The promise and threat of copper-sulfide mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: How sense of place shapes opinions and perceptions of the recent mining proposals.

(IDSC 398 Interconnected Comps Seminar) This study explores debates over two proposals to mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. Our paper takes an interdisciplinary perspective to consider the economic, environmental, health, political, psychological, and social effects that the mining proposals may enact. After a brief period of fieldwork in a small Minnesota community divided by the debate, we show how stakeholders have divided into pro-mining and pro-conservation camps based upon their sense of place within the landscape, as well as the perceived costs and benefits of the mine to the livelihood, health, and future of their small community