BWCA Why is Monument Portage cleared? Boundary Waters Listening Point - General Discussion
Chat Rooms (0 Chatting)  |  Search  |   Login/Join
* For the benefit of the community, commercial posting is not allowed.
Boundary Waters Quetico Forum
   Listening Point - General Discussion
      Why is Monument Portage cleared?     
 Forum Sponsor

Author

Text

landoftheskytintedwater
distinguished member(937)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/23/2021 08:58PM  
I crossed Monument Portage for the first time yesterday and it is basically clear cut about 20 yards wide virtually the entire length of the portage. It looks like a fire break or a break you’d see in trees where utility lines are running through. Totally bizarre.
 
      Print Top Bottom Previous Next
TreeBear
distinguished member(520)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/23/2021 09:03PM  
landoftheskytintedwater: "I crossed Monument Portage for the first time yesterday and it is basically clear cut about 20 yards wide virtually the entire length of the portage. It looks like a fire break or a break you’d see in trees where utility lines are running through. Totally bizarre."


Someone may have a little more technical of an answer than me, but here is the simple answer to my understanding. Both the Monument and the Watap portage are cleared (by chainsaw) by the international border commission as part of the international border with Canada. They do that in the BW any time a portage follows the boundary. Most portages along the border are entirely on one side of the border or the other or there are two portages (one on each side.) For some reason, clearing a corridor along the border (even along an uncontrolled border with an ally such as Canada) supersedes wilderness designations and aesthetic/natural values.
 
TreeBear
distinguished member(520)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/23/2021 09:11PM  
Here is the explanation from their website:

"If you look along the International Boundary between Canada and the United States in any forested area, it will appear simply as a 6 metre or 20 foot cleared swath stretching from horizon to horizon, dotted in a regular pattern with white markers. Over mountains, down cliffs, along waterways and through prairie grasses, the line snakes 8,891 kilometres or 5,525 miles across North America, tranquil, undefended but not uncared for. The boundary vista must be entirely free of obstruction and plainly marked for the proper enforcement of the laws of the two nations. The job of keeping the boundary vista in proper condition falls to the International Boundary Commission. The Commission was founded under the Treaty of 1908 for one specific purpose: the complete re-establishment and mapping of the boundary from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The boundary had already been defined by treaty and most of it surveyed by 1874. The fires of national honour, which had flared up over the legalities of boundary location and had coloured American and Canadian relations for 140 years, had been relegated to the history books. But between 1874 and 1908 the boundary had become overgrown and monuments obliterated so that it was necessary to re-establish the border demarcation to avoid any uncertainties that could lead to dispute. In 1925, when it was realized that such maintenance would have to be on a continuous basis, another treaty was signed establishing the Commission as the permanent caretaker of the boundary area and its markers.?"
 
Savage Voyageur
distinguished member(14416)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished membermaster membermaster member
  
05/23/2021 09:51PM  
I’m glad there are people on both sides that take care of our International Border. There should be a defined line to identify our nation from Canada. If they need clear trees to identify that area, so be it. If there is no border, we have no nation.
 
05/24/2021 08:56AM  
Author Porter Fox wrote a book about his travels along the border, “Northland: A 4000 Mile Journey Along America’s Forgotten Border.” I haven’t read it yet but it is on my reading list.
 
cyclones30
distinguished member(4163)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberpower member
  
05/24/2021 12:24PM  
Yeah, I figured it was to mark the border since it's right along the border.
 
andym
distinguished member(5340)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberpower member
  
05/24/2021 01:24PM  
Northland is a superb book that makes you think deeply about what borders mean. It’s also a fun tour along our northern border and spends a chapter in the BW. I picked up my copy from Piragis the day it came out and read it at our cabin. That just made it sweeter.
 
05/24/2021 01:28PM  
It sucks, it has made some areas pretty ugly-here and areas toward Glacier National park. Never needed it for 260 years. It serves no real purpose. Might as well have markers in the middle of the lake also.
 
05/24/2021 02:24PM  
Pinetree: "It sucks, it has made some areas pretty ugly-here and areas toward Glacier National park. Never needed it for 260 years. It serves no real purpose. Might as well have markers in the middle of the lake also."


I agree. A total waste of time and money.
 
05/24/2021 02:28PM  
 
Savage Voyageur
distinguished member(14416)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished membermaster membermaster member
  
05/24/2021 08:35PM  
Pinetree: " clear cut "


I’m just wondering why you said they have never needed it for 260 years? Your own link you posted said they started clearing this and laying down markers in the 1800s when they established the 49th parallel as the border. Someone obviously thought they needed it because they cleared it why back then and put down 8000 markers and wrote all those treaties and established the 49th parallel. I will stand by my first post that says if we don’t have any way to identify our country from another then we don’t have a country. The tiny bit of money used to clear a path on our northern border is a drop in a ocean compared to what this nation spends on a daily basis. So we will respectfully disagree on this point.
 
landoftheskytintedwater
distinguished member(937)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/24/2021 08:46PM  
Very weird. What’s the point? (Asking rhetorically)

Thanks for the reply!

TreeBear: "
landoftheskytintedwater: "I crossed Monument Portage for the first time yesterday and it is basically clear cut about 20 yards wide virtually the entire length of the portage. It looks like a fire break or a break you’d see in trees where utility lines are running through. Totally bizarre."



Someone may have a little more technical of an answer than me, but here is the simple answer to my understanding. Both the Monument and the Watap portage are cleared (by chainsaw) by the international border commission as part of the international border with Canada. They do that in the BW any time a portage follows the boundary. Most portages along the border are entirely on one side of the border or the other or there are two portages (one on each side.) For some reason, clearing a corridor along the border (even along an uncontrolled border with an ally such as Canada) supersedes wilderness designations and aesthetic/natural values."
 
05/24/2021 09:06PM  
I have seen increase use of snowmobiles use these corridors to enter BWCA areas where they don't belong in the first place.
 
Dolpho
member (25)member
  
05/27/2021 04:48PM  
I have great memories of monument portage from many years ago while traveling with my then young daughters. A beautiful undulating trail through the wilderness punctuated by the international border markers.

I arrived last October retracing some of the areas I have been and couldn’t believe my eyes! Looks like a power line clear cut. It appeared that it was cleared within the last few years. I couldn’t help but wonder what tangible difference for border security or marking was accomplished by creating this slash of ugliness in the area we love. I found it emotionally distressing to see the change.
 
05/27/2021 05:53PM  
Dolpho: "I have great memories of monument portage from many years ago while traveling with my then young daughters. A beautiful undulating trail through the wilderness punctuated by the international border markers.


I arrived last October retracing some of the areas I have been and couldn’t believe my eyes! Looks like a power line clear cut. It appeared that it was cleared within the last few years. I couldn’t help but wonder what tangible difference for border security or marking was accomplished by creating this slash of ugliness in the area we love. I found it emotionally distressing to see the change. "


Your answer ZERO increase of border security and it has actually increased pathways or accessibility to cross illegally. Yes it looks like a powerline gong thru. How many billions or just millions to maintain that?
 
      Print Top Bottom Previous Next
Listening Point - General Discussion Sponsor:
Cliff Wold's Outfitting Co.