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.
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.
by Ann Meyer
January 30, 2022
MENOMINEE—Opponents of the Back Forty mine project near Stephenson viewed two news events concerning mines in Minnesota last week as promising in their fight against a corporation interested in digging a mine west of the City of Stephenson.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s decision to reject pending mineral lease rights and prospecting permits for Twin Metals in a national forest near the Boundary Waters in Minnesota was considered a victory for anti-mining activists, while a Minnesota Court of Appeals order delayed a decision on a Poly Met mine near fresh water. The court referred the case back to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for further study.
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.
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.
