Paging Gazhekwe

[gazhekwe]

By John Flesher
Traverse City, Michigan [[AP) June 2010

Mining giant Rio Tinto said during June it would spend $469 million developing the Kennecott Eagle nickel and copper mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, with construction starting this summer.

The mine should begin producing minerals by late 2013, the Anglo-Australian company said. It expects Kennecott Eagle to yield annual averages of 17,300 metric tons of nickel and 13,200 metric tons of copper over six years. It will be the only U.S. mine with nickel as the primary mineral.
Rio Tinto said in February 2009 it was delaying work on the project because of poor market conditions. The announcement June 16 signals the company’s renewed confidence in Kennecott Eagle, spokeswoman Deborah Muchmore said.

“The long-term demand outlook remains strong for both nickel and copper and bringing Eagle on stream will give us greater benefit from that growth,” Andrew Harding, CEO of Rio Tinto Copper, said in a statement.

Aside from the underground mine, the investment will cover costs of buildings and other infrastructure, plus upgrades of the Humboldt Mill near Ishpeming, where mine rock will be crushed and minerals extracted. It also will pay for a new road between the mine and the mill.

The project has divided the local community. American Indians and environmental activists have conducted vigils and sit-ins recently at the site in Marquette County’s Yellow Dog Plains, saying the drilling would desecrate sacred ground and pollute waters that flow into nearby Lake Superior.

A protester was convicted June 15 of trespassing on state land leased to Kennecott Eagle, and two others are scheduled for trial in August.

Rio Tinto said the mine’s construction won approval “under some of the most stringent environmental permitting rules in the U.S.”

“This reflects an environmentally responsible and community-focused operation,” Harding said.

Although the company says it has secured all necessary permits, opponents insist Kennecott Eagle can’t legally move forward because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has yet to issue a permit for underground wastewater injection.

“It is a misrepresentation at best for them to claim anything other than that,” said Michelle Halley, attorney for the National Wildlife Federation.

Kennecott Eagle initially applied for the EPA permit but now says the water system has been redesigned in a way that makes it unnecessary. EPA says it is still investigating the matter.

State regulators issued environmental permits in 2007, but opponents are challenging them in court.

The company says its operation will employ about 200 full-time workers in the economically struggling region, while about 500 contractors will be hired for construction.

Rio Tinto said it is exploring for additional mining opportunities in the Upper Peninsula, which it called a “highly prospective region” for nickel and copper.

http://indiancountrynews.net/index.p...=9400&Itemid=1

[gazhekwe]

I spent the weekend in Cayuga territory, at the head of Cayuga Lake, one of the easternmost of Finger Lakes. On our journeys, as we headed down the west side of Cayuga Lake, we kept seeing signs that said: No Sovereign Nation, No Reservation, and some other things in smaller print that we couldn't read. After seeing a dozen or so, I finally got the driver to stop so I could read one. It had some other slogans about no Land Claim, No Special Rights, and referred to a website www.ucelandclaim.com, Upstate Citizens for Equality.

A little research uncovered the information that in 2000, the Cayuga won a substantial damages award for the mishandling of their land, and the land in question was granted to them. In 2005 the Court of Appeals threw out the Land Claim and reversed the damage award.

At some point, the Cayuga Nation applied to put 125 acres of its ancestral homeland into trust, to make it sovereign and enable them to develop business for their economic well being. This is being strenuously opposed by the non-Cayuga citizenry in Seneca and Cayuga Counties.


Now the non-tribal citizens are in an uproar because the uppity tribespeople are trying to use their land in ways that the good citizens of NY cannot. They want to open a bingo hall in Aurelius, which is on Indian Land. No citizens have been displaced as a result of the court case. But the good citizens of upstate NY see this as exercising "special rights" which they think is highly unfair.

The truth of the matter is that sovereignty is something that belongs to tribes and cannot be taken away. It is not special rights given to them by the US.

The tribe is also publishing information on its website:
http://www.cayuganation-nsn.gov/Home...ationlandtrust

[gazhekwe]

Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/na.../95615974.html

BIG BAY, Mich. – As the top government official who oversees Great Lakes water quality stood on the edge of sacred Eagle Rock, overlooking a pristine expanse of the Yellow Dog Plains, she gained a better understanding about why the state-owned land is sacred to Michigan’s Ojibwa.
“I very much understand what their concerns are – and that is one of the things we are considering as we moved forward on this,” said Tinka Hyde, Water Division director for Environmental Protection Region 5. “We realize that Eagle Rock is of cultural and religious importance to the tribe.”
Hyde was one of three EPA regional bosses from Chicago and the agency’s tribal liaison for Michigan who were given a tour of the area May 13 by officials from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community during a two-day visit to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Members of numerous tribes including Ojibwa, Cherokee and Lakota had been camping at the base of Eagle Rock since April 23 in hopes of preventing Kennecott Eagle Minerals from building a nickel and copper sulfide mine – named the Eagle Project. At the company’s request, state and local police officers raided the encampment May 27 arresting two campers.
Under federal treaties, Ojibwa have rights to hunt, fish and gather on the state of Michigan owned land. The state leased the land to Kennecott with the understanding that all permits must be approved.
Hyde said any ruling the EPA makes about the withdrawal of state and federal permit applications by Kennecott subsidiaries will be based solely on environmental protection laws, primarily the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act.
Kennecott officials are now proposing an above ground system to discharge mine wastewater thus have withdrawn their EPA permit application for underground pipes named the Treated Water Infiltration System.
The KBIC Tribal Council has filed suit against Kennecott and opposes what they describe as an effort by mine officials to circumvent an EPA permit by using insulation to protect the pipes above ground instead of the original plan to use soil – noting that mine officials admit in design plans that the pipes will remain at the same elevation.
The EPA is “evaluating how or whether the Safe Drinking Water Act regulations apply to that situation,” Hyde said of the mine’s withdrawal of an EPA permit application for an underground TWIS.
The EPA’s authority over the mine is “fairly limited in many respects,” Hyde said adding the agency’s job is to determine “whether activities planned are regulated by or meet Safe Drinking Water Act regulations” and are “appropriately implemented as to be compliant” with that law.
Meanwhile, as the deadline arrived to respond to state concerns about wetlands and other issues, Woodland Road LLC withdrew its application for a state permit to construct a $50 million 22-mile haul road to be paid for by Kennecott.
The road would stretch from the remote mine site in north Marquette County to the mine’s ore processing facility at the former Humboldt Mill.
Before it was withdrawn, the EPA and other federal agencies had filed concerns over the state permit application for Woodland Road.
“If they chose to submit a new application we [[the EPA) will review the project as we have in the past,” Hyde said. A new but likely similar route is being examined to prevent about 100 rock laden trucks from a daily drive through Marquette and other cities.
The National Wildlife Federation has said the withdrawal of the two permit applications by Kennecott subsidiaries amounts to playing the system.
Led by EPA Region 5 Acting Administrator Bharat Mathur, the group was invited by the KBIC Tribal Council to visit Eagle Rock and meet with the council during a two-day [[24 hours total) whirlwind tour to the Lake Superior basin area of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Appointed acting region 5 administrator three years ago [[May 2006), the Eagle Rock visit was Mathur’s last on-site visit as regional EPA boss because Susan Hedman took the reins of the Chicago office May 24. Hedman had served as environmental council to the Illinois attorney general and as senior assistant attorney general since 2005.
Others present at Eagle Rock May 13 were EPA Regional Counsel Robert A. Kaplan and Jennifer Manville, regional EPA Michigan tribal environmental liaison from Traverse City, Mich. Representing the tribal council were vice president Susan LaFernier, tribal attorney John R. Baker, and KBIC mining specialist Chuck Brumleve. The four EPA officials later met with the tribal council members including President Chris Swartz Jr.
KBIC wants to make “sure the groundwater is protected, the surface is protected,” Hyde said. The tribe’s concerned about “having their access to and importance of Eagle Rock and the effects of mining may have on Eagle Rock.”
During their visit to Eagle Rock, EPA officials were shown nearby streams and the Salmon Trout River, under which is located the large ore body that is targeted by Kennecott. Opponents are afraid the river could collapse into the mine and it’s the only known location in Michigan where coaster brook trout breed.
“Those small headwaters are going into smaller streams and into the Salmon Trout River,” said Hyde, adding they were given a tour of the smaller streams by well-known environmentalist Chauncey Moran, who for years has monitored and tested streams on the Yellow Dog Plains for the Sierra Club and others who have partnerships with state environmental agencies.
EPA officials did not meet with the campers or mine officials during the visit.

