Group opposing sulfide mining to walk from Eagle Rock to Mackinac Bridge

Update from SavetheWildUP:

MARQUETTE -- Beginning Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008, a lively group of dedicated and concerned citizens will WALK with a support team from Eagle Rock on the Yellow Dog Plains (northern Marquette County) to their final destination -- Governor Granholm's walk across the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day, Sept. 1.

View of Salmon Trout River where Kennecott Eagle Minerals, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, plans to put a sulfide mine for nickel and coppper. (Photo from SavetheWildUP)

The team will journey across the Upper Peninsula raising awareness about the potential harmful effects of metallic sulfide and uranium mining. The team believes that the prospect of several new mining operations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan poses major risks to our health and to the Great Lakes precious groundwater and surface water habitat.

"Don’t be fooled. This is NOT just an isolated 'Yooper problem'; nor is it just a 'Michigan problem,'" says Margaret Comfort, head walker of the group. "IT IS A GREAT LAKES PROBLEM. I know how precious these lakes are … how they feed our souls and refresh our spirits. It would be a TRAVESTY to see them destroyed."

The recent increase in mineral exploration by several mining corporations throughout the western region of the Upper Peninsula, including Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company’s focus on the Yellow Dog Plains region of northern Marquette County, has raised concern from over 30 organizations. Opposition groups consider the development of this type of mining, in our water-rich and wild region of the Great Lakes, dangerous to our communities, natural resources, tourism-based economy and ultimately our future generations.

The walking team will be meeting with communities along the way to educate the public about the connection between watersheds and people of the Upper Peninsula and will be encouraging folks to join Governor Granholm for her Annual Walk across the Mackinac Bridge on September 1, 2008 (Labor Day).

To keep current on details of the walk or to make a donation visit these Web sites:
www.savethewildup.org, www.yellowdogwatershed.org and www.northwoodswild.org.

HELP NEEDED!!
Walkers are encouraged to join the group along the way. Business and individual supporters can donate money and/or food and other supplies. Visit SavethewildUP for details on how you can help. See the brochure for a map of the walk and other information.

Poets to read at Ed Gray Gallery Aug. 15

CALUMET -- Visiting poets Ralph Murre and Sharon Auberle will be joined by resident poet Tom Blessing at 7 p.m. this evening, Friday, Aug. 15, as they each read from their collected works at Calumet 's Miskwabik Ed Gray Gallery, 109 Fifth Street.

The program will also feature the launching of the latest book from Miskwabik Press, Keweenaw favorite Joe Kirkish's Superior Seasons, a volume of color photography. The photographer will be on hand for book signing.

The evening will conclude with a reading of Murre's "Psalms" in the voices of Auberle, Blessing and the author, who will also be available to sign copies of his book of art and poetry, available from the Gallery.

Calumet Heritage Celebration underway through Aug. 16

CALUMET -- The 2008 Calumet Heritage Celebration is underway now through Saturday, Aug. 16. Events are scheduled for the whole family -- from a Croatian Cabbage-Roll-Making Class to a two-day Calumet-Keweenaw Sportsman's Show to the Great Deer Chase Mountain Bike Race to the Duquesne University Tamburitzans performing in Agassiz Park Saturday afternoon.

During the 2007 Calumet Heritage Celebration, Helen Stimac, right, of Dodgeville, president of the Croatian Fraternal Union, and Julia Simila of Calumet, active member of the Union, pause for a photo with the Croatian flag. Members of the Croatian Fraternal Union will participate again this year in the Heritage festivities. (Photo © 2007 Gustavo Bourdieu)

Special events for kids on Saturday include old-fashioned children's games in Agassiz Park, the Children's Bike Parade at 10:05 a.m. and the Great Deer Chase Youth Race at 2 p.m. in Downtown Calumet.

Other highlights of the Celebration include the Miss Coppertown Pageant at 7 p.m. in the Calumet Theatre Friday evening, a Traditional Horseshoe Tournament at 8 a.m. Saturday*, the Copper Country Heritage Parade at 10:05 a.m. Saturday and an Open House at the Coppertown Mining Museum from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday including a special Copper Miner's Reunion from 11 a.m. to Noon.

Last year the Heritage horseshoe competition was well attended. Here the photo captures the horseshoe (circled in yellow) in mid-air. You can register for this year's competition on the Main Street Calumet Web site.* (Photo © 2007 Gustavo Bourdieu)

On Saturday, don't miss the free horse-drawn wagon rides, arts and crafts demonstrations and sales and authentic ethnic foods -- from Croatian povitica and cabbage rolls to corn on the cob.

Visit the Main Street Calumet Web site for the complete schedule of events.

*Pre-register for the Horseshoe Tournament on mainstreetcalumet.com or call 906-337-6246.

Editor's Note: More than 100 Mountain Bikers have already pre-registered for the Great Deer Chase Race. Volunteers may still be needed. Contact Marc Norton at gpc49913@charter.net if you can help.

Rosetta Trio to perform chamber music concert at Temple Jacob

HANCOCK -- The Keweenaw audience will have a unique opportunity to hear classical and contemporary chamber music performed in a unique venue when a trio of performers on vacation presents a special concert at Hancock’s historic synagogue, known for its excellent acoustics.

The Rosetta Trio will perform a concert of chamber music at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14, at Temple Jacob in Hancock. The program includes Schubert: Trio in Bb Major; Mozart: Divertimento; Sibelius: String Trio and more. Trio members are violist Sarah Darling, violinist Abigail Karr and cellist Kate Bennett Haynes.

Haynes is a fifth generation Yooper with deep roots in the Copper Country. Her great-great grandparents, the Kargelas, and her great-grandparents, the Stroms, lived in Calumet and Laurium. Her ancestor Ocha Potter, a Tech alum, designed and developed Brockway Mountain Drive and the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge. Currently based in Toronto, Haynes performs frequently with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. At age four, she told her parents, "I want to play the cello."

Temple Jacob is the only active synagogue in Michigan on the National Register of Historic Places.

The concert is free, but donations are appreciated. Parking is available at the bank east of the synagogue or at the marina down the hill.

According to their Web site, the Rosetta Trio will also perform this concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13, at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge in Copper Harbor and from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16, at the Vertin Gallery in Hancock.

For more information about the Trio go to http://www.rosettatrio.com/. For more information about the event, phone 482-3270.

MTU to offer Transatlantic Forest Resources Master's Degree

HOUGHTON --In a first-of-its-kind, transatlantic graduate program, students on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean now can earn dual forest resources master’s degrees from Michigan Technological University and a Finnish or Swedish university.

Michigan Tech and North Carolina State University have received a $224,000 grant from the US Department of Education and the European Union (EU) to partner with the University of Helsinki in Finland and the Swedish University of Agricultural Science in offering a transatlantic dual master's degree program in forest resources and biotechnology. The program is one of 16 just funded by the new US-European partnership called ATLANTIS (Actions for Transatlantic Links and Academic Networks for Training and Integrated Studies) ...

Read the full story by Jennifer Donovan on the MTU Web site.