Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

October 12, 2022

Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,

On September 23 the Michigan Historic Preservation Review Board voted unanimously to support the nomination of Anaem Omot (The Dog’s Belly), the Menominee Tribe’s cultural sites to the National Register of Historic Places. The nominated area is 50 miles upstream from the mouth of the Menominee River and includes the site of the proposed Back Forty mine. The location contains burial grounds, raised agricultural fields and ancient dance rings of cultural significance to the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. The Menominee people occupied the Menominee River area for millennia, until an 1836 Treaty with the U.S. forced them to cede their original territory in Michigan.

by Michele Bourdieu, with information from Earth Justice

September 30, 2022

On June 29, 2022, preceding the Fourth Annual Menominee Canoe Trip held June 30-July 3 by Native and non-Native water protectors, students learn about ancient garden beds, cache pits and burial mounds during a tour of ancient Menominee cultural sites led by Dawn Wilber, who teaches Menominee culture and language at Menominee High School in Keshena, Wis. Ann  Wilber, far right, tells students an ancient story. The sites are part of an area recently nominated by both Wisconsin and Michigan Historical Preservation Review Boards for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. (Keweenaw Now file photo © and courtesy Dawn Wilber)**

LANSING — On September 23, 2022, the Michigan Historic Preservation Review Board voted unanimously to support the nomination of Anaem Omot, a Menominee Tribe cultural landscape bisected by the Menominee River that separates Wisconsin and Michigan, to the National Register of Historic Places. The vote follows several years of advocacy by historians, scientists, and leaders of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin to recognize the cultural and historic resources in the district, including burial mounds, garden beds, and dance rings.

By Michele Bourdieu and Mark Doremus*

Keweenaw Now

September 9, 2022

During the July 23, 2022, Water Celebration to benefit the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Coalition founder Dale Burie, left, presents a Trailblazer award to Ron and Carol Henriksen, leaders of the Front 40 grassroots environmental group, predecessor of the Coalition. Beginning in 2003, the Front 40 fought the Back 40 mining project that threatens the Menominee River until the Coalition took over the work five years ago. (Photo © and courtesy Mark Doremus of Back 40 Film)

MARINETTE, Wis. — The Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River held their second annual Water Celebration on July 23, 2022, at Stephenson Island, Marinette, Wis., featuring guest speakers — Native and non-Native leaders in the public opposition to the Back 40 mining project for gold and other metals. The projected open-pit and underground sulfide mine, first proposed by Aquila Resources and now owned by Gold Resource Corporation, threatens the Menominee River that forms a border between Michigan and Wisconsin.

June 14, 2022

Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,

In July 2009 Aquila Resources President and CEO Tom Quigley told the Lake Township Board, in Menominee County, Michigan that the company expects to receive mining permits for the controversial Back Forty metallic sulfide mine next to the Menominee River in 2010 and begin production as early as 2012. Ten years later Aquila Resources is bankrupt and the mining permits have either been overturned or withdrawn thanks to the combined public education and legal challenges by the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.

Our guests: 

Dr. Al Gedicks, environmental sociologist and Indigenous rights activist

Anahkwet (Guy Reiter), executive Director of Menīkānaehkem, Inc.

Dale Burie, Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River

Wednesday, May 25, 2022, 8:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm CT via livestream on Facebook and Zoom

*NOTE THAT THIS LIVESTREAM IS ON A WEDNESDAY, not our usual Thursday*

Eagle Herald

May 11, 2022

Dear Editor,

Aquila Resources has transferred their interests in the Back Forty project west of Stephenson to Gold Resource Corporation (GORO) of Denver. Those of you who had pur- chased Aquila stock have already received your transfer let- ter informing investors of significantly reduced share num- bers and value.

February 16, 2022

Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council in Medford, Wisconsin in 1982. The major concern of WPRC was the lack of information about the effects of large-scale metallic sulfide mining on our state’s precious water supplies, on the tourism and dairy industries, and upon the many Native American communities that are located near potential mine sites.

Eagle Herald

by Ann Meyer

January 30, 2022