You never know what a canoe trip can do to bring people together.
Three people representing widely varying interests sat together at the Tuesday, September 14, 2010 county board meeting to invite commissioners to join them in a cooperative venture called the Heart of the Continent Partnership (HOCP). The first some people heard of it was last summer when 60 participants took turns paddling a 27-foot canoe through 350 miles of wilderness on either side of the northeastern Minnesota/ western Ontario border in conjunction with the 100th anniversaries of Quetico Provincial Park and Superior National Forest.
Friends of the Boundary Waters Executive Director Paul Danicic, Grand Portage National Monument Superintendent Tim Cochrane, and Arrowhead Coalition for Multiple Use Treasurer Dick Parker were enthusiastic about the initiative.
The Heart of the Continent ecosystem is an interconnected whole divided by all sorts of boundary lines: national parks and forests, state and provincial parks and forests, county land, and private property as well as an international border – divisions that according to a March 2010 Heart of the Continent fact sheet “have historically posed barriers to collaboration.”
Danicic believes the success of “gateway” communities that border natural areas is intertwined with the land around them. He is familiar with a collaborative approach, and he is confident that diverse groups can work together for everyone’s benefit. During his 10 years as the director of Camp Menogyn (up the Gunflint Trail), he said, camps that were competing for kids would share information with each other on how to compete well.
Commissioner Jim Johnson concurred. “It’s building a network of relationships among groups that are often in conflict with each other,” he said.
Commissioner Bob Fenwick hoped the initiative would remain mostly a facilitator of discussion rather than an advocacy group. He suggested that county commissioners steer clear of becoming member participants, suggesting that they stay “at arm’s length.” He hoped the intention to support the economic vitality of gateway communities would continue.
The opening comment at almost every meeting, said Dick Parker, has been that they are a nonpartisan group working together for the common good and for economic vitality.
Heart of the Continent is not currently a membership organization, but rather considers itself a “loose network.” At least 25 organizations have participated in quarterly meetings throughout the region. Paul Danicic said he hopes this will help build a regional identity.
Commissioner Jan Hall supported the invitation for a county board delegate to attend the meetings and volunteered to be that delegate. “I think it’s important that we have someone there to see how things are unfolding,” she said. Theboard appointed Hall to attend the meetings.
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