January 31, 2024
by Al Gedicks
Ojibwe environmental and treaty rights activist Walt Bresette will be inducted posthumously into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame (WCHF) in a virtual ceremony on April 17, 2024. Bresette will join over 100 members inducted since the Hall of Fame’s inception, including Aldo Leopold, Nina Leopold Bradley, John Muir, Gaylord Nelson and Menominee Nation environmentalist Hilary Waukau, Sr.
October 30, 2023
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
In June 2023 the National Park Service added Anaem Omot (“The Dog’s Belly”), a Menominee Nation cultural landscape along the Menominee River near Stephenson Michigan, to the National Register of Historic Places. Tribal Historic Preservation Director David Grignon said the listing “has been a long time in coming, but now our sacred sites, mounds and historic sites on the Menominee River at Sixty Islands are recognized.” Menominee tribal chairperson Gena Kakkak added, “Our ancestors can now rest better in their places of burial. Our original spiritual and ceremonial grounds are recognized, and our children can continue to learn and find their heritage in our places of origin.”
October 5, 2023
by Al Gedicks
The end of this month, Oct. 28, marks the 20th anniversary of the historic victory over the controversial Crandon mine project adjacent to the Mole Lake Sokaogon Ojibwe Reservation.
Veterans of that 28-year (1975-2003) battle against the Crandon metallic sulfide mine will gather on the Mole Lake Reservation on Oct. 28 to commemorate the grassroots environmental, sportfishing and tribal victory over the world’s largest energy company (Exxon) and the world’s largest mining company (BHP Billiton).
September 1, 2023
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River
October 28th marks the 20th anniversary of the historic victory over the controversial Crandon mine project adjacent to the Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa Reservation. Veterans and supporters of the 28-year (1975-2003) battle against the Crandon metallic sulfide mine will gather on the Mole Lake Reservation to commemorate the grassroots environmental, sportfishing and tribal victory over the world’s largest energy company (Exxon) and the world’s largest mining company (BHP Billiton).
June 7, 2023
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
Despite assuring shareholders that the Gold Resource Corporation (GORO) would have all of the necessary mine permits in hand by the end of 2022, they have not even applied for any permits to date. However, on January 23, 2023, GORO filed a petition with the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) to reject the nomination of Anaem Omot (The Dog’s Belly) historic and cultural site by the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. The nominated area along the Menominee River contains burial grounds, raised agricultural fields and ancient dance rings of cultural significance to the Menominee Nation.
Check out Rise Up Midwest’s podcast on “Critical Mineral Mining,” featuring Al Gedicks, here: https://riseupmidwest.org/podcast/
February 22, 2023
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
When the Gold Resource Corporation (GORO) acquired the bankrupt Back Forty Project from Aquila Resources, they told their shareholders that “We fully anticipate that this project is going to be relatively easy to permit.” Allen Palmiere, GORO ‘s CEO also said “We intend to place the Back Forty Project into production on an accelerated basis, funded by cash flow generation.” That was in September 2021. In February 2023 GORO has yet to complete an economic feasibility study, a necessary step prior to submitting all five mine permit applications to Michigan’s Dept. of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).
by Karl Fate
Tom Tiffany’s mining fantasies have not been working out. He authored what may go down as one of the worst laws ever written, designed to create a low cost iron mine by removing the top of the Penokee Hills and filling in the headwaters of the Bad River, a major river feeding Lake Superior, with the mine wastes. It did not end well for Mr. Tiffany.