Wilderness
Established in 1964 as Federally Designated Wilderness, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is over one million acres of rugged and remote boreal forest in the northern third of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota.
About Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
Great glaciers carved the physical features of what is today known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness by scraping and gouging rock. The glaciers left behind rugged cliffs and crags, rocky shores, sandy beaches and thousands of lakes and streams, interspersed with islands and surrounded by forest.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a unique area located in the northern third of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota. Over 1,098,000 acres in size, it extends nearly 150 miles along the International Boundary adjacent to Voyageurs National Park and Canada’s Quetico and La Verendrye Provincial Parks. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness contains over 1,200 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails and over 2,000 designated campsites.
This area was set aside in 1926 to preserve its primitive character and made a part of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1964 with subsequent legislation in 1978.
Management and Research
Find out more about the management of Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and what research occurs there, along with how to obtain a research application.
Plan a Visit
Visiting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is memorable and fun. But don't forget to plan ahead so that your trip is memorable for all the right reasons.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Collaborative
In 2022, the Superior National Forest (SNF) began a new effort to engage individuals and groups with interests in recreation, conservation, and environmental advocacy, or commercial use in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in exploring current issues, concerns, and possibilities for collaboration with Superior National Forest.
What is Wilderness?
In September 3, 1964 The Wilderness Act was signed into law. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was also designated with the passing of this Act.
The Wilderness Act provided a legal definition of wilderness, created the National Wilderness Preservation System, established a process to be used for designating wilderness areas, and set provisions for the use of wilderness areas.
The intent of the Wilderness Act was to establish wilderness areas “for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness.” Legal wilderness, “in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape,” is “recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”
Four federal agencies manage designated Wilderness in the United States: National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