[gazhekwe]

Most people know about corn and wild rice, two crops valued and harvested by Native peoples. Of course there are many other foods native to the continents that have been adopted by the mainstream culture quite seamlessly.

To name a few:
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Tomatoes
Peppers
Beans
Squash
Sunflower
Domestic turkeys
Blueberries
Strawberries
Chocolate
Black Walnuts
Pecans
Peanuts
Agave

And some of more recent adoption:
Amaranth
Quinoa
Salba

This is an article I enjoyed about Quinoa:

Quinoa boom

Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/global/93070194.html


In 500 A.D., the powerful Tiwanaku civilization was growing on the shores of Lake Titicaca in what is now Bolivia. University of Chicago anthropologist Alan Kolata’s research in Bolivia shows that the principal food nourishing that society was quinoa, which was heavily farmed through raised-field agriculture. After the Spanish conquest of Bolivia quinoa took a backseat to potatoes and corn, but now the same food that nourished the Tiwanaku Empire is coming back.
Quinoa is a species of goosefoot. Despite appearances, it is not a grain – it is instead related to spinach and beets. Today, these small seeds with a light, nutty taste are quickly catching on as a health food across the United States and Europe. In fact, quinoa imports to the United States rose from 7.4 million pounds in 2007 to 18.6 million pounds in 2009, according to statistics from the U.S. Customs Service. This dramatic increase in demand has changed the lives of Bolivia’s indigenous quinoa farmers who, like their ancestors, sow and harvest the plant.
Much of Bolivia’s quinoa grows in the southwest of the country on the edges of vast salt flats near towns like Salinas de Garcí Mendoza. During the April to June harvest that quinoa is on the move to more central market Andean towns like Challapata and Huari.
Laida Mamani Nina is an agriculture student who comes from a family with a long history of farming quinoa in Salinas de Garcí Mendoza. She travels to Huari during the harvest to help her father sell quinoa. “It’s changed everyone’s life,” she says of the increase in quinoa prices over the past 15 years. “Everyone has a car now, better incomes and better houses.”
That’s not to say that most quinoa farmers are rich – just doing better. Mamani Nina said her family sold 100 pounds of quinoa for $7 in the 1980s. Now the same amount of high-quality organic quinoa can sell for more than $100.
Quinoa flourishes in environments like those around Salinas de Garcí Mendoza, which is a testament to its hardiness. The soil is salty and dry, and the town is located more than 12,000 feet above sea level. But quinoa grows as well as, if not better in these harsh Andean environments than anywhere else in the world. In fact, Kolata believes quinoa first developed on these high plains.
The Inca Empire expanded from modern-day Peru down into Bolivia in the mid-1400s. That civilization was also fueled by quinoa, but the Spanish conquest put an end to its large-scale cultivation. “Quinoa did not fit cosmopolitan European tastes,” Kolata said. “They preferred wheat for bread and grapes for wine,” as opposed to bread made from quinoa flour, or alcoholic drinks made from mashed quinoa seeds.
After the Spanish arrived, for hundreds of years indigenous Bolivians grew quinoa as a subsistence crop or for local sale. That changed when studies on quinoa’s nutritional value and organized marketing brought it to the attention of European and North American consumers in the late 90s, and as Peruvian consumption also increased.
Several things make quinoa so nutritionally special. It contains more protein and fat than rice and corn, and fewer carbohydrates. But what really draws attention is its array of amino acids, including lysine, which is unusual in plants.
As quinoa’s popularity and profitability grow, groups of farmers and exporters are jockeying to establish their region’s quinoa as organic, fair trade and a recognizable brand. As the world’s largest quinoa exporters, Bolivia and Peru have the most to gain.
Individual farmers also have much to gain. Many are extending their fields and planting them more frequently. Sergio Nunez de Arco, general manager of U.S.-based quinoa importer Andean Naturals, worries that increased production is already taxing the land. “There used to be a balance between the quinoa, llamas and fallow time, and now that balance has been broken. Sustainable needs to be defined for that area.”
Nunez de Arco said Andean Naturals is financing a 1,200 acre sustainable-development project in Bolivia to determine how quinoa production can be increased without damaging the land.
Though several Bolivian and foreign organizations are sponsoring sustainability projects, Mamani Nina said hope for profit originally trumped concern for the environment. “The majority of the people don’t think about the environment, they think about their incomes,” she said of increased quinoa production. “But there are more people who are thinking about organic quinoa, and about protecting the environment, little by little.”

[gazhekwe]

Quinoa Pilaf

Quinoa [[Keenwa) seeds are covered with saponin, a powdery substance that protects them. To remove this, you have to thoroughly rinse them in a fine strainer until water runs clear.

To cook, use two parts liquid to one part quinoa, just like rice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes or until grains are translucent and germ has spiralled out from each grain. All the water should have disappeared.

SERVES 4


1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 small onion, diced
1 1/2 cups rinsed quinoa
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 cups water
1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce or regular low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 cup fresh peas [[or frozen peas, thawed)
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat oil in saucepan; add onion and quinoa. Sauté over medium heat, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes.
3. Add pepper and sauté an additional 2 minutes.
4. Add water, soy sauce, rosemary and peas. Bring to a boil and cover; simmer 15 minutes or until water is absorbed.
5. Meanwhile, roast walnuts in oven for 3-5 minutes.
6. When quinoa is cooked, turn off heat and mix in walnuts.
7. Let sit an additional 10 minutes and serve.

