Recent Presentations

am a Minnesota native and first fell in love with the BWCA as a high school student. I love traveling and lived and taught English in Japan, China, and eventually back to the United States. I enjoy spending time in the wilderness with my son and daughter.

Now, recently retired from teaching, I’ve started a new career of writing children’s books. I’m thrilled to come full circle and be back in the north woods of Minnesota again!

I will read and share some of the haiku from the book which focuses on the connection of art, language, and the wilderness. I will share my work through a PowerPoint-type presentation to accompany the background and the teaching of haiku. Participants will have the opportunity to write their haiku decorate them and share them with others as they feel comfortable.

The presentation will show the paintings Howard focused on in the early 80s telling his story of life on Isle Royale throughout his life. Born in 1930 through the 1970s when the commercial fishing culture began to disappear.

You can find out more about the Sivertson family on their website.

Joe will share information about how he collected the stories that are included in the 2024 book, Last Entry Point. Joe will have a slideshow presentation and also have special guests join him for parts of the presentation, including search and rescue volunteers from the Gunflint Trail.

Chris Steele first came to the Gunflint TYrail 62 years ago when his grandfather, Robert Campbell, began construction of a one-room cabin on Seagull Lake. The cabin was built on property previously owned by Russell Blankenburg, someone Chris would meet that summer.
Chris retired 22 years ago and spends time in Tucson, Lake Elmo, and, of course, at the end-of-the-Gunflint Trail.
The 5-acre parcel on Seagull Lake his grandfather bought from Russell Blankenburg in 1959 was $4375.00/$12.50 per frontage foot. About a dozen years later another 56 feet of frontage shoreline was acquired for $2000.00/$35.00 per frontage foot. Adjusted for inflation (today’s dollars), the price would have been roughly $47,000.00 and $15,000.00 per frontage foot, respectively.
Chris will talk about Russell Blankenburg the prospector, businessman, and friend.

Ozzie Reif fell in love with the BWCAW on his first canoe trip at the age of 16. Hailing from Delaware, he has been fortunate enough to call Ely, MN home for the past five years. He has found a passionate and vibrant community in Ely, which also happens to provide a great base for his trips into the Wilderness and Superior National Forest. Ozzie is passionate about creating functional art and has blended his love of the outdoors with his passion for making. He is on the boards of the Ely Folk School and the Ely Northwoods Chapter of the North Country Trail Association. When not out canoeing or skiing, he can be found running his small business, Ely Mitten Project.

In today’s age of consumerism, it can be easy to stop by an outdoor store and buy the “latest and greatest” gear. But for most of human history, people have not had that sort of access. Ozzie is hiking the Kekekabic and Border Route Trails using gear that he has made using largely non-synthetic materials, in an effort to view the Wilderness through a different lens. He is leaving his nylon rain jacket and tent, ultralight backpack, and synthetic clothing at home. In their place, his gear is made from cotton, wool, hemp, leather, and wood. This presentation will take place mid-hike; at Chik-Wauk, he will be 46 miles into his 110-mile journey. Come learn about the gear, find out what he’s learned so far, and swap tales from the Wilderness.

This project is supported by an Individual Artist Project Grant (Legacy Fund) – The Individual Artist Project Grant is made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Join Rita Walaszek Arndt for an introductory overview of the Indigenous peoples of the place we now call Minnesota, the Dakota, and Ojibwe. Learn about their origins, values, and the resiliency of Dakota and Ojibwe over time and gain an understanding of the 11 sovereign nations in Minnesota today.

Chris Knopf, Executive Director of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness joins us to share the story of how ordinary citizens came together to create the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). Knopf will discuss the Friends of the Boundary Waters conservation efforts, recent legal victories, challenges, and the organization's commitment to connecting people to the Boundary Waters through its three programmatic areas - People, Wilderness, and Community.

Born a winter lover, Anna first stepped on the runners of a dogsled on a blustery lake in northern Minnesota and knew that her life was forever changed.

She began working with sled dogs in both Minnesota and Alaska by guiding dog sled trips and sharing her passion for mushing with others.
From 2018 to 2021 she raced and trained with Sawtooth Racing, a kennel owned by good friends in Grand Marais Minnesota.

Always dreaming about someday running the Iditarod, Anna decided to make the dream a reality and moved to Alaska in 2022 to race and train for the Iditarod with Shameless Huskies Kennel. Anna completed her Iditarod qualifying races in 2023. When not training and racing dogs, Anna works as an ER nurse and wilderness guide leading expeditions for teens and fostering the adventurous spirit, resilience, and self-empowerment for other young women that she learned from years of outdoor pursuits.

Mark Zimmer, aka, The Barefoot Paddler, has spent over a decade every summer exploring the BWCAW and continues to strengthen his connection with nature each year.

Mark will share his experience of completing and tracking every BWCA portage barefoot, relying on the land and lakes for food. He will also share camping, cooking, and fishing tips as they pertain to his extensive solo camping adventures.

Visit his website at thebarefootpaddler.com

Billy Blackwell spoke at the Seagull Community Center about the history of the Anishinaabe families that lived on Gunflint Lake, Saganaga Lake, and other areas.

Stories from survivors of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness’s epochal weather disaster

The first and last carload of ore from the Paulson Mine, only enough to make a small horseshoe was shipped on August 18, 1893, on the Port Arthur, Duluth & Western Railroad. The ore is on the flatcar between the locomotive and the caboose. (The trail also carried dignitaries who stopped at Whitefish Lake for this photograph).
The story is that the iron was brought to Port Arthur and smelted at the Woodside Foundry. Woodside smelted a commemorative penholder in the shape of a horseshoe. It was donated to the Thunder Bay Historical Museum as part of the Art Woodside collection.
Today that small horseshoe or some call it a paperweight has crossed the border and will be on display at Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center for the 2024 season.