Cell Tower Poll

[bwca]

What do you think? Share your opinions.

[VoyageurNorth]

Was the vote for cell towers only? It stated structures and that covers a lot of items.

[Lynnie]

I have mixed feeling on this. On MPR they mentioned building a shorter tower one that wouldn't need the blinking lights, that I could live with.. I just don't want to see the blinking lights at night from any towers. The only good I see from a tower is for emergency communications ONLY. The reason you go to the BWCA is to get away from all electronic's.
Thanks
Lynn From Duluth Minnestoa

[Adam Krause]

No

[Todd Newton]

no cell towers please

[Mindy W. E.]

Okay, well, might be nice in an emergency, though

[Scott Lesnau]

Build it!! First time there is an emergency it will pay off

[Waylon Wolfe]

one of the reasons i go is so i dont have to answer that damn thing

[Jon Dordal]

ABSOLUTELY NOT. The point of being there is to be in solitude away from today's society and media. There are towers that will only provide service to outgoing emergency numbers such as 911. That is the ONLY thing I would consider.

[Brooke E. S.]

No

[Mark Mason]

No way! If you have access to a cell phone then it is no longer a wilderness.

[Brian Nelson]

Definitely no

[VoyageurNorth]

Well, from what I hear, it is going up. Not as high as originally planned.

I wonder if this will help provide cell service to Snowbank? I know that Smitty's on Snowbank Resort doesn't get cell reception, which means their resort customers can't use their cell phones.

[bwca]

ATT has brought it back to court trying to get the full height, I believe.

http://bwcaboard.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2389

For years I thought there was no way to get cell service at my cabin as I lose my Verizon signal about 30 miles before I get to my border lake. A few other cabin owners recently bought the little Verizon network extender box and they now get reception.

[Jeff Olson]

No Towers. Period.

[Chuck Soukup]

This is dumb. The boundary waters are the only place i can go to get away from my wife and now you are trying to f#@k that up for me.

[Justin Linnell]

Don't really want to see any towers or lights out there myself. I go there to get away from it all....

[Emma Schwendeman]

No way. Can you just imagine hearing cell phones ringing out there... count me out!

[Kya Marienfeld]

There are many other ways to communicate with the necessary emergency services from the boundary waters besides cell phones that don't require invasive, unnatural, and obtrusive cell towers. Towers would COMPLETELY change the character of the BWCA. As a guide, I can tell you my company took safety and security while out in the BWCA very seriously, but we've managed for 34 years without cell phones in the BWCA, and we'd be happy to continue that way. Wilderness is wilderness- not "the network."

[Taylor Mcginnis]

NO. The point of going out into nature is to get away from all that. Plus, building cell towers in the BWCA would only disturb the habitats of the wildlife that live there. If you don't want to take the risk, don't go camping.

[Douglas T Edberg]

We live in the modern age and communication tools are a major part of it. While the site of cell towers to some might seem as a negative on the beauty of the BWCA. I would think that their would be good locations that would appease both sides of this discussion to allow for there installation.

[Timothy Greene]

Imagine seeing someone paddeling while on the phone. I see drivers doing this every day on the Beltway.We need to be more aware of our surrondings not less.

[Kathleene Erkenbrack]

Noooooo! Please don't do it. This is one of the main reasons to go there - otherwise people like me would have to go somewhere else...deeper into the woods where there is no service. I don't consider it actually "going into the wilds" if you can place/receive a phone call. Remember the days when you actually had to be home...and not on the other line...and run to make it to the phone in time to get that call. We were all okay then I think we'd continue to be ok without constantly being totally accessible.

[Mike Giefer]

No cell towers!!! That's the whole point of going there... to get away from society.

[Holly Lawson]

No tower! That is the best part about going there. It's like the only place where my husband can't be glued to words with friends!

[Stephanie Rae]

Nooooo

[John Imsdahl]

For every person made safer by cellphones, there will be 10 calls for people needing rescue that shouldn't have been out there in the first place but knew that bail out was just a phone call away. That being said I am not nearly as concerned with cell phone towers as I am with mining.

[Mark Bryan]

Somebody screws up my night sky in the boundary waters with red blinky lit cell towers Im gonna have to take a road trip to put a foot
Up someone's @$$!!!!!! Just fair warning.

[Nardz]

No way!!! Rent a satellite phone if you're that worried about making/receiving calls.

[Terry]

No cell towers! The BWCA is a wilderness area where we can enjoy getting away from it all. There are means of communication already in place should you want them (SPOT, Satellite phones, etc). I know one of the AT&T guys who is pushing for this and he is very ignorant about our wilderness (he's never been there). He doesn't want the towers in the mountains where he hunts, yet he wants them in our wilderness. I live in an area that has recently become a State Recreation Area where canoeing and kayaking is big. We have a tower at the edge that can be seen from throughout a good portion of our paddling area. It really takes away from the scenery.