Great Lakes

IdleNoMore Coverage on TurtleTalk

Kate Fort1 Comment

Much of the IdleNoMore coverage moves even faster than a blog can (fast though we may be). We are trying to use the twitter feed (@ILPCTurtleTalk) more to retweet information as it comes up. Just today it looks like Prime Minister Harper has agreed to meet with First Nations leaders on January 11th, that Chief Spence will continue her hunger strike until the meeting occurs, and that there are border blockades planned at the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia and the First Bridge at Akwesasne for January 5th. As the inevitable legal developments arise from this activism, we will certainly cover and link to the documents here on TurtleTalk, as always.

Other twitter feeds we’ve found full of great information include @afixedaddress, @WabKinew, @APTNNews, @goodfox, and @NativeApprops. We’re sure there are many, many others, and please feel free to leave them in the comment section for our readers.

“Faith in Paper,” First Spring Speakers Event on January 15th at 2pm

Kate Fort1 Comment

No registration necessary. We hope to see you here:

13-I&P-33 ILPC Spring Speaker Series_JAN

First Panel: Gaming Landscape in Michigan

Kate Fort

L-R, Brian Newland, John Petoskey, Bill Brooks, and moderator John Simermeyer

Michigan Radio: Great Lakes Futures Project

Kate Fort

Another story from Michigan Radio this morning. We hope the January meeting will include invitations to tribes as well.

A new project is going to try to predict the future of the Great Lakes.

It’s called… wait for it… the Great Lakes Futures Project.  It’s a collaboration of 21 universities from the U.S. and Canada.

Don Scavia is the director of the Graham Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan. He’s one of four project leaders.  He says students will team up with a counterpart from the other country, along with a faculty mentor.  The teams will develop white papers outlining the biggest things driving change in the Great Lakes region.

“They’ll be looking at things like climate, economics, demographics, chemical and biological pollution, invasive species. Looking back, what have the trends been in the past 50 years and what do we expect trends to look like in the next 50 years?”

Prof. Singel Sworn In to the St. Lawrence Seaway Advisory Board

Kate Fort

The post from Secretary Ray LaHood’s blog is here.

Deputy Secretary John Porcari, Secretary LaHood, Prof. Singel, Prof. Fletcher, the ever adorable E & O, Seaway Acting Administrator Craig Middlebrook:

Tribal Comments on Wisconsin Mining Proposal

Nick Reo1 Comment

Related to Matthew’s Dec 13 post on tribal objections to proposed Wisconsin mining legislation, see this post here outlining tribal comments at a recent public hearing. Representatives from several Wisconsin tribes pointed out the failure to consult with tribes about legislation that could negatively impact their treaty rights, tribal lands/waters and culturally significant resources.

Newberry Library Opens Site on Indian Peoples of the Midwest

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The Newberry Library has developed a very nice website, “Indians of the Midwest, Past and Present.”

Here is a description:

The Newberry Library announces the launch of a multimedia educational website supported by National Endowment for the Humanities, titled “Indians of the Midwest, Past and Present”. The website focuses on Native people of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to explore several contemporary issues with roots in the history of the region: tribal sovereignty, hunting and fishing rights, casinos, treaties, identity, repatriation, and stereotypes.

Dr. Scott Manning Stevens (Mohawk) is the director of the Indians of the Midwest project and Dr. Loretta Fowler is the editor. Stevens also directs the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies and Fowler is an anthropologist and Professor Emerita at Indiana University. The site was developed in consultation with an advisory committee consisting of members of tribal colleges and university scholars. The site features Newberry-produced, videotaped interviews with several scholars, including Raymond J. DeMallie, Larry Nesper, Dave Edmunds, Nancy Lurie, and John Low.

Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians rejects proposed Michigan moose hunt

Nick Reo

As reported in the September 2nd issue of Win Awenen Nisitotung, Sault Tribe Inland Conservation Committee elected not to support a moose hunting season in Michigan. Provisions in the 2007 Inland Consent Decree require tribal (and state) approval of moose hunting. This outcome may frustrate people interested in moving forward with a moose hunt in Michigan; but for Sault Tribe officials, the precautionary route was prudent given the small number of moose that currently reside in the Upper Peninsula and the uncertainty over their population dynamics.

State Bar of Wisconsin Mining Law Symposium, Thursday, August 25, 2011

Andrew Adams III1 Comment

The State Bar of Wisconsin will host a Mining Law Symposium CLE on Thursday, August 25, 2011 which in many ways is in response to the proposed mine to be situated in the Penokee-Gogebic Iron Range in northwest Wisconsin, very near the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe Reservation, by Gogebic Taconite.

Here is information on the CLE:

http://www.wisbar.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=View_calendar1&template=/Conference/ConferenceDescription.cfm&ConferenceID=5382

Here is a Milwaukee Sentinel Journal article discussing Bad River Chairman Mike Wiggins’ concerns with the proposed mine:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/119739399.html

Here is recent article describing the mine from Northwoods Wilderness Recovery:

http://www.northwoodswild.org/component/content/article/57-sulfide-and-uranium-mining-news/93-proposed-mining-in-northern-wisconsins-penokee-range

Ojibwe Treaty Rights Article in American Indian Quarterly

Kate Fort

“After the Storm: Ojibwe Treaty Rights Twenty Five Years after the Voigt Decision” by Patty Loew and James Thannum was published in the American Indian Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 2 (Spring, 2011).  Here’s an excerpt/abstract:

This article examines the socioeconomic, political, and cultural fac- tors that contributed to the spearfishing crisis twenty-five years ago and the state of relations between Native and non-Native residents in the ceded territory today. It focuses on Wisconsin, where the most virulent protests occurred. Because most residents learned about the controversy through newspaper and television news accounts, the article pays special attention to media coverage of the boat landing struggles. It argues that the relative calm that exists today is attributable to increased public awareness about treaty rights and sovereignty, largely due to education efforts and better reporting by the media. It also argues that the contributions of the Ojibwe bands themselves over the past twenty-five years to maintain and improve the natural resources within the ceded territory has also had a positive effect.