Outdoor filmmakers Tom Deschenes and Andrew Bydlon have launched a Kickstarter to fund the completion of their documentary, 7 Generations. The film focuses on two proposed sulfide-ore copper mines that would threaten Lake Superior and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, some of America’s most precious water resources.
“Up to this point, there’s never been a film of this magnitude documenting this issue,” stated Deschenes. Northern Minnesota is home to Lake Superior, which houses 10 percent of the world’s fresh water, and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, a network of more than 1,100 lakes and rivers that is visited by more than 250,000 adventurers every year. PolyMet Mining and Twin Metals have proposed two sulfide-ore copper mines in this region which have the potential to pollute the surrounding waters and natural environment.
In a December, 2016 letter to the Bureau of Land Management, then-Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell felt that the risk sulfide mining posed was unacceptable.
“A regionally untested copper-nickel sulfide ore mine within the same watershed as the (BWCA) might cause serious and irreparable harm to this unique, iconic, and irreplaceable wilderness area,” Tidwell wrote.
Earlier this year, polling firm Fabrizio Ward released a report stating 70 percent of Minnesotans are against sulfide-ore copper mining in the areas near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
“Here we are in Minnesota, on the edge of some of the most pristine water in the world, and I just can’t fathom that anyone would think that it would be safe to bring the most toxic industry to the very edge, and that it will be OK, because it won’t,” said Peta Barrett, founder of Women’s Wilderness Discovery. “Give it time. There will be heavy metals leached into the water.”
In June, over 6,000 acres of national forest were exchanged to PolyMet to allow the construction of their mine in a controversial addition to the National Defense Spending Bill.
From the leasing of public lands to mining companies in Bear’s Ears National Monument, to the controversial draining of Lake Michigan by a new FoxConn factory, elected officials and international corporations have been leveraging public lands for short-term profits. These mines represent the next step in that long-standing tradition.
7 Generations aims to generate awareness of the threat these mines pose and why this issue matters not just to Minnesota, but to all Americans and lovers of the outdoors around the world. Additionally, 7 Generations will continue to tell the story of the fragile beauty, outdoor recreation, and biological diversity of the greater Arrowhead region of Minnesota. Finally, 7 Generations aims to present that the construction of these mines threatens to destroy the pristine nature of some of America’s most-treasured and enduring water resources.
“My grandfather transferred ownership of the family resort to help create what is now known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area,” Bydlon said. “Protecting a place so meaningful to my family is very important.”
Deschenes and Bydlon have worked together to create commercial films, advertisements and visual branding for clients including Backpacker Magazine, Climbing Magazine, Kokopelli Packraft, Bedrock Sandals, Bote Boards, and Yaktrax, among others. 7 Generations needs your help to save our clean water and to spread this message far and wide.
Learn more, follow the journey and donate here: https://kck.st/2KXmS3s
