Photos: Friends of the Boundary Waters on Bde Maka Ska
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Friends of the Boundary Waters led a paddling event on Saturday at Bde Maka Ska Park in Minneapolis.
“This is a place that people have used for thousands of years,” said Deb Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo and the nation’s first Native American cabinet secretary. “Our ancestors in this area used that to navigate to places where they needed to go. There’s a lot of history and culture.”
Haaland is running for the Democratic nomination for governor of New Mexico. She was in Minneapolis for a fundraiser.
“There's only one place like the Boundary Waters in the entire world,” she said. “It restores people.”
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Many of the canoeists at the event had participated in the “No Boundaries To The Boundary Waters” outdoor education program sponsored by the nonprofit.
Mauricio Barreto, a high school senior, said his trips gave him a deeper connection to the Minnesota wilderness.
“I feel more passionate about conservation and keeping it the way it is, especially the Boundary Waters, after seeing how beautiful it can be up there,” Barreto said.
Juniper Chamberlain also participated in the program.
“It gave me this realization that everything in nature has language,” Chamberlain said. “It just really made me feel connected to the world around me.”
