. That was a mistake and wrong and look now, they were right all along. Great episode. I'm loving these episodes that are information dense! More like this!"

Thanks to Chris and Laura from the The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota for making this episode possible. Also a shout-out to Paul, a journalist and author in Oregon for his contribution to the episode. Find his new book "Canopy of Titans" in bookstores now."

Video produced by M Baxley (Bear Witness Media) as part of the Paddle & Portage team.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE: Cutting Down Trees and Embracing Fire For a Healthy Forest The Greenwood Fire in 2021 led, in part,...
01/01/2026

NEW PODCAST EPISODE: Cutting Down Trees and Embracing Fire For a Healthy Forest

The Greenwood Fire in 2021 led, in part, to the complete closure of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness during the peak of the paddling season. Some of the burn area, about 12,000 acres located outside the BWCA Wilderness, was purchased in 2025 by The Nature Conservancy.

Fire is an essential component of a healthy forest, both inside and outside the BWCA Wilderness. If fire is not allowed to burn, some form of timber management is needed in order to prevent the forest from becoming a tinder box. This has led to complications inside the BWCA Wilderness, where large stands of blowdown and dead balsam from an infestation of spruce budworm in recent years has large swaths of the forest ready to burn.

The land purchased by the Nature Conservancy will be managed for a healthy forest, which could include prescribed fire and logging, according to two foresters the Paddle and Portage Podcast duo met up with this winter.

The discussion focused on the land purchase, and how timber management will be a centerpiece to the health of this land. This stands in contrast to the current management plans for the BWCA Wilderness, where logging is strictly prohibited and most wildfires are put out with aggressive suppression tactics.

Listen to the full podcast episode here: https://paddleandportage.com/2026/01/01/fire-logging-and-healthy-forests-near-the-boundary-waters/

In addition to the comprehensive audio report, watch this video to learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Oe0K3jUAkA

This episode is sponsored by our subscriber-members, and by Tuscarora Lodge & Canoe Outfitters, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, and Borderland Lodge.

Ice fishing for trout will begin on certain lakes across northeastern Minnesota this week. The trout season doesn’t star...
12/31/2025

Ice fishing for trout will begin on certain lakes across northeastern Minnesota this week. The trout season doesn’t start for more than two weeks on other lakes, even though many are adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

This continues to confuse and agitate some anglers who would prefer a uniform start to the winter trout fishing season near the Boundary Waters.

And while it won’t happen this year, the dual opener - where lakes located entirely within the BWCA Wilderness open for fishing Jan. 1 and all other trout lakes in the region start approximately two weeks later - could become consolidated to one starting date, according to staff from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources who spoke with Paddle and Portage this week about this topic.

Get all the details in this P&P original report: https://paddleandportage.com/2025/12/31/minnesota-dnr-considers-revisions-to-lake-trout-fishing-in-and-around-bwca/

The dwindling numbers to the southern entrances to Quetico Provincial Park as a result of the upheaval and uncertainty o...
12/29/2025

The dwindling numbers to the southern entrances to Quetico Provincial Park as a result of the upheaval and uncertainty of the RABC Program would have sent Janice Matichuk, the longest serving ranger in the history of the park, into a spectacular rage.

Janice loved Quetico, including Cache Bay, where she spent most of her 35 years working in the park. She is legendary among Quetico and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness paddlers, and in many ways her status as a Quetico icon has only increased since her passing in August 2020 from brain cancer.

Janice loathed poor communication. Illustrating this is the time Janice literally lost a finger while tying a rope to the dock at Cache Bay that was connected to a float plane. This was in September 2019. Joe Friedrichs from Paddle & Portage media was scheduled to visit Janice that very afternoon from his home in Grand Marais. As she was flown off the island to the emergency room in Thunder Bay, Janice made sure park headquarters called to tell Joe that she’d been injured and not to come to the island. Now that’s good communication, albeit slightly bonkers.

What would Janice have done about the recent situation involving RABC permits?

Read this P&P original to find out: https://paddleandportage.com/2025/12/29/canadian-officials-can-take-a-lesson-from-the-late-janice-matichuk-when-it-comes-to-communication/

Photos by M Baxley with Bear Witness Media and Joe Friedrichs from the book "Her Island: The Story of Quetico's Longest Serving Interior Ranger"


The Paddle and Portage team traveled to Duluth to spend a (brutally) cold winter’s day in the shop of Brian “Muskrat” Ma...
12/25/2025

The Paddle and Portage team traveled to Duluth to spend a (brutally) cold winter’s day in the shop of Brian “Muskrat” Maruska. The purpose of the site visit was to build a winter camping wood stove from scratch. Muskrat, having built upwards of 50 stoves over the years, first met the Paddle & Portage Podcast duo at the Winter Camping Symposium.

Special thanks to Chad Nelson for organizing the stove build and donating a solo winter camping tent to the P&P arsenal of gear. Expect to see and hear more BWCA Winter Camping adventures with both Chad and Brian in the years ahead. Video produced by M Baxley of Bear Witness Media and the P&P Team.

Watch the video here: https://paddleandportage.com/2025/12/25/how-to-build-a-boundary-waters-wood-stove-for-winter-camping/

Emily Morrison is a 30-year-old from Shelburne, Ontario. An avid camper, paddler, and winter camper, she spends much of ...
12/22/2025

Emily Morrison is a 30-year-old from Shelburne, Ontario. An avid camper, paddler, and winter camper, she spends much of her free time exploring the backcountry of Ontario’s Algonquin Park. This is the same setting where her relative, Tom Thomson, found inspiration for his art, and ultimately where he died under mysterious circumstances in 1917. Emily is working on a written piece for Paddle & Portage where she will share some of her family’s story and connection to Thomson, the acclaimed Canadian artist.

Beyond her own adventures, Emily hopes to inspire her daughter and other mothers navigating postpartum life to discover their strength and capability as women. Emily hopes her travels in the wilderness, along with her poems, show that nature is not only a place of beauty, but also of empowerment and renewal.

Support Emily’s writing by subscribing to Paddle & Portage. We currently have a holiday discount for new member-subscribers.

Enter the follow coupon codes here: https://paddleandportage.com/.../membership-and-donations/

Holiday25 - 25% off an annual membership
Holiday3 - $3 off monthly membership each month for six months

Paddle and Portage is proud to support accomplished writers like Bear Paulsen, Ryan Rodgers and others, as well as people who are being published for the first time. These poems are the first published writing for Emily Morrison.

Address

101 E Chapman
Ely, MN
55731

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Paddle and Portage posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Paddle and Portage:

Shortcuts

Share

Category