Lots of other good recipes here, though not for quinoa:

http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook/N...-Recipes-99501

[gazhekwe]

Odawa tribal members, park service mark western Pennslyvania battle date

Farmington, Pennslyvania [[AP) July 2010

National Park Service officials were joined by about 20 members of the Odawa Indians from northern Michigan to commemorate the 256 anniversary of the battle of Fort Necessity, a western Pennsylvania encounter that launched the French and Indian War.

“It’s an honor to be here, to make a journey similar to the journey our warriors made so many years ago,” Frank Ettawageshik, past tribal chairman of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, said in a ceremony the weekend of July 4th at the interpretive center.

The tribal members were on hand for the opening of “A Zhimaagnishak Miikaanhs: The Odawa Warriors’ Journey,” a yearlong exhibit telling the story of how a young Odawa man journeying to Fort Necessity became a warrior and showcases traditional Odawa culture still practiced today.

The exhibition includes artifacts on loan from the Odawa and Fort Michilimackinac State Park in Michigan as well from the fort’s own collection, including an original French musket, trade gun parts, village items, the fully dressed figure of a warrior and Odawa artwork such as quill boxes, ash baskets and pottery.

Joanne Hanley, superintendent of Western Pennsylvania Parks, said the exhibit “gives our visitors an opportunity to expand their understanding of the Odawa, not only who they were in 1754 but who they are today.”

The park service has been telling the story of the French and Indian War at Fort Necessity for years from the British, French and Indian points of view, but the new effort asks Indian nations for their input.

Colonial troops were defeated at Fort Necessity on July 3, 1754 in a fight that signaled the beginning of a struggle for control of North America between Britain and France – and marked George Washington’s first major battle and only surrender.

Park ranger Brian Reedy noted that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill referred to the French and Indian War as the first global conflict, which spread to Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and ended in the Philippines.

Members of the Odawa sang during the opening ceremony which was followed by a traditional Odawa feast that included corn soup, dried squash, trail mix and sweet water. At the afternoon memorial program, Frank Ettawageshik played a drum and sang a song for all the warriors who died at Fort Necessity as well as current veterans.

[gazhekwe]

From www.SaveTheWildUP.org

Join the Walk! Eagle Rock to the Bridge
Eagle Rock to the Bridge is Underway!
Walk in Margaret’s Shoes

Margaret Comfort of Bourbonnais, Illinois along with other dedicated individuals, hopes to raise funds and bring added attention to the threat of metallic sulfide mining and uranium mining in the UP by walking from the proposed Eagle Project site on the Yellow Dog Plains in northwest Marquette County to the Mackinac Bridge. The team will journey across the Upper Peninsula raising awareness about the harmful effects of this type of Mining. Along the way the group will be meeting with communities to:

• Highlight threats of metallic sulfide mining to the Yellow Dog Plains and our Great Lakes waters.
• Show the connection of watersheds and people of the Upper Peninsula.
• Encourage folks to join Governor Granholm for her Annual Walk across the Mackinac Bridge on September I, 2008 [[Labor Day) to show their disapproval of Metallic Sulfide Mining.

Dates and Route

*Camping and potluck dinner welcomes the public at each site.
Sunday, August 17, 4:00 pm – Starting at Eagle Rock on the Yellow Dog Plains, the group will hold a blessings ceremony. Come join the group for a public forum regarding the Kennecott Minerals Eagle Mine site and the potential risks of polluting our pristine waters. Camp out and potluck dinner.
Monday Aug 18, 9:00 am – Eagle Rock to Perkins Park in Big Bay. Sites 55 and 56 next to the Pavilion where we can hang out with a rally etc. Potluck at
Tuesday August 19, 10:00 am – Parade through Big Bay! Bring a sign, bring the kids, decorate a bike! Then to Mike Davis’ and Mary O’Donnell’s [[KCH or Remington Rd off CR 550). Follow the signs for “Yellow Dog Tent City”
Wednesday August 20, 9:00 am – Mike and Mary’s to Tourist Park in Marquette along CR 550. Sites T6 and T7 – closest to the beach, parking and a park area across the road for more rally gatherings. Tom Reed of Cedar Tree Institute is pulling some music together for the Tourist Park campsite and festivities start at 5:00 pm until dark or so. Bring a dish, munchies, finger food – whatever! We will have a grill going.
Thursday August 21, 10:00 am – We will be walking THROUGH Marquette starting at the Tourist Park entrance at 10:00 am. There are approximately five miles to walk and would love to have a large group. Our route will go from Tourist Park, through the University to 3rd St to downtown Marquette and on to the Lake shore and bike path to the Welcome Center on U.S. 41. We will then commence to the first roadside park on M-28 towards Munising and walk the rest of the day to Lakenenland Park. Bring a sign if you have one or we have extras. We will be camping at the LakenenLand Park on Thursday August 21st and will be having a campfire with a round circle chatting circle – 6:30/7:00 or so – with a possible wagon ride by the owner to view his many sculptures – kids would have a riot here! Come through the main entrance past the lake and straight for 100 yards or so until you see our camp.
Friday, August 22, 10:00 am – Lakenenland to Bay Furnace Campground.
Saturday, August 23, 9:00 am – Walk through Munising for Rally/Parade. Bring your sign! Meet at Falling Rock Cafe at 10:00am for breakfast with Margaret. Camp at Bay Furnace.
Sunday, August 24, 9:00 am – Munising to Seney Wildlife Refuge. Camp at Big Cedar Campground in Germfask, sites 17 and 18.
Monday August 25, 9:00 am – Seney Wildlife Refuge to Germfask. Big Cedar Campground sites 17 and 18.
Tuesday August 26, All Day – Rest them weary feet day. Big Cedar Campground sites 17 and 18.
Wednesday August 27, 9:00 am – Germfask to Milakokia Lake [[near rte 77 & US 2 intersection). Camping at Hog Island Campground.
Thursday August 28, 9:00 am- Milakokia Lake to Naubinway [[Hog Island Campground).
Friday August 29, 9:00 am – Naubinway to Little Brevort Lake [[North & South). Foley Creek Campground sites 20 and 23.
Saturday August 30, 9:00 am – Little Brevort Lake to Saint Ignace. Foley Creek Campground sites 20 and 23.
Sunday August 31, 5:00pm – Rally at Ojibwe Cultural Museum. Foley Creek Campground sites 20 and 23.
Monday, September 1, 7:00 am – Mackinac Bridge Walk bright and early with Governor Granholm wearing our T-shirts with logo! Bridge walk is estimated to take 2 hours. Then return to St. Ignace via Bridge Authority buses.

