Interior Secretary Haaland issues Public Land Order 7917 imposing 20-year mining ban

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issues Public Land Order 7917, withdrawing more than 225,504 acres of Superior National Forest land, upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, from mineral and geothermal leasing for 20 years. The order protects the Rainy River watershed, the 1854 Ceded Territory, and downstream Voyageurs National Park from sulfide-ore copper mining. The U.S. Forest Service's environmental assessment, which informed the order, received 675,000 public comments, of which over 95 percent favored protection.