This summer marks the 30th anniversary of the boundary waters canoe area wilderness act of 1978.

It's over one–million acres.

And the administration of the boundary waters has caused some hard feelings over the decades.

Pat Kelly has been gathering perspective over the last couple of weeks.

Michelle, for entry cities like Ely, the boundary waters area provides so much of their income.

And with that dependence come emotions that spring from strong feelings for the area and the way of life it provides.

Marty Breaker is still angry.

"I'm not against the forest service; they do a lot of great things – and I'm not against the b.w.c.a. Bill, either. I love the boundary waters and would like everybody to enjoy it. But what was really bad was the administrators and the bureaucrats at the forest service – what I consider gestapo–like tactics that they used to further their own agendas and to destroy people's lives without any consideration for what they were doing. It just goes so against the american value system."

US army colonel Martin Breaker knows something about the American value system: for the last three years, he took charge of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq – to make sure none of the abuses from early in the Iraq war ever happened there again.

Thirty years ago, Breaker's family ran Snowbank Lodge.

"We were the largest resort in northeast Minnesota in '78 when the boundary waters act came into effect. We had 25 cabins and 18 motel rooms; 100–seat dining room, rented out boats, motors; tackle shop – really, a very large operation."

Negative publicity about the federal buyout program in 1978 cost the family 64% of their reservations for 1979.

"So we decided that there was no hope."

Slow administration of the buyout caused the foreclosure of the resort.

And after eight years of litigation, Breaker and his wife cleared $500 after legal fees, mortgages, foreclosure and debt...on a resort appraisers told him was worth nearly $1.5 million.

Breaker reads from what he says is a forest service memo that shows he and his family – as the plaintiffs – were targeted:

"If the plaintiffs had accepted the government's offer in '80 and invested that sum in a conservative rate of interest, they would be further ahead financially than waiting for the court decision. This decision does not give other resort owners great incentive to litigate the compensation issue.'" pk: "you were made an example of." Breaker: "we were made an example of. Exactly right."

"All I can tell you is the process that Mr. Breaker – what the offer was – the offering from the forest service from the government, was the same thing that was offered to everyone else and that really was an individual choice in that case to challenge that."

Kris reichenbach works for the U.S. forest service.

She says resort buyouts were just part of a huge federal expenditure.

"Part of the implementation of the 1978 act was a series of loans, grants, educational activities and it was to help the communities and the businesses to transition: from 'motorized' to 'non–motorized;' to downsize their boats; working with them to – we understood that this was a big change."

But pressure on folks making a living around the boundary waters wilderness continued.

Just one example: a subsequent court case required the closure of some motorized portages as stipulated by the 1978 act:

"In a 1988 court case, the court re–defined the word 'feasible.' after extensive testing at three truck portages – including here at four–mile – the university of minnesota and the department of natural resources determined that it was not 'feasible' to push a boat with a week's worth of camping supplies across four miles of hills, brush, overgrowth and beaver dams. Therefore, it was recommended that a motorized portage should be allowed. But a conservation group convinced the court to re–define the word 'feasible' to mean 'possible.' and since it is 'possible' to make the portage, motors were not allowed."

"To be sure, there are some hard feelings about the way the area is managed, with increasing restrictions over the use that was committed in the '78 boundary waters wilderness legislation. But I think with time and with equitable management, those matters can be mitigated and a full reconciliation accomplished."

Some, like Marty Breaker, have not been appeased.

Breaker: "I'm not afraid to fight them. Other people are intimidated by them, maybe, but I'm not. So, I've been shot at for the last three years – rocketed and mortared and everything else – forest service guys don't scare me."

People like Ely mayor Charlie Novak still hope for balance.

"It's been a tough balancing game between legislators, residents and visitors and everybody as to how it should be managed and what should be permitted and not permitted."

Michelle, about $3 million annually is use tax just out of the city of Ely alone.

So a city like Ely would want more expansion...and more access to the boundary waters...

When you're trying to make a living; sure you would!

But despite that, they still realize that over–development will damage the very wilderness they depend on.