The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it was placing a ban on all new mining contracts on federal land within the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for the next two decades.
Public Land Order 7919 was signed on Thursday by the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland. The order will now prevent new mineral leases on more than 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota.
The administration shared that it is looking to protect the “spectacular network of rivers, lakes, and forests in northeastern Minnesota that comprise the most heavily visited wilderness area in the United States.”
The public land order comes in response to concerns about industry mining impacting the watershed, fish and wildlife, Tribal and treaty rights, and robust recreation economy in the area.
“The Department of the Interior takes seriously our obligations to steward public lands and waters on behalf of all Americans. Protecting a place like Boundary Waters is key to supporting the health of the watershed and its surrounding wildlife, upholding our Tribal trust and treaty responsibilities, and boosting the local recreation economy,” Haaland said in a press release. “With an eye toward protecting this special place for future generations, I have made this decision using the best-available science and extensive public input.”
The press release announcing the land order shared that the decision to ban mining from the area comes after more than a year-long evaluation.
In October 2021, the US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service submitted a withdrawal application to the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management.
Along with public input in the form of more than 225,000 comments from two public comment periods, the withdrawal application included “a science-based environmental assessment to evaluate the potential impacts of prohibiting new mineral and geothermal exploration and development” in the area.
Both public comment and the analysis played a part in the decision from Haaland to sign the halt on new mining in the area.
“Today’s action builds upon decades of local efforts to protect the landscape, watershed, and the outdoor recreation economy they support,” the release said. “This is consistent with the principles of President Biden’s America the Beautiful initiative to support locally-led conservation and restoration efforts.”
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