A Little History: Since its very first land use plan in 1924, Florence County has sought to optimize the outdoor experience on the Pine and Popple Rivers

Where is the Wildness? State legislation established that the Pine and Popple Rivers would be Wild on the basis of being natural, free flowing, and protected from development, but wild-ness is not a place, it’s an experience. 

Go with the Flow: Be it through beauty, the serenity of quiet water, the mystery and wonder of the great northwoods, or intimidating exhilarance of full-flowing waterfalls the wildness of a river is in the experiencing of flowing water.

Explore new ways to experience river: In Robert MacFarlane’s book, The Wild Places, he writes: “I had learned to see another type of wildness, to which I had once been blind: the wildness of natural life, the sheer force of ongoing organic existence, vigorous, and chaotic.  This wildness is not about asperity [harshness] but about luxuriance, vitality, and fun.”