Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

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.

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*