[gazhekwe]

Mining expert says flawed design will lead to safety problems By EARTHA JANE MELZER 7/14/10 1:53 PM

In the wake of the EPA’s decision that no federal permit is necessary for a controversial new nickel sulfide mine to be located on state land near Lake Superior, state officials and mining experts are questioning the state’s ability to adequately regulate the project on its own.

Rep. Bart Stupak [[D-Menominee), the outgoing congressman for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, recently warned that Michigan is not prepared to regulate Kennecott’s mining project. Stupak said that Kennecott’s parent company Rio Tinto, is known for cutting corners on environmental and safety matters and that a $17 million assurance bond put up by the company would not be enough to deal with damage that the mine could create.

The decision that the company does not require a federal permit for its wastewater system means that the responsibility for regulating operations at this massive project falls entirely to the state. Staff and funding for environmental programs, however, have taken heavy cuts in recent years and this year’s merging of the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Natural Resources, together with more cuts scheduled for next year’s budget, is expected to further erode the capacity of the state to enforce regulations that protect against environmental degradation.

According to state Department of Natural Resources and Environment spokesman Bob McCann, there are no minimum requirements for inspections by regulators and it will be lucky if officials manage to visit the mine once a year.

“For most businesses in Michigan if we inspect them once a year that’s a lot,“ he said. “We don’t have the people to be out in the field a lot and our resources are dwindling.”

MDNRE staff have warned that they do not have enough people to adequately respond to environmental complaints, and a major state environmental group, the Michigan Environmental Council, has asked the EPA to review Michigan’s air quality program to see if the state is fulfilling its duties in carrying out this federally mandated program.
Rio Tinto is expected to invest $469 million to develop the mine which is expected to produce around 30,000 tons of nickel and copper per year for the next six years.

State Rep. Gary McDowell [[D-Rudyard) — a candidate for Congress in Stupak’s district — suggested that because of the lucrative nature of the operation Kennecott would be willing to pay for needed regulation by the state.

“I believe that they want those metals badly enough that they will pay for that,” he said.

But according to McCann of the DNRE, there are no provisions in state law that would allow for that arrangement. Michigan has required Kennecott to set aside $17 million to cover the costs of closing the mine in the event that the company ceases operations before the site is returned to its previous state.
This money is not expected to cover the costs of repairing any environmental damages that may occur during the operation of the mine, McCann said. These expenses the state would have to pursue separately through legal action.

Opponents of the mine argue that the ground and surface water contamination is likely to result from Kennecott’s activities and that the state could be stuck with a decades-long cleanup with costs that could range into the billions.

Mining consultant Jack Parker says that environmental damage is likely if the mine is constructed as designed.

Parker, who holds geology and engineering degrees from Michigan Technical University and has spent several decades working in about 500 mines across the U.S. and abroad, says that flaws in the analysis of the mine’s geology means that the current design is vulnerable to collapse.

“The mine will be unstable,“ he said. “People could get hurt.”

If the mine collapses then the surface is likely to collapse and that would upset the drainage, he said. One of the reaches of the Salmon Trout River comes close to the mine and a collapse could potentially destroy parts of this tributary to nearby Lake Superior.

Parker also warned that the state does not have inspectors with the experience necessary to evaluate the plans for the Kennecott mine and that Michigan has not followed state law by requiring that mine operations consider and limit the impact of blasting on area fish populations. Kennecott has also failed to conform with state rules by demonstrating that their groundwater discharge system will work as planned, Parker claimed.

Kennecott’s operations have resulted in water contamination elsewhere
In Utah’s western Salt Lake Valley, where another Kennecott subsidiary is involved in copper mining, operations have resulted in groundwater contamination plumes that cover 70 square miles and impact the drinking water of several communities with sulfate, lead, arsenic, cadmium, fluoride, aluminum and nickel.

Douglas Bacon, a manager with Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s Department of Environmental Response and Remediation, has worked on supervising clean up of the mining area for the last 12 years.
“In the state’s opinion since 1995 Kennecott has been cooperating with remediation plans supervised by state and federal government,” Bacon said.

Kennecott, the state of Utah and the EPA have entered into a cleanup agreement under federal Superfund law and the company is carrying out and funding cleanup activities. It took nine years of work by the state to get to this point, however. Utah first filed suit against Kennecott in 1986 and was unable to get the company to agree to address its pollution until the federal government stepped in with threats of enforcement action.
Jon Cherry, who is now working to develop Kennecott’s nickel mine in the Upper Peninsula as general manager of Kennecott Eagle Minerals, previously worked on the Utah mine — where he coordinated cleanup response plans with the EPA.

In light of this history, opponents of the new UP mine have not yet given up on stopping the project. They have filed suit in circuit court in Washtenaw county, arguing that the permits were issued in violation of state mining law.

This entry was written by savethewildup and posted on July 15, 2010 at 12:12 am and filed under Economic, News. Bookmark the permalink.

[gazhekwe]

aanii, niijiiaak! I see some of you are still hanging in there. I have been pretty busy up home taking care of my dad, and he is on the mend now. This whole Eagle Rock thing has me really upset. It looks like we will never learn from our big huge mistakes and will continue to destroy our planet for greed. But! That is not why I am here talking this time. There seem to be some faithful viewers out there, and I just want to know, if I keep on keepin' on here, what is it you are really interested in seeing? Give me a clue or two, please!

[gazhekwe]

No clues, hmmm? So far it has been a mix of culture, history and current events. So far, so good?

Well, here is a thought for the day from WhiteBison.org:

Elder's Meditation of the Day - July 23

"...the greatest strength is in gentleness."
--Leon Shenandoah, ONONDAGA
Our Elders have taught us many lessons about becoming a Warrior and how to think and act like one. We have been told about the power of gentleness. We have been told about the power of the stillness. Physical power is about effort. Mental power is the opposite. It's about being effortless or less any effort. Gentleness is one of the greatest attributes of the Warrior and one of the greatest mental powers. It takes a lot of love to be gentle. Gentleness is not an ego word. Gentleness is the weapon of the Great Spirit.

My Creator, today I will be gentle with myself and with others. I will listen to the whisper of my heart and learn the power of being gentle.

[gazhekwe]

New York Times, July 19, 2010
Lake Superior, a Huge Natural Climate Change Gauge, Is Running a Fever

By DINA FINE MARON of ClimateWire

The Great Lakes are feeling the heat from climate change. As the world's largest freshwater system warms, it is poised to systematically alter life for local wildlife and the tribes that depend on it, according to regional experts. And the warming could also provide a glimpse of what is happening on a more global level, they say.

"The Great Lakes in a lot of ways have always been a canary in the coal mine," Cameron Davis, the senior adviser to the U.S. EPA on the Great Lakes, said last week. "Not just for the region or this country, but for the rest of the world."

