Help Nicholas raise money

Hey all!!

This June, a group of us will be running  Grandma's Marathon in support of the Save the Boundary waters collective, helping to raise money and awareness for one of the most beautiful, rugged, and last remaining truly wild areas of the Northern United States. Together, we will use these funds to help protect this area from copper mining— a toxic industry with a long history of destroying environments in natural spaces such as the Boundary Waters.

About the Boundary Waters:

--Formed nearly 170,000 years ago by glaciers carving through ancient rock, the Boundary Waters are a breathtaking wilderness of canyons, lakes, forests, and rugged shoreline. This vast region contains almost 10% of Minnesota’s lakes, forming one of the largest freshwater networks in the world.

-- Indigenous peoples inhabited the region since ~ 8000 BC, beginning with Paleo-Indian cultures and transitioning through Archaic and Woodland traditions. Over thousands of years, these cultural developments eventually gave rise to the Anishinaabe people, including the Ojibwe (also known as the Chippewa), who are the region’s primary Indigenous nation today. The Anishanaabe hold deep spiritual and cultural connections to this area and have long stewarded the land-- fishing, hunting, and harvesting wild rice until French explorers arrived.

-- The Boundary Waters became a vital trade route fostering relationships between the French and Anishinaabe, but when the French-Indian war was lost, much of the land was unjustly ceded to Great Britain and subsequently to the US after it gained its independence. The Ojibwe never regained this territory, but retained rights to hunt, fish, and gather in select areas. Logging and mining changed a lot of the Northern landscape, but the Boundary Waters became protected land in the 20th century, and remains a sacred place to the Anishinaabe people. 

Why I’m running: 

To this day, the Boundary Waters are coveted by people from all around the state-- stories and adventures shared from time spent in here unite Minnesotans through nature, one of the most powerful forces for inspiring, connecting, and grounding those of us who spend time in it. Copper mining is one of the more toxic industries in America— 100 percent of all copper mining projects experience spills and accidental releases into neighboring waterways. The construction of such a mine would have disastrous implications on wildlife, clean water, and the global climate. Not only this, but small businesses and thousands of jobs rely on a healthy wilderness to help source the 16 billion dollar outdoor recreation economy in Minnesota. Right now, the federal government is launching attempts to overturn the 20 year mining ban that has protected these lands. We’re running to make sure that never happens.

Any donation—large or small—makes a difference. Thank you for helping protect these lands, waters, and the rights of Indigenous peoples who have called them home for millennia.

Best,

Nicholas Little