Zinke pushes effort to open land near Boundary Waters Wilderness to mining

By: Micah Drew

Outlets: Daily Montanan

Published: January 28, 2026

Words: 1,389

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 3 days ago

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U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, who co-chairs the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus, was instrumental in passing a vote which overturned a minerals ban on roughly 255,500 acres of National Forest land, paving the way for future mining operations just miles from the popular Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

In a tense debate last Wednesday, Zinke said copper and rare-earth metal mining operations are essential to national security, and are environmentally sound. But conservation groups say …

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