And it seems the canary's song is growing ever more halting. Lake Superior, which is the largest, deepest and coldest of the five lakes, is serving as the "canary for the canary," Davis said at a public meeting of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force last week, pointing to recent data trends.

Total ice cover on the lake has shrunk by about 20 percent over the past 37 years, he said. Though the change has made for longer, warmer summers, it's a problem because ice is crucial for keeping water from evaporating and it regulates the natural cycles of the Great Lakes.
But the warming shows no sign of abatement. This year, the waters in Lake Superior are on track to reach -- and potentially exceed -- the lake's record-high temperatures of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, which occurred in 1998.

Analysis of several buoys that measure temperatures in the lake reveal that the waters are some 15 degrees warmer than they would normally be at this time of year, Jay Austin, a professor of physics at the University of Minnesota, Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory, said in a recent interview.
His analysis of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data indicates that summer for the lake, which happens at about a 40-degree threshold, came about a month early this year.

A 'tremendously anomalous' year
"This year is just tremendously anomalous," he said. "This year ranks up there with the warmest water we have ever seen, and the warming trend appears to be going on in all of the Great Lakes."

While the warmer waters make for more comfortable swimming conditions for humans, they may also make for more habitable conditions for invasive species in places that have previously been relatively free of such pests.

Exhibit one, said James Kitchell, a professor of zoology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison's Center for Limnology, is the blood-sucking sea lamprey.

The jawless parasite attaches itself to the side of trout, bores a hole and sucks the trout's blood, growing to as long as 3 feet in the process, according to Kitchell. But in warmer weather, the lamprey may feed faster, grow bigger and lay more eggs, he said. The creatures will also become adults faster and require more frequent extermination, thanks to the warmer waters, warned Marc Gaden, a spokesman for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, in an interview.

Meanwhile, the dead trout, with gaping holes in their sides, will sink to the seafloor below -- far from where humans can witness the evidence.
But the full impact of decades of water warming is not bound to the murky depths.

The warming may also threaten practices that are central to the "cultural identity" of indigenous tribes that live in the Great Lakes area and depend on certain weather and water conditions to farm wild rice, according to Nancy Schuldt, the water quality coordinator of the Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa Indians.

The Fond du Lac Band lives on a 101,000-acre reservation in northeast Minnesota about 20 miles inland from Lake Superior in the far western corner of the lake.

Low water levels may mean it's not safe to get canoes into the waters and hand-harvest rice in the traditional manner, she said, pointing to a rice operation by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa that had to shut down in 2007 after drought made it too difficult to maneuver canoes. The rice itself is at risk of being phased out by other native species, she said, noting that the rice is "very sensitive to hydrologic changes."

Though tribes in this area are doing what they can to invest in clean energy and study local water temperature trends to help plan future adaptation strategies, "there's still really fundamental questions remaining" about what the future environment will look like, she said.

A 'cultural identity' at risk of being transformed
"Will there still be wild rice? Will there still be birch bark to harvest? Will there still be a sugar bush?" she asked. "Right now, we certainly don't have those answers."

While there is a certain amount of uncertainty in predicting climate change impacts, the various models forecast that the Great Lakes region may see lower lake levels "on the order of 1 to 2 feet, said EPA's Davis.
In February, the Obama administration rolled out a five-year Great Lakes Action plan dedicated to adapting to some of these effects and restoring the area.

The plan, which would cost more than $2 billion to carry out, lays out five central goals it hopes to address in the coming years: restoring lost wetlands, controlling invasive species, tackling runoff pollution, addressing toxics like mercury, and promoting accountability and education efforts.

As water levels decline, toxics need to get cleaned up, and "fast," said Davis. "The reason is that with climate change scenarios starting to kick in, we have to get those areas cleaned up so we aren't unwittingly circulating more contaminants than we need to," he said.

To adapt to the warmer temperatures, "The most important thing we can do is to use the best science in all the initiatives that are under way," added Andy Buchsbaum, the Great Lakes regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation.

"Don't just look at the way things are now, but the way they are likely to be in the coming years, and use all the resources we have now in the service of preparing for climate change," he said.

Copyright 2010 E&E Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

[gazhekwe]

In the early days of settlement, the area around Wawayetenaang, It Goes Around, the Strait of Detroit, was common ground, a meeting place for many tribes. It was a throughway, a gathering place, a plentiful source of fish and game to feed many and provide stores for traveling and for winter. The People of the Three Fires camped here, as did the Sac [[Sauk), Fox, Huron, Wyandot, and more. In the surrounding areas lived the Potawatomi, the Keepers of the Fire. They were primarily farmers who provided produce for the big encampments at Wawayetenaang.

Around 1800, there were two Chiefs of the Potawatomi living north of Wawayetenaang, Tonquish and Seginsiwin. Many living in Wayne and Westland will be familiar with Tonquish, who camped with his people along the Rouge from modern day Ford and Wayne Roads, north to what is now Nine Mile in Southfield. The history of both of these men is very sketchy.

There is a story about Tonquish, that he was killed by a settler for stealing a loaf a bread cooling on a windowsill. The person killed was likely Tonquish' son, Toga, then a young man apparently overcome with the wonderful smell of the fresh bread. Upon asking for some and being refused, he just took a loaf, and for that, he was shot and killed. That just illustrates the nature of the misunderstandings between the two cultures at that time.

If a person admired something you had, that you could share, you were supposed to share it with them. It would be insulting to refuse to share. On the other hand, the settler seemed to feel very threatened by the Indian who stole from and frightened his wife.

Tonquish' people apparently moved about quite a bit, and were not farmers.

Seginsiwin was called The Fearful One in some papers discussing the treaties he signed. I have checked with some native speakers who felt his name is derived from the verb segis, he is fearful. That seems an unusual name for a leader. It would be nice to know how he came by it. His people seemed settled, and apparently were farmers.

In the Treaty of 1807, both Tonquish and Seginsiwin reserved their space of one square mile.

Tonquish's section was north of Eight Mile and East of Inkster, along the Rouge. The area today includes Beech Woods Park in Southfield.

Seginsiwin's section was along both sides of current Thirteen Mile, from Franklin Road to about Evergreen.

Seginsiwin's village was described as hilly to level with ash, sugar maple, oak and beech. Tonquish' village was described as brushy, wet, or swampy with stands of poor oak. Both villages were ceded in the Treaty of 1827. As a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, all the tribes were forced to move to lands in Kansas or Oklahoma. By that time, life was seriously disrupted for people living transiently as did Tonquish' people. Farmers were under severe pressure to give up their land for settlement.

Just a bit of area history that is not taught in the schools.

