Rosa Musket of Marquette shows a little one some steps in planting a garden on Eagle Rock. (Photo courtesy Stand for the Land)EAGLE ROCK -- One month ago on April 23, native and non-native people from around the Great Lakes took a peaceful stand at Eagle Rock, Migi zii wa sin, to protect the water, public land rights and their way of life from proposed metallic sulfide and uranium mining in the Great Lakes region.
Since then, hundreds of people have visited the site to camp and to help support the campers by bringing supplies -- including wood for the sacred fire, food and water. Two weeks ago, a small garden was started by visitors to help beautify the site on an area of public land that had been bulldozed by Kennecott/Rio Tinto. As of this weekend, for a one-month anniversary, the garden became officially known as the "Eagle Rock Community Garden." Community members gathered to expand the garden and help plant miskomin (raspberries), potatoes, native flowers, as well as mushkeekiwinun (medicines) including ahsayma (tobacco).
Eagle Rock Community Garden. (Photo courtesy Stand for the Land)Despite Kennecott’s response to the peaceful stand -- saying that participants "have an interest in expressing their viewpoint on the project…and we're not going to interfere with that" -- the company has begun to fence in the encampment, threatening the community garden and closing off the access trail to a freshwater spring where the group has been gathering its drinking water. Read more on Stand for the Land ...
Update: See the video clip, "Expanding the Eagle Rock Community Garden."
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