Troubled Waters: The Fight for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

by Kevin Proescholdt, Miron Heinselman, Rip Rapson

Book by Kevin Proescholdt, Miron Heinselman, Rip Rapson

332 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Kevin Proescholdt has worked to protect Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and other wild places for nearly forty years. A former wilderness guide in the BWCAW, he has written widely about wilderness and wilderness conservation. He helped pass the 1978 BWCAW Act through Congress, the struggle about which he wrote in the 1995 book, Troubled Waters: The Fight for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness published by North Star Press. His 2015 book, Glimpses of Wilderness, is a collection of wilderness essays based on his decades of wilderness travel in the BWCAW. Today he works as the conservation director for Wilderness Watch, a national wilderness conservation organization.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is far more interesting than a book on the passage of a piece of environmental legislation ought to be. It is also scrupulously fair minded: though written by participants on one side of the debate, the other side gets a very fair shake.

[Carlye Proescholdt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive and incredibly detailed account of the fight to save the BWCA. With so many first-hands accounts, by the authors and other interviewees, Troubled Waters makes you feel like you are in the legislative chambers and town halls where the 1978 BWCA Act was debated. If you love wilderness and especially if you enjoy visiting the Boundary Waters, this is a must-read account of the history behind our beloved canoe country. I may be a bit biased, but Proescholdt, Heinselman, and Rapson’s work to not only preserve the BWCA but also to recount the trials and tribulations of protecting this national treasure is truly, for those who love the solitude of wilderness, a bridge over troubled waters!

[Braden Canfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by an old canoeing buddy of mine. Superbly researched and told from the perspective of a man who has dedicated his life to the fight. Excellent read... and a must for all who have been touched by the BWCAW.