[gazhekwe]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - July 27
www.Whitebison.org

"Let us put our minds together as one."
--Irving Powless, Sr., ONONDAGA

If we sat in a circle and put an object in the center of the circle and we all described what we saw, everyone would see different points of view from each other. Some would even see opposites because they would be sitting on opposite sides of the circle. In other words, you don't have to see what I see for you to be right. In fact, everyone in the circle is right based on their own point of view. If we are willing to listen to everyone's point of view, then we can get a more accurate description of the object in the center. This is one way to put our minds together. When we get the clarity from each other, we should give thanks and be grateful to each other.

Grandfathers from the four directions, guide me today with Your wisdom from the east, from the south, from the west and from the north.

[gazhekwe]

in 1833 a final treaty was signed to give up all reservations within three years and move west of the Mississippi. ...

Before the time set for departure, the Indians regretted their promises and vainly tried to escape from the results. It was not until 1838 that they were called together notwithstanding their remonstrances... and a band small in number compared with their early history left under an escort of US troops. ...

Some ... deserted and escaped on the way west, and some were hid in the woods and in 1839 those that were found were removed.

Copley, A. B. "The Pottawattomies." Vol. 14, [[1890): 256-267.

A tale from the early settlement of Hillsdale County:

For neighbors there were the original owners of the soil, a tribe of gentle friendly Potawatomie Indians. Old Baw Bese, the chief, had his summer camp near the new home and his winter camp on the shore of Bawbese Lake. Old Baw Bese had two wives; the young new wife rode behind him on his pony; the old wife walked and carried the burdens.

The twelve year old lad played daily with the Indian boys riding their ponies and playing their games. Besides Baw Bese were Metean, Ne-Magin-a-swot. Metean was called the Peace chief from his mild disposition. My grandfather always lived in harmony with the Indians. He treated them with kindness and justice, they looked up to him with respect and veneration and often brought him gifts; wild turkey, duck, flsh or honey If the honey were strained grandmother would not touch it, her New England housewifery spirit bringing forth the query Who knows how clean their hands were when they strained it? One day grandmother and grandfather were gathering huckleberries when an Indian from the other side of the swamp called, Weber Weber, come ober! after repeated calls grandfather went over and there found with the young Indian and his squaw, a young pappoose strapped to a board in the usual way. The young father as proud as any other young father. Grandfather whose love for the little ones had not been dimmed and by the struggle to care for his own small brood of seven admired the baby and then began calling Mother. the Indian took up the word and called Muder Muder come ober. So mother came over to admire the newcomer. This is only to illustrate the friendliness of this gentle tribe which a mistaken government not long after sent away from their pleasant camping grounds to a new home beyond the Mississippi.

http://books.google.com/books?id=BhA...20bese&f=false

More on the story of Baw Beese from Hillsdale County's history:
http://www.hillsdalecounty.info/history0067.asp

Had it not been for their Indian neighbors, the early settlers in Hillsdale County would have fared badly dur.ing the first hard winters. Though they were scions of sturdy stock, resourceful, and inured to hardships, they must of necessity have succumbed to the privation and exposure, if Baw Beese had not come to their rescue. In fact, Captain Allen did succumb and was buried as fit.tingly as possible upon his claim. But his girl-wife and her little ones came through unscathed, as did the Jones, and no small share of credit must be given to the faithful chief, who would often appear at the door laden with game and maize, a wild turkey, or a quail, throw it at their feet, stoically receive thanks, and, in all probability, join them in a meal which he had provided.
Chief Baw Beese is described by one who was his friend as tall and handsome, dignified and courteous, a noble speciman of Indian manhood, highly respected and loved by his white associates.

The removal of Baw Bese and his people:

Most Southern Michigan Indians had been relocated to reservations in Iowa and Kansas by 1838. However, because the majority of settlers in Hillsdale County admired and appreciated the local Indian population, Baw Beese and his people continued to co-exist with their white neighbors until the autumn of 1840. After one of the local pioneers wrote a letter to then President William H. Harrison requesting the removal of Baw Beese's people from the land he had rightfully purchased, federal troops were sent to roundup the "Red Men" to be escorted out of the county. It was a sad day when Baw Beese left. Schools were let out to bid the old chief and his people farewell. With Baw Beese driving a horse-drawn buggy in the lead, the federals took the Indians from the camp at Squawfield, through Jonesville and Litchfield to Marshall. From Marshall they went west, then down the Mississippi, up the Missouri River and eventually to a reservation at Council Bluffs, Iowa where Baw Beese feared his mortal enemy, the Sioux. Later, many members of the Hillsdale County band were relocated to the reservation north of Topeka, Kansas. Descendants of Baw Beese's village remained on that Kansas reservation throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. There is some historical evidence that some of the original inhabitants hid in the forests, or were hidden by settlers, and remained in the area. Other reports indicate that small groups of the Indians taken west returned to Hillsdale County and took up the ways of white men, eventually assimilating into the Euro- American culture.

Even before the Indians departed, the first school in the county was opened in the tiny settlement of Allen by Hiram Hunt in 1831. A school was also opened in Jonesville in 1832 and was attended by the youngest son of Baw Beese. Jonesville later became the first organized school district in the state.

http://www.co.hillsdale.mi.us/hc-history.htm

Another account by a settler in suppport of Baw Beese:
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.co...-03/0953092889

In some places, Baw Beese is translated as halfpenny in a Scottish dialect. It could also be translated "Little Bob" in Potawatomi. An English translation is given as Leathernose. I'll have to check that one out. Or maybe it was Baptiste. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.co...-03/0953008204 Another translation could be Baabii, he waits, -se a little bit.

The rest of the story, from the Nottawaseppi Band of Huron Potawatomi:

Approximately 1687 to 1821 — The ancestors of what is now the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi are centered in the Huron River Valley and the southeastern part of Wayne County
1821 — 1833 Treaties — There are major land cessions by Indian tribes in Southwest Michigan and the formation of Nottawaseppi Reservation in St Joseph County. In 1833 articles supplementary to the Treaty of Chicago ceded the Nottawaseppi reserve to the U.S. government. However, The Chief of the Huron Band, John Moguago, did not sign the treaty; instead his signature on it was forged.
1840 — Forced removal of Tribal members to Kansas. During the westward trek several members escape and return to the Athens area. In the spring of 1841 other tribal members return. These members are considered the founders of what became the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi.

1845 — The Tribe acquires a deed for the Pine Creek Reservation. The property is held in passive trust by the State of Michigan.

....

1889 — A group of Tribal members purchase individually held properties in Section 23 of Athens Township. These properties become known collectively as “East Indiantown.”
...
1995 — After years of documentation and several failed attempts, the United States government restores federal recognition to the tribe on December 19. http://nhbpi.com/history.html

[PlymouthRes]

Gaz-

Check your ims- I just sent one you may be interested in.

