Two events are planned in the Duluth area on Saturday, Sept. 11, as part of a national celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act which created the National Wilderness Preservation System, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Both events are free, and pre-registration is not necessary.
The Wilderness Walk and Celebration will be held at 10 a.m. at Spirit Mountain soccer field parking lot on Grand Avenue, west of 85th Ave West. The event will include a program and a two or five mile hike on the newest section of the Superior Hiking Trail. The shorter hike begins at the soccer field and is one mile uphill and one mile back on the same trail. A shuttle will take hikers from the soccer field to the beginning of the longer hike, which follows a five mile gradual downhill trail back to the parking lot. There will also be a wilderness display and family activities.
The Wilderness Film Festival will be held from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Bohannon Hall on the University of UMD campus. High definition technology will be used to present the films. "International Wild Places" will be presented from 2:05 p.m. to 3:05 p.m. "North American Wild Places" from 3:20 p.m. to 4:25 p.m. A dinner break will be held from 4:25 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. The film "Forest Change: The Aftermath of the 1999 Blowdown" will be presented from 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. "American Values, American Wilderness" from 6:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. and "The Northwoods through the Lens of Jim Brandenburg" from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
For more information on these events, or other information regarding the 40th anniversary Wilderness Celebration, stop by a Superior National Forest office or check out the Forest Web site at http://www
.fs.fed.us/r9/superior.
