2011 Mother Earth Water Walkers converge at Bad River
Participants express concern about future health of watershed
By Sue Erickson, Staff Writer
Odanah, Wis.—“Ni guh izhi chigay Nibi onji. I will do it for the water.” These words reflect the commitment of all who participated in the 2011 Mother Earth Water Walk, carrying salt water from two oceans, the Gulf of Mexico and the Hudson Bay inland to the Bad River Reservation and the shores of Gichigami (Lake Superior). Arriving on the weekend of June 10, Water Walkers from four directions were joined by Bad River tribal members as they entered the reservation and pursued the final segment of their journey—a journey which culminated with the joining of the waters with Gichigami following a ceremony and the preparation and offering of both food and water bundles on June 12.
The significance of preserving clean water was the emphasis throughout the long journeys and the celebrations at Bad River. As Rainey Gaywish, Ojibwe Three Fires Mide member, put it: “We know the water carries spiritual life for the future…”
As the waters from the four directions were united into copper pails, Josephine Mandamin, founder and visionary of the Mother Earth Water Walk, indicated that these ocean waters had been orphaned and were now going to be united with the water of Lake Superior, and would eventually travel to the salt water again—part of “a big cycle of water.” She said the purpose of the walk was to raise consciousness of the importance of pure water. “That is what we are doing today,” she said. Irene Peters, Water Walker from southern Ontario, said the event “will bring healing to Mother Earth and all the environment.”
For the Bad River Tribe, the arrival of the Mother Earth Water Walkers was serendipitous as the tribe is confronting major issues from a proposed taconite mine on their borders, according the to Bad River Tribal Chairman Mike Wiggins. Wiggins addressed a crowd of over two hundred Water Walkers and supporters from the region during a gathering at the Bad River pow-wow grounds on June 11th.
“We are under an unprecedented threat to the Bad River Tribe in the last 100 years by the proposed mine and the legislation that they are trying to push through,” he said.
With the proposed mining operation poised at the headwaters of the Bad River watershed, that flows into the reservation and ultimately into Gichigami, the tribe has grave concerns about potential contamination of both ground and surface waters as well as impact on private and public wells from extensive water drawdowns, Wiggins said. Mentioning both the dangers of sulfate producing minerals leeching into the watershed and mercury settling into the water from plumes produced as rock is crushed into a talcum powder-like state, Wiggins believes the project puts a way of life at risk—“a way of life exemplified by the Bad River people’s connection to the water.”
Citing the cycle of seasons and the tribe’s connections to water and nature’s gifts through ricing, duck hunting, deer hunting, trapping, sugaring, hook-‘n-line fishing, gathering wild cranberries—all part of a spiritual connection, Wiggins noted that all of “these were put here as gifts to us and for us to take care of.”
Referring to the education goals of the Mother Earth Water Walk, Wiggins said the arrival of the Water Walkers and the “timing of these efforts has been cosmic and is beautiful.“
Wiggins also noted that the tribe has conscientiously over the years avoided development of much of its land, noting that you don’t see resorts on the shorelines or tourist traps. Rather the land has been kept natural, and people have sacrificed so this land and the water and all their gifts can be passed down to coming generations. “We’re interested in sticking around for another 1000 years,” he said.
Joe Rose Sr., Bad River Elder, Voigt Intertribal Task Force representative and Northland College Native American Studies professor, also fears the impact of a mining operation at the headwaters of the Bad River Watershed. A mining operation, he said, takes a tremendous amount of water. “I have never seen a clean mining operation,” Rose said, “And why are they trying to fast track the mining legislation?”
At this time, the proposed legislative changes, he said, call for less restrictions on the mining operation, shorter response times to permit requests, eliminate risk assessments, allow for drawdown on private wells, eliminates need to conform to local zoning code, lessens community input, shortens responsibility for post mining operations to 20 years, and allows for eminent domain whereby private pro
perty could be used to store mining waste.
With all these concerns in mind and heart, Water Walkers, set out by boat from Waverly Beach to finally unite the ocean waters with Gichgami’s water—shimmering, calm and clear that day. Many prayers were offered into the great lake as songs filled the air, and migizi circled above.
“Ni guh izhi chigay Nibi onji. I will do it for the water.”
