Feb
6
Camping With Children In Minnesota
February 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Each year one quarter of a million people will make their way North to the Northwoods of Minnesota to have a one on one visit with nature and the environment. Often Childrens first experience to take part in these wild Adventures comes from aMinnesota Summer Camp.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) is an untouched by man, natural area, located in the northeastern corner of the state of Minnesota. Nearly 150 miles of International Boundary make up this This 1.3 million acres. The Canadians protected areas are Canada’s Quetico Provincial Park and Voyageurs National Park. The BWCA contains over 1200 miles of canoe routes, 11 hiking trails and approximately 2000 designated campsites. And we won’t even mention what seems to be 1000 of Portages. This is what makes the Boundary Water one of the best canoeing areas in the world.
Something special happens, in this Minnesota natural area. Its the challenge and personal integration with nature that seems to offer freedom to those who wish to pursue an experience of expansive solitude. This Natural Wildlife area in Minnesota is a treasure. One realizes they are alone. Thsi is what it must have been like hundreds of years before the first strip shopping center. Trips to this area require all participants to be independent and self-sufficient. As you paddle days pass before you see any signs of civilization.
The combination of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Canada’s Parks form one of the world’s great wilderness areas; the largest international area set aside for wilderness recreational purposes in the world. For thousands of years, the area has served as a travel corridor for native peoples and, more recently, as one of the main routes to the west for European explorers and fur traders. The so-called Voyageurs’ Highway ran through Canada and Minnesota. Today its quiet waters and non-mechanized mode of travel serve as a haven from the pressures of modern-day living
So how did this come to be? Here is the short form.
July 10, 1930, the Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act, the first statute in which Congress expressly orders land be protected as “wilderness,” is signed into law by President Herbert Hoover
September 3 1964, the Wilderness Act, U.S. is signed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, establishing the U.S. wilderness preservation system and prohibiting the use of motorboats and snowmobiles within wilderness areas except for areas where use is well established within the Boundary Waters, defining wilderness as an area “where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man . . . an area of undeveloped . . . land retaining its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements.” This date is considered by many to be the birth of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
Find the Bestt Summer Camps in Minnesota.
Swift Nature Camp is a Minnesota Overnight Summer Camp for boys and girls ages 6-15. Our focus is to blend traditional summer camp with a Science Summer Camp increasing a child’s appreciation for nature, science and the environment.
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