from the Menominee Nation News:
Peshtigo Times
Issue Date: July 22, 2021
Stephenson Island was packed on July 16th in honor of the Menominee River. The proposed Back 40 Mine project has been seen as a threat to the Menominee River for almost 20 years since the project was first proposed in 2003. Born from the desire to protect the Menominee River’s clean drinking water and sacred indigenous sites, the Coalition to Save the Menominee River has been working steadily to promote awareness about the dangerous effects of the mine. The July 16th gathering included speeches from experienced individuals, live music, a raffle, and much more to celebrate this special river.
by Maya Shimizu Harris
July 20, 2021
MARINETTE—The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, the Indigenous Caucus of the Western Mining Action Network and the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River came together on Stephenson Island Friday to protest the proposed Back Forty Mine and celebrate the waters of the Menominee River.
After keynote speeches by representatives of each group, five generations of Menominee women garbed in long, vibrant skirts lined up from eldest to youngest in front of small, copper-colored vessels to partake in a ceremony blessing the waters of the Menominee River. Shortly thereafter, the crowd took up their signs and walked across the bridge to downtown Menominee in protest of the mine.
by Laina G. Stebbins
July 17, 2021
For years, Indigenous and environmental groups have been standing up against Calgary-based Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, arguing a rupture could harm the areas’s freshwater and ecosystem. And about 200 miles west across Lake Michigan, in the far reaches of the Upper Peninsula, a similar story is unfolding.
On Friday, nearly 300 activists and tribal citizens gathered on small Stephenson Island in Wisconsin — a stone’s throw from the bridge separating it from Michigan — in a joint effort to protect the river that encircles it.
by Grace Blair
July 16, 2021
MARINETTE, Wis. (WLUC) – The Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River celebrated clean and accessible water in the Menominee River on Friday. The Menominee River was blessed during a water ceremony performed by the Menominee Indian Tribe.
“It celebrates the connection between the people in Menominee River and the sacredness of the water, especially to the native people of the area,” said Dr. Al Gedicks, executive secretary of the Wisconsin Resource and Protection Council.
by Carol Amour
June 10, 2021
The open pit mine that the company intends to dig out of land a mere 150 feet from the Menominee River in Michigan would be deeper than the height of the tallest building in Wisconsin, at 750 feet. The proposed mine will extract gold and sulfide from the banks of the river.
June 10, 2021
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
Ever since Aquila’s Wetlands Permit was overturned in a contested case last January, the company has been in a downward spiral that has drained its finances and called into question the future of the Back Forty mining project. Aquila’s recent announcement that they are planning to sell their interests in the Reef deposit in Marathon County and the Bend deposit in Taylor County (https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2021/06/01/aquila-sell-wisconsin-mineral-interests-focus-back-forty-mine/5289825001/) is only a symptom of a much larger set of problems.
by Al Gedicks
May 30, 2021
Al Gedicks
May 31 is National Dam Safety Awareness Day. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources notes that this day was established to commemorate the 2,200 people who died in the 1889 South Fork Dam failure near Johnston, Pennsylvania. In the new era of extreme weather events, water retention dams are at high risk of failure.
Over two days in August 2018, four western Wisconsin counties were hammered by heavy rains that caused two dam failures and damaged five more dams. Vernon County got 10 inches of rain, destroying buildings, roads and bridges.
28 May 21
The Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin sent a mine developer back to the drawing board after a legal battle over sacred sites and water contamination.
t’s no accident that the river that divides the places known today as Wisconsin and Michigan bears the same name as the Menominee Tribe. The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin lived along the Menominee River for thousands of years, and evidence of their ancestral past — including sacred sites, such as dance rings and burial mounds — still line its banks.
“ WATER CELEBRATION “
FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2021
STEPHENSON ISLAND, WISCONSIN
12:00 Noon: Event Opening
Bring Your Lawn Chairs
1:30 pm: Special Guest Speaker:
Dr. Al Gedicks
1:50 pm: Western Mining Action
Network (WMAN) Speech
2:10 pm: Menominee Nation Speech
2:30 pm: BLESSING OF THE WATERS
CEREMONY
3:30 pm: “River’s Edge Trio”
Performance & Raffle Drawing
Custom-Built Guitars appraised at
$4,500.00
4:00 pm Bridge Walk w/ Signs To
the demonstration site
6:00 pm: Return to Stephenson Island to
