Only you can save the Mississippi Headwaters

By Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy

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The quiet wilderness of the Mississippi River Headwaters may soon become an ATV destination.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and three counties have a plan for roads and trails for all-terrain vehicles, motorbikes, and 4x4 “mudder” trucks in the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest and the river’s designated “wild corridor.”
The proposed network of routes will destroy or damage the headwaters’ wild character, valuable wildlife habitat, a cultural & historic landscape, and an ancient canoe route. But it’s not over yet! You can help save the Mississippi ...
Minnesota Center for Environmental... - http://www.mncenter.org/minnesota_center_for_envi/
January 02, 2008
You have the power to prevent it. The state is taking comments until Jan. 22. Please send your email comment on the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest Draft Plan to:
• DNR planner Bill Johnson at bill.johnson@dnr.state.mn.us;
• Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us;
• Superintendent Paul Labovitz, Mississippi National River and Recreation area at paul_labovitz@nps.gov
You can mail the comments to Bill Johnson, DNR Division of Trails & Waterways, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, Mn. 55155.
Tell them this is a National River! Tell them to keep ATVs out! Tell them to keep the Headwaters wild!

AT STAKE: a national treasure, historic canoe route, the last wilderness on the Mississippi River.
The 2,552 mile long Mississippi River begins as a trickle at Lake Itasca, in northern Minnesota. The first 47 miles – the “wild headwaters” – are designated a “Wild River” under Minnesota law, and have qualified for designation as wild under National Wild & Scenic Rivers Act since 1977.
The Mississippi Headwaters is a recreational gem - a designated canoe route offering silence, remoteness, and solitude. The river here is narrow and it is home to wolf packs, pine marten, fisher, black bear, river otter, mink, bald eagles, and the occasional cougar.
The Mississippi Headwaters has deep historic and cultural significance. For millennia it was a major travel and settlement corridor for Native Americans. Explorers sought to find it, and vast fortunes were floated down it during the fur trade era.
THE THREAT: planned Off-Highway Vehicle routes would damage the Mississippi Headwaters’ wildness.
Rather than close old logging roads and skid trails to off-highway vehicles, appointees at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources want to designate dozens of miles open to these vehicles in the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest, which encompasses much of the wild headwaters. Off-highway vehicles on roads and trails would run into the Wild Corridor, along and even over the river. The department’s own ecological, fish & wildlife, and enforcement staff opposed designating these off-road routes. The proposed network of routes will destroy or damage the headwaters’ wild character, valuable wildlife habitat, a cultural & historic landscape, and an ancient canoe route.

But it’s not over yet! You can help save the Mississippi Headwaters. Will you please try?