Yellow Dog Summer to hold Protect the Earth Summit Aug. 2-3 in Marquette

MARQUETTE -- Yellowdog Summer invites the public to join a Protect the Earth Summit On the Shores of Gichigami (Lake Superior) on Saturday, Aug. 2, in Marquette and Sunday, Aug. 3, at Eagle Rock.

Eagle Rock rises above the Yellow Dog Plains, potential site for Kennecott Minerals' proposed Eagle Project sulfide mine. (Photo © 2007 Sue Ellen Kingsley)

The event is part of an effort to take back the land from multinational corporations and protect our freshwater from metallic sulfide and uranium mining.

Workshops will be held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2, in the University Center (UC) Explorer rooms, 2nd floor, at Northern Michigan University (NMU). A rally including speakers and music will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday night from at the bandshell on Presque Isle in Marquette. In case of rain, the rally will be held at NMU’s UC Explorer rooms.

Speakers will include Susan La Fernier, vice-president, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community; Paula Sherman, co-chief, Ardoch Algonquin and First Nations Rights activist; Al Gedicks, author, filmmaker and Wisconsin mining activist; Laura Furtman, author, Wisconsin Flambeau Mine expert; Fred Rydholm, local historian and landowner on the Yellow Dog Plains; Skip Jones, Wisconsin folk singer, educator and social activist; and more.*

Sunday morning, Aug. 3, will include a walk to Eagle Rock on the Yellow Dog Plains -- rain or shine. All those who join are invited to a celebratory picnic feast on the plains and a camp out. Bring blueberry pails!

On Eagle Rock, a staff with two carved fish dangling from its point bears the carved message SACRED WATERS SACRED LAND. (Photo © 2007 Sue Ellen Kingsley)

"Yellow Dog Summer," according to the group's Web site, "intends to rally citizens from the Great Lakes Region and, specifically, communities along Lake Superior to stop Kennecott’s Eagle Project on the Yellow Dog Plains. The group will also do what it can to assist citizen movements opposing metallic sulfide mining in other parts of the UP, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario. We chose to stop the Kennecott project as a first step for the group, as this project is further along and could set a dangerous precedent for the future of our public lands and freshwater resources. Because Kennecott’s project is located on the Yellow Dog Plains, Yellow Dog Summer was named to honor this specific ecosystem."

Yellowdog Summer follows a set of principles developed by the Women’s Peace Camp at Seneca, New York, in 1983. These include an attitude of openness and respect without engaging in physical or verbal violence toward anyone they encounter. They will not bring or use any drugs or alcohol other than for medical purposes; they will carry no weapons; and they will not run.

*Editor's Notes: Visit the Yellowdog Summer Web site for the workshop schedule, complete list of speakers and detailed directions to Eagle Rock.

Susan La Fernier was one of four citizens from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula who attended Rio Tinto’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center (QEII), in London, England, last April. The other three were Gabriel Caplett from Yellow Dog Summer and Northwoods Wilderness Recovery, Cynthia Pryor from the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve and Fran Whitman from Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK). Read Gabriel Caplett's article, "UP Citizens and KBIC Vice-President Address Rio Tinto Board, in London" on the Northwoods Wilderness Recovery Web site.

In a recent article on Save the Wild UP, "Rio Tinto's CEO Brett Clayton Sneaks through Town," Clayton had agreed at the April meeting in London to hold a public meeting with the mine opposition back in the United States. He visited the U.P. this past week; but, according to the article, he "only took time to meet with the Lake Superior Community Partnership and the Marquette County Ambassadors." Read the article on Save the Wild UP.