Steve Piragis, outfitter and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wildnerness expert

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring

Zack Williams

Outdoors, Wilderness, Sports, Fishing, Outdoor, Hunting, Sports & Recreation

4.6 • 853 Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2018

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Steve Piragis, of Piragis Northwoods Company, is an institution in Ely, Minnesota: the grand old man of Boundary Waters outfitting and perhaps the most eloquent and knowledgeable spokesman for the region’s public lands wilderness since the legendary Sigurd F. Olson. Piragis and Hal meet in Ely to discuss all matters related to the Boundary Waters, including why anybody would want a Chilean company to build a vast copper-nickel mine on a river at the very edge of the most visited wilderness in the United States.

Transcript

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0:00.0	And I just was I just I don't know there's an aesthetic in there. I honestly have never imagined before and it just kind of blew my mind
0:11.3	History here is so incredible you know the Indians use this area for wild rice but
0:16.3	they also burned over big areas intentionally for blueberries you know so it's it's
0:21.4	been slightly manipulated by humans for thousands of years.
0:26.0	It's very subtle and also quiet, you know, it's about the quiet peaceful times and seeing nature.
0:34.0	That's the way it was maybe in 1491, you know,
0:37.2	maybe not, but some of it is.
0:39.8	Unbelievable vibrancy of the economy
0:41.7	that I see based on that beautiful land and this freedom. the something so obvious when you might we just say no we just don't want to break this come
0:54.7	on like this also is economy this also is vibrancy this is this is health societal sanity
1:08.0	all right this is Hal Harry with Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Podcast and Blast.
1:10.0	We are here in Eelie, Minnesota on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Boundary Waters Wilderness.
1:18.0	I'm with Steve Peragas, who has been here a long, long time?
1:23.8	He's a local businessman, runs an outfit in business and all that.
1:27.1	Yeah.
1:27.9	So Steve, on the idea that you know more about yourself and I do.
1:33.3	Tell me, what you do and.
1:36.3	Sure.
1:37.7	Sure.
1:38.3	Well, we run a retail establishment
1:41.0	called Peragous Northwoods, and we're Kune canoe outfeder too. We rent gear and outfit canoe trips into the boundary waters and we've been doing it since 1979.
1:50.0	We have a catalog company as well called the Boundary Waters Catalog.
	...

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