[PlymouthRes]

Gaz-
I sincerely hope that I am not hijacking your thread here, but I felt that this was a relevant topic to this thread.
Perhaps you are not aware of some of the things that have been going on in regard to Native Americans and the repatriation of their culture and heritage at Fort Wayne, formerly known as “Spring Wells”. I am writing today to announce a new accord that has been struck between the Native American peoples of our region and the Historic Fort Wayne Coalition, along with the CoD, which will finally recognize the wrongs that have been done to those who long preceded the arrival of other cultures here in Michigan.
On Saturday, July 31, we will be welcoming our “patient” Native Americans back to the site in helping to facilitate a homecoming to the Fort by installing a gate in the fencing surrounding the Native American burial mound that exists on the site. We will be dismantling the barbed wire which surrounds the site as well, reducing the “prison” feel that has prevailed as one looks around at the site itself.
We will be hosting a LARGE gathering of Native Americans who will be assisting us with providing spiritual guidance and support as we open a long-closed fence that surrounds the mound. It will be the first time since the 60’s that Native Americans will be allowed to access the site of their elders and we have named the project “The Healing Gate” in honor of those souls interred there. Our hope is that by starting this initiative, we can begin a “Healing of the Nations” and welcome our Native Americans back to a site that they occupied long before any other culture came to this country, an area that they have been “fenced out” of for the last half century.
In conjunction with the NAIA, we welcome back those who were so terribly wronged by the cruel and unusual punishment thrust upon them by the emergence of other cultures to the area, who basically “deported” Native Americans to reservations westward, thereby decimating their culture and robbing them of what was originally ALL of theirs. We are currently working on language, to be introduced to the CoD and Federal Government, to deed the area surrounding the mound BACK to the Native Americans, so that eventually we can establish an “ossuary” to pay homage and seek the guidance of those elders who have gone on to the other side. No longer will we tolerate the “fencing out” of those who so rightfully deserve to honor their people who were buried there, and we, as a Coalition, intend to pursue this to fruition.
With the help of Art Brandt, a Native American of Mohawk descent, and other various Native American entities, we intend to build a long-lasting and fruitful relationship honoring those who came to this site long before us. We are also pursuing the return of all artifacts that were “confiscated” from the Native Americans during the power grab that existed at the Fort with the closing of the Medicine Bear Academy and the Native American Museum which existed on the site. Additionally, we have entered into negotiations with the DHS and other institutions to restore those artifacts that were taken to their rightful owners and have them re-displayed [[or, in the case of physical remains, have them blessed and re-interred), so that all who wish to learn more about Michigan’s Native American history can come and do so. Our intent is to establish a new Native American Museum to adequately portray Native American involvement in the development of our region and so that as Native Americans, they themselves will have a central location, within the city confines proper, to illustrate how Native Americans lived and survived long before other outside cultures came and destroyed their culture.
I am hoping that you can attend this important function, Gaz, as I share your commitment to preserving Native American culture and history, being Cherokee myself. I extend this personal invite to you with the hope that you can share with us all in this glorious occasion. Please contact me via the pm I sent you or the e-mail provided within that pm. I would be glad to help facilitate your participation in this wonderful event, and any future events that may occur as a result of this effort.
Please say hello to Cambrian for me, too. I hope he is well and all is going in a positive direction for him!
I will provide further information as we go forward so that everyone can share in this joyous event and welcome back the return of our Native American culture!
Hope to see you at the Fort!
PlymouthRes

P.S. I got your e-mail after I wrote this, so forgive me if I repeated this info in my e-mail back to you!

[gazhekwe]

I am honored to be invited and will certainly be there. You have accomplished much and I am happy to see that a path has been opened to return the spiritual life of the ancient place. We are all beholden to our ancestors as they are beholden to us, and so we are beholden to all our descendants into the generations of the future. Restoring this connection in the heart of our ancient homeland will be a powerful pipeline to the wisdom of the past, present and future.

[gazhekwe]

I am back from Fort Wayne on my way elsewhere, but I had to post here first. They weren't quite done with the gate when I left, but they did have the opening cut in the fence. There was a lot of prayer and honor and respect in cutting into the rampant grapevines and mulberry saplings that adorned the fence where the gate was to be placed. When the opening was cut, there was a distinct feeling coming through it, I would describe it as a glow, if you felt a glow rather than saw it.

There was a bit of controversy. While most of us wanted a gate in the fence so those who feel called to maintain the burial site can do so, there was a lot of concern about what that means. There are twenty year old trees and grapevines and milkweed and poke and other plants in there. Plants can be medicine. They do have spirit. What does maintenance mean to them? Should they be cut down, or trimmed and maintained in an orderly fashion? Should they be left as the Creator has put them? What should be done with the cuttings if any? Should there be a ceremonial, prayerful way of doing what is needed to bring the area back to a state of recognizable respect?

I liked the attitude of one elder who spoke. Those are ancestors. Maybe not my ancestors or your ancestors, but we live here now, and we are responsible for them. Our community is responsible.

It makes me remember how it is in the community I came from. We went with our elders at least twice a year, spring and fall, to care for the graves of our departed ones. In the spring to clean them up from winter and get them ready for summer, and in the fall to get them ready for winter. Sometimes, if there are a lot of plants, we would go more often during the summer to keep things neat.

We will be working together on how to do this respectfully, and soon I believe the mound will look like something a little more defined than a fence covered with grapevines. The sign says the Mound shows how the Mound Builders buried their dead. Well, not quite. They wouldn't have put a fence around it so no one could go there and make it nice for the spirits.

Who were these Mound Builders? We don't know what they called themselves. Mound Builders, Hopewell Culture, Yam-Ko-Desh, Prairie People. These were the names given by others to the people who went before them. What happened to them? Did they marry into the incoming tribes? Did they die out from something? Were they pushed out by incoming tribes? If so, where did they go? Some feel the Potawatomi were their descendants. But the tradition of the People of the Three Fires is that we came from the salt water, up around the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and we arrived after these people were gone. Or maybe while they were still here, depending on who you talk to. It is a mystery. But I like the idea that we as a community are responsible for the ancestors that are buried here.

[gazhekwe]

By the way, and I should have said this before! I really enjoyed meeting PlymouthRes and USNSubVet at Fort Wayne, as well as the other very dedicated people who give so freely of their time to preserve one of Detroit's most important historic sites.

The way they went to town working on the Healing Gate project, from assembling community members and putting the project in motion, to gathering all the resources, and then to furthering community discourse to arrive at a consensus of how to proceed on the project was all just beautifully done.

[gazhekwe]

Across the continent, there have been many different stories about the Northern Lights. Where I grew up, they were said to be the lights of the spirit world, or the fires of Nanabozho, who is letting us know he still thinks of us. Some people fear them, especially when they are accompanied by sounds. As in many other tribes, the lights are seen to represent the dancing of the spirits.

In some tribes, like the Fox [[formerly of Wawayetoning, Detroit area) the Northern Lights have been seen as a bad omen, of war and disease.

