Three hardy water protectors, members of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, spent the July 4th weekend this year on a four-day canoe trip down the Menominee River, which forms a border between Wisconsin and Michigan. Why?
"The reason why we did it was to bring awareness of opposition to the Back 40 mine from the Menominee people and members of other organizations in the Marinette-Menominee area," said Dawn Wilber, Menominee tribal member.
Wilber and her fellow Menominee tribal members Wayne Swett and Jwin Zillier began their journey near the Menominee cultural sites they hope to protect from Aquila Resources' Back 40, a projected open-pit metallic sulfide mine for gold, copper and other metals -- a mine that could send billions of pounds of pulverized, highly reactive acid-generating rock containing lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and other toxic heavy metals into a pit only 147 feet away from the Menominee River, which is considered the origin of life for the Menominee people.
Wilber, who is a teacher of Menominee language and culture at the Menominee Indian High School on the Menominee Reservation where she lives, also said the three Native canoers wanted "to be able to connect with our ancestors and to travel that river as our ancestors once did."
She said the three were grateful for the concerned citizens who helped them along the way and joined them for parts of the trip, including Tina Lesperance, a member of the Coalition to Save the Menominee River, who lives near the river on the Michigan side.
"Tina helped by checking up on us, making sure we were O.K., making sure we had a place to stay or camp for the night," Wilber said.
Wayne Swett, a resident of Menominee, Mich., said he and Wilber, of Keshena, Wis., had planned the canoe trip for a couple of years before it became a reality in July 2019.
"We picked the week before July 4 because there would be a lot of people on the river and we wanted to spread awareness concerning the Back 40 mine," Swett told Keweenaw Now. "We interviewed people along the way, and they were 100 percent against the mine."
Like Wilber, Swett spoke of connecting with their Menominee ancestors.
"We also wanted to do this canoe trip to honor our ancestors and travel as they had when the rivers were basically the highways and there were no vehicles," Swett said.
Wilber noted the eagles they spotted during the trip were guiding them.
"All along the river we counted about nine sets of eagles," she said. They all had a way of guiding us. One circled over rapids, letting us know there were rapids up ahead."
Videographer Anthony J. Corey of Stephenson, Mich., joined the canoers for parts of their trip and shared his videos with Keweenaw Now.
"As long as I breathe the Back 40 project will never become a mine," Corey said.
On another occasion, the canoers observed an eagle and an osprey near an island in the river that was gifted to the Menominee Tribe by Tom Boerner, a local resident who is involved in a contested case challenging the Part 632 Mining Permit for the Back 40.
Swett said he caught a sturgeon and released it the first day on the river. They saw deer walking along the banks and fish jumping out of the river. At one point a five-foot sturgeon jumped out of the river in front of his canoe. Their diet was limited while canoeing.
"We basically lived off venison jerky," he said.
Tina Lesperance was their support system, Swett noted. She had a trailer and helped them portage around dams en route and arranged for them to stay with fellow members of the Coalition to Save the Menominee River.
Lesperance told Keweenaw Now she felt privileged to help the Menominee canoers because the tribal members and the Coalition are fighting the same battle.
"They're fighting for their cultural sites and we're fighting for the river and they're fighting for the river," she said. "The river means a lot to them. The river is named for them because it's their place of origin."
Lesperance noted she believed the three Menominee canoers had their ancestors and the eagles taking care of them on the trip, since everything worked out so well for them.
"It was an emotional journey of the heart for them, but they also had a lot of fun," she said.
The three were able to stay at Tina's friend Sue Tasker's cabin near the river one night instead of camping at Tina's father's place, so they enjoyed dinner, breakfast and a shower.
On the third night, after missing a campground where they had planned to stay, the three stayed with Tina's friends Gail and Roger Meyer, who served them a hearty dinner and breakfast and also joined them in kayaks for the final day of the trip.
In addition to the Meyers, several supporters joined Wayne, Jwin and Dawn in canoes and kayaks on the fourth and final day of the trip, heading for the Ancestral Bear in Marinette, Wis.
As the group passed large vessels on the river, the water was sometimes a bit rough in the wind, but little Harold Lesperance kept on paddling, pausing only to enjoy some natural wonders.
The paddlers happily approached their destination, the symbolic Ancestral Bear in Marinette, Wis., where other supporters would welcome them.
Jwin Zillier told Keweenaw Now what she learned from the canoe trip.
"I did the canoe ride down the Menominee River for my ancestors, who paddled this river years before me," Jwin said. "While riding on the river, seeing all that nature has to offer us and not taking more than we need only confirmed for me how greedy Aquila is to strip mother earth of her natural riches. They will never realize our need to conserve and protect the water, trees, animals, etc. We have enough of these metals on earth. We should just recycle and think of others."
The Bear in Marinette, Wis., is a replica of the original sculpture on the Menominee Reservation (in Wisconsin), which is 60 miles west of the Menominee River mouth.
Wayne Swett explained the significance of the Bear placed at the Marinette location.
"That's where the Menominee were supposed to have originated from a bear that climbed out of the river," he said.
According to Menominee culture, their sacred place of origin is located at the mouth of the Menominee River in the border cities of Menominee, Mich., and Marinette, Wis. It was here that their ancestral Bear, Eagle, Wolf, Moose and Crane (their five major clans) were transformed into human form and thus became the first Menominee.*
"The trip was an amazing voyage," Dawn Wilber said. "It would be an absolute crime to ruin that absolute beauty."
Wilber noted since the trip others have told her they would love to do a similar trip, even if only for one day.
"I know next summer I want to do it again," she added. "After this trip I went out and bought a canoe!"
* Read more about the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin on their Web site.
Editor's Update: We have corrected a few names and details since first posting today. Thanks to Tina Lesperance and Dawn Wilber for corrections.
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