WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast

The Whartons are a northwoods family of five who carve out time each year for at least one annual trip in the Boundary Waters. Kristin DeArruda Wharton and Nick Wharton talk about their family wilderness traditions and impart their shared wisdom about "getting out there" with kids. They also tell some of their favorite family paddling stories--accumulated over the past 21 years, including their youngest son Eli's dramatic rescue out of Wabakimi Provincial Park in July of 2026, due to surrounding wildfires.

Jasmine Baerg and Nancy Moundalexis both worked as USFS Resource Advisors on the West Zone of the Wilderness during an active 2026 wildfire season. In this interview we learn more about the work that Resource Advisors do in the field to help train and assist firefighting crews, which sometimes includes teaching firefighters how to paddle canoes and locate campsites in the Wilderness. Working alongside firefighting crews, the role of a Resource Advisor is to help lessen the long-term impacts of wildfire-supression efforts in ecologically sensitive areas like the BWCAW.

The story of the 2026 canoe season in the Boundary Waters will be marked by wildfire, which forced many travelers to change their trip plans and explore other places in their quest to find a safe place to paddle. Tina Breister and Krystal Westfahl are two paddlers who had planned an extensive, three-week trip in the BWCAW, but had to pivot when their permit was cancelled and the BWCAW, Quetico and Wabakimi Provincial Parks were all closed due to dangerous wildfire conditions. In this episode, we hear their story and learn how their alternative trip to the Woodland Caribou Provincial Park in Ontario challenged them and caused them to re-think the focus of future trips. They describe the stark beauty and simultaneously hard conditions of the fire-scarred landscape, making them what Tina calls "ironic fire refugees." It was a difficult trip that left them asking the question "who are we without trees"?

When this episode was recorded and later posted on July 23, 2026, Ely resident and Wilderness guide LynnAnne Vesper had been evacuated from her home due to the Camp Fire--the closest of several fires burning in the Superior National Forest, the Boundary Waters Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park. The fires were ignited during a lightening storm that moved across the region and into Ontario, Canada on July 7th, 2026. When the evacuation order was issued, Vesper was on a Boundary Waters trip in the numbered lakes area east of Ely. In this candid conversation, she shares her thoughts on "the unprecedented nature of these fires," including her personal observations on the conditions that were present in the Wilderness before the storm moved through, including the prevalence of dead Balsam Fir trees caused by Spruce Budworm, unusually hot, dry weather and other factors that created explosive fire conditions across the region. Vesper also explains her understanding of the term "natural" fire and what she views as public misconceptions about the history of wildfire in the Boundary Waters, and gives an update on smoke conditions and community morale in Ely. We also speak with Erik Carlson, fire technician and "burn boss" for the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, who offers historical and cultural context about fires, prescribed burns and wildfire management as it relates to the BWCAW. To follow current wildfire and evacuation updates visit the Superior National Forest Incident Information page.

Paul Schurke is a business owner and winter adventurer from Ely, Minnesota. In this episode Paul shares stories about the deep human history of the Kawishiwi Triangle and the White Iron Chain of lakes, including the site of a Laurel-era settlement on Birch Lake and the Ojibwe and Finnish cultural history of those waterways. He also updates us on two recent maps that feature Ojibwe names for lakes in that part of the Border Country, in collaboration with Gakijiwanong First Nation (Lac LaCroix) and the Bois Forte Ojibwe band. Paul also shares his thoughts on proposed copper mining close to the Wilderness and how new mining relates to the old mining history of the area which predates modern times.