Two years after a protective measure for Minnesota’s Boundary Waters was put in place, there is growing concern that the ban on copper-nickel mining could be reversed. Advocates of the mining effort remain determined to open this wilderness area to development, leaving the fate of a cherished watershed uncertain.

Critics warn that a foreign-owned mining operation, Twin Metals, could jeopardize Minnesota’s Boundary Waters. Questions over economics and watershed pollution underscore the region’s vulnerability to outside interests.