The Gichigaming Water Walk was Gogebic County’s largest environmental justice event in over a decade. On September 14, 2024, members from multiple Tribal Nations along with non-Native allies carried water 31 miles from the town of Ironwood, Mich., to the shore of Lake Superior in the Presque Isle Scenic Area of Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. The Gichigaming Water Walk was a collaboration between Tribal Members and the Protect The Porkies campaign and was held in response to the proposed Copperwood Mine, which if developed would share a border on two sides with Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and erect the closest metallic sulfide waste facility to Lake Superior in history.
Around 60 participants gathered beside the Montreal River at the Michigan/Wisconsin state line, a starting point chosen to symbolize that both water and its contamination know no borders. As the procession passed along Highway 2 through the towns of Bessemer and Wakefield and continued down County Road 519, the number of participants swelled to more than 80. Among them were members from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Lac Vieux Desert, Bad River, Red Cliff, the Menominee, Lac du Flambeau, Lac Courte Oreilles, and Little Traverse Bay band, as well as faculty and students from the Native American Studies and Environmental Studies departments at Northern Michigan University. Residents of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were in attendance, along with many residents from towns throughout Gogebic County.
Although the Gichigaming Water Walk was held in response to the proposed Copperwood Mine -- a Canadian company's plan to ship Michigan's copper out of country and leave behind over 30+ million tons of mine waste containing mercury and arsenic next to Lake Superior -- it's important to note that the event was not a protest. Water Walks are a Native American ceremony held to honor the connection to the Land, the Lifeforms, and the Water which connects us all together. The first Water Walk was a procession around the entirety of Lake Superior held twenty-one years ago by Grandmother Josephine (Josephine Mandamin), who passed her teachings directly on to the organizers of Saturday's event, including Edith Bardo, former Bad River Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO), and Siobhan Marks of the Lac Courte Oreilles band.
"As Native people, we recognize the Earth as our Mother, and her lifeblood is the Nibi that runs through her veins as rivers, lakes, streams and oceans. Extracting her for profit while risking the health and well-being of our lands, water, and all of creation is a serious offense to our Mother and the Creator. That is why we walk in prayer for her and for our Water." -- Siobhan Marks / Zeegwun Noodinese, Descendent of Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
The Gichigaming Water Walk unfolded peacefully, but it was not without its hecklers. At one point in the town of Wakefield, a man on a motorcycle accused a Native American participant of being a "paid protestor" who "isn't from here" and "needs to get a job." When informed that 98.55 percent of all extracted material from the Copperwood Mine would not be copper but waste, the individual replied, "And how exactly do you know that?" thus highlighting the general lack of public knowledge regarding the Mine, which is typically supported on the basis of "jobs" without concern for water contamination, disruption to outdoor recreation, and the perpetuation of the boom-and-bust cycle shown by multiple studies to leave communities more impoverished after mines close than before they open (1, 2). But when offered a pamphlet to learn more, the man replied adamantly, "I won't read it."
"Today we hear sayings in all forms of social media that 'this is life' or 'that is life.' All those sayings stemmed from these water walks, which gave global recognition to a fundamental fact, "Water is Life." When will we as humans realize that? When we’ve contaminated the last drop? Then what will we drink to live?" -- Guy Reiter / Anahkwet, Member of the Menominee Nation
The lack of education regarding Copperwood is in large part due to local media's unwillingness to cover the perspective of environmental and outdoor recreation advocates. Although articles have been published throughout Michigan, Wisconsin -- and even internationally in Britain's The Daily Mail -- media from Gogebic County has made no attempt to objectively cover the Protect The Porkies campaign, despite a petition of 45,000 signatures expressing multiple concerns regarding the proposed Mine. The Ironwood Daily Globe still has not made a single mention of the campaign and did not attempt to cover this Gichigaming Water Walk -- the largest environmental justice event in Gogebic County in over a decade -- and the only coverage from the Wakefield/Bessemer Pick and Axe (a publication run by a single individual) was a February article with the headline, "Outside forces step up fight against Copperwood, our community."
Such an accusation of "outside forces" is almost comical in the context of a Canadian company seeking to extract Michigan's copper, and it also does not seem account for the founder of the Protect The Porkies campaign residing in Wakefield Township, or the hundreds of Gogebic County residents who have signed the petition. More importantly, anyone descended from European settlers -- so-called "white people" -- may well be labeled "outside forces" compared to the Indigenous cultures who have inhabited these lands for tens of thousands of years without contaminating the water, many members of which were present at this Walk.
"We pray for the water because it cannot speak for itself. We let it know that we love it. We respect it. We care for it. We appreciate the life it brings forth. And we ask the Creator of all living things to protect it from harm. How that will happen, we don’t know, but we ask for it to happen." -- Edith Leoso, Member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
But the purpose of the Gichigaming Water Walk was not to divide, but to unite. None are "outside forces" when it comes to Water, which comprises 99 percent of the molecules in all of our bodies. Ensuring the integrity of the streams, groundwater, and Lake Superior -- largest freshwater sea on Earth -- is in the best interests of everyone.
The mining company claims it will take measures to prevent environmental harms, but the most comprehensive study conducted of American copper sulfide mines found that every single one of them contaminated water, even when complying with regulations.
The Copperwood Mine is opposed by a great many who do not usually speak out on mining issues. A metallic sulfide mine at the juncture of the Porcupine Mountains (the largest mixed old-growth forest in the Midwest), the North Country Trail (the longest of all national hiking trails), and Lake Superior (the largest, cleanest, and wildest of all Great Lakes), is simply an abysmal location for such an operation. This is not an environmentalist perspective -- it's common sense.
Signed,
Tom Grotewohl
Founder of the Protect The Porkies campaign and resident of Wakefield Township
Editor's Note: For more information on Protect the Porkies and the campaign to protect the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park from the proposed Copperwood Mine, go to https://protecttheporkies.com/
