July 1949 (age 50)

The beginning of the month was accompanied by a burst of bad publicity for Sigurd and other conservationists hoping to ban airplanes from the canoe country. Outdoor writer Jack Connor of the Minneapolis Star wrote a seven-article series that quoted freely from airplane supporters and ignored or misrepresented statements from conservationists. Connor falsely accused Sigurd of flying in the equipment and personnel for the filming of "Wilderness Canoe Country," and wrongly claimed that the Izaak Walton League and conservationist Frank Hubachek reserved the mineral rights on roadless area land that they had given or sold to the Forest Service. "The moneyed forces interested here have never been brought to light," he said ominously.

Connor presented no opportunity for rebuttal. His "evidence" in Sigurd's case was the indirect quote of an unnamed Ely guide. In the other two cases, he was factually correct but his implication was entirely off base. It was true that Hubachek and the League didn't turn over the mineral rights on some canoe country parcels they gave to the Forest Service. The reason, however, was not, as Connor implied, because they wanted to retain these rights for themselves; instead, they could not give away or sell the mineral rights because the rights still belonged to previous owners of the properties. Hubachek received an apology from the paper's vice-president, but the damage had been done.

But not all of July's news was bad. Sigurd succeeded in getting both of Minnesota's senators, Edward J. Thye and Hubert H. Humphrey, to send letters to President Truman in support of the airspace reservation. Humphrey, in fact, used a draft that Sigurd wrote for him. By the end of the month the proposal was formally in the hands of John Steelman, Assistant to the President.

July 1964 (age 65)

This was another difficult month for Sigurd because of the ongoing controversy over management of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. (See "This Month" for May and June 1964.) To make matters worse for Sigurd and other wilderness activists, the National Park Service chose this inopportune time to formally announce its proposal to establish Voyageurs National Park along the international border in northern Minnesota. Newspapers from Duluth through International Falls, already often opposed to wilderness status for the BWCA, saw the new proposal as yet another federal land grab. By the end of the month, Sigurd was more than ready to leave Ely and take what would turn out to be his final wilderness expedition with the Voyageurs, a 400-mile paddle from Winnipeg to Hudson Bay. Writing to his wife, Elizabeth, from Winnipeg on July 24th, the eve before the start of the canoe trip, Sigurd said:

I am feeling fine and know the trip will go well. This is what I need more than anything else. It seems so good to get away from controversy and tension. And please try to shed all of this while I'm gone....You are such a good soldier for fighting my battles with me. I can't tell you how much it means to me to have you with me all the time.... Many thanks Sweet for all the many things you did to get me ready. Please now take some rest & catch up on sleep and all the other things. Always the old question "When are you going to slow down and quit all the things you are doing and write some more books?" They all feel I should make the break soon, so perhaps that is the thing to do. Pick the right time & do it. We can get along I know. Everything will work out for the best....I love you more than anything in the whole world.