Canoecopia attracts thousands
By Jim Nosker
Canoecopia, March 7-9, was the largest paddlesport consumer event in the world, according to the event organizer, Rutabaga Paddlesports. It attracted about 15,000 people.
Housed in Madison’s Alliant Energy Center Exposition Hall, Canoecopia sprawled over more than 250,000 square feet. The main hall alone contained more than 100,000 square feet of canoes, kayaks, stand up paddleboards, outdoor equipment and clothing.
There were over 100 presentations and clinics offered, which made Canoecopia an educational event. Those interested could learn about specific gear and styles of of paddling, or develop skills and learn aboutpl aces to paddle. There were hundreds of models of self-propelled watercraft to look over, heft and try sitting in.
Also on hand were groups dedicated to paddlesports and water quality. Among them was Minnesota based Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. Colfax residents Sydney Tanner and Jim Nosker helped staff that group’s booth during the three day event.
They, and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, were at Canoecopia because of the environmental threat posed to the wilderness area by proposed sulfide-ore mining operations. Unlike iron mining, sulfide-ore copper mining has never been done in Minnesota.
Sulfide-ore copper mining generates waste rock containing sulfates, Nosker said. When exposed to air and water, the sulfates become sulphuric acid and leach heavy metals into surrounding water.
Records show that 100% of copper mines have experienced spills or accidental releases. Which means, he said, that there is no such thing as an environmentally safe copper mine. The proposed location of the mine is at the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area and Voyageurs National Park and it also has the potential of polluting Lake Superior.
Nosker said he has been going to the region for seven decades and doesn’t want it to be ruined for future generations. He led his first group trip there in 1972. Over the years he and Tanner have taken many youth groups to the wilderness.
He explained that U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber has re-introduced the Superior National Forest Restoration Act. The act would reverse the 2023 Biden Administration decision to protect 225,504 acres of the Superior National Forest in the Boundary Waters headwaters from mining development and degradation for 20 years (Public Land Order 7917).
PLO 7917 came after the U.S. Forest Service published a comprehensive scientific review finding that sulfide-ore copper mining would pollute the Boundary Waters in ways that could not be fixed or mitigated. It proposed a 20-year mineral withdrawal ban on federal lands and minerals in the watershed.
Among other things, Stauber’s H.R. 978 would force the government to reissue canceled federal mining leases to companies like Antofagasta’s Twin Metals, which is a foreign owned company. Additionally, H.R. 978 would renew mining prospecting permits and additional leases, and approve mine plans on an expedited timeline. It would prohibit judicial review of leases and prospecting permits.
In 2018, a Harvard study showed that a 20-year mining ban would produce far greater economic benefit and diversity than the proposed Twin Metals mine. If left in place the ban will create up to 4,500 more jobs and $900 million more personal income to the local area.