Here is a tale from the Labrador Inuit, as reported by the explorer Ernest W. Hawkes in his book, The Labrador Eskimo:

The ends of the land and sea are bounded by an immense abyss, over which a narrow and dangerous pathway leads to the heavenly regions. The sky is a great dome of hard material arched over the Earth. There is a hole in it through which the spirits pass to the true heavens. Only the spirits of those who have died a voluntary or violent death, and the Raven, have been over this pathway. The spirits who live there light torches to guide the feet of new arrivals. This is the light of the aurora. They can be seen there feasting and playing football with a walrus skull.

The whistling crackling noise which sometimes accompanies the aurora is the voices of these spirits trying to communicate with the people of the Earth. They should always be answered in a whispering voice. Youths dance to the aurora. The heavenly spirits are called selamiut, "sky-dwellers," those who live in the sky.

[gazhekwe]

It is the time of Mandaamin, that life giving plant, corn. My mother-in-law, the queen of corn, acquired some delicious ears for us to roast on Sunday, and we all had a wonderful summer feast. The corn was juicy and delicious, "strictly fresh" according to the queen of corn, who is the family expert on all things corn. We finished up a couple of ears today, still good, though no longer "strictly fresh."

Corn has changed a lot from when it sustained us all. It is sweeter, less starchy, and not so hardy to keep. Today's table corn would not lend itself well to being dried and ground up for meal to last through the winter.

The Story of Madaamin is a story of love and conflict. It is one that always made me cry as a little girl. I posted a version earlier in posts 307 and 308, so will put a shorter version here.

There was a family that was poor but grateful for all things that they had. The father was not the best hunter, but he managed to just keep his family fed. The eldest son, reaching the age of his ceremony, went into the woods to fast and pray and wait for his vision for his purpose and spirit guidance. He prayed that he would dream something that would make it easier for people to get food. As he grew weaker, he was lying on his mat and he saw a young man coming to him from the sky.

The young man was beautiful and strong, dressed all in green and yellow, with waving golden plumes on his head. His hair was yellow.

"The Great Spirit has sent me to you, to help you in your quest. You must get up and wrestle with me, for that is the only way you can get what you want," said the visitor.

The boy knew he was weak, yet he felt encouraged, and he did get up and wrestle with the handsome visitor. He fought til he was exhausted, when the visitor said, smiling, "My friend, it is enough for now. I will come again." He left the same way he had come, to the sky.

The next day went the same, the visitor came and wrestled with the boy til he was exhausted, and left, telling him he must have courage to obtain his wish for his people.

On the third day, the fight went as before. The boy fought as hard as he could, though he felt very weak. At the end, the visitor declared himself beaten, and he came and sat with the boy.

He told the boy that he had won his wish from the Great Spirit through his courage, and tomorrow, his seventh day of fasting, would be the day he needed to fulfil his wish. His father would bring him a bit of food, and he would be stronger. He would win the fight. Once he won, he was to throw the visitor to the ground, strip him, and make a soft place in the ground and bury the visitor in it. He was to care for the grave and keep it clean, and cover it with fresh earth. If he did this, he would achieve his goal and make it easier for people to get food.

On the next day, all happened as the visitor had said, he was killed and buried. The boy cared for his grave carefully all that spring and summer. At the end of the summer, there stood stood a tall and graceful plant, with bright-colored silken hair, surmounted with nodding plumes and stately leaves, and golden clusters on each side. The boy recognized his friend, Mandaamin, friend of all people, who had provided food that would grow from the earth for all people.

[gazhekwe]

This is a meditation from a few days ago. I have been thinking about it. I have trouble with the concept of conflict as a norm. The stories that I had trouble with as a youngster all seem to be the ones that involve some kind of conflict and somebody dies, like in the story of Mandaamin. It is a good thing to face what we fear.

Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 5

"It is a paradox in the contemporary world that in our desire for peace we must willingly give ourselves to struggle."
--Linda Hogan, CHICKASAW
The Grandfathers have taught us about sacrifice. We have been taught to pray for the people in a pitiful way. Struggle and conflict is neither good nor bad, it just is. Everything that grows experiences conflict. When the deer is born it is through conflict. When the seed first grows, it is through conflict. Conflict precedes clarity. Everything has the seasons of growth. Recognize - acknowledge - forgive and change. All of these things are done through conflict.

Great Spirit, give me the courage today to see that struggle and conflict are here to teach me lessons that are a gift from you.

[gazhekwe]

The legendary Indian sign language permitted trading between remote tribes with no spoken language in common. Odawa traders went as far as the Rocky Mountains, for instance. Now for the first time in 80 years, there is to be a Sign Language conference August 12-15 at Lame Deer, MT, Northern Cheyenne Reservation.

From an article in Indian Country Today:

"The conference is an important part of a National Science Foundation funded project led by Dr. Jeffrey Davis of the University of Tennessee, Dr. Melanie McKay-Cody [[Chickamauga Cherokee/Choctaw) of William Woods University and James Woodenlegs [[Northern Cheyenne) to document hand talkers from Northern Cheyenne, Assiniboine, Sioux, Crow, and several other tribes.

"The mission is to preserve Indian Sign Language through the cooperation of sign language linguists with deaf and hearing members of the North American Indian signing communities through research, video recording and a dictionary. ...."

Some very exciting news! [[paraphrasing the article) General Hugh Scott, in 1930, spent considerable resource in preserving the sign language and made some films, which have been rediscovered and restored. They are posted here:

http://sunsite.utk.edu/pisl/index.html

Back to quoting the article:

"Whether officially or unofficially considered endangered, for more than 200 years, North American Indian sign language was and is still an integral part of storytelling, ceremony and history and is still used as a practicality in many communities all over Turtle Island in some form by people who cannot hear.

"Indian Sign Language provides a broader cultural connection within American Indian communities, among communities and between Native and non-Native communities than what is afforded by American Sign Language.

“It permits everyone to find in nature an image to express his thoughts on the most needful matters intelligently to any other person,” wrote Mallery in his 1880 Study of Sign Language."

For the whole article:

Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/na...100131734.html

[gazhekwe]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 10

"Nature is the storehouse of potential life of future generations and is sacred."
--Audrey Shenandoah, ONONDAGA

We need to honor and respect our Mother Earth. She is the source of all life. The sun shines life to the earth, then the earth produces life in all forms and in a balanced way. Everything is here to serve everything else. If we interrupt the flow in any way, we leave nothing for the future generations. Before every decision is made, we should ask, and answer, a final question; "If we do this, what will be the effects on the seventh generation? What will we cause our children to live with?" We need to have respect and love for all things and for all people. We need to do this for ourselves and for all the children still unborn.

My Creator, let me look at nature today and let me have the highest respect for all the things I see. All the two legged, the four legged, the winged ones, the plants, the water, the air, the Mother Earth. Let me have respect for myself.

http://www.whitebison.org/

[gazhekwe]

Yes, this thread that Ravine started is one year old today. With nearly 10,000 views, it seems a lot of people have been following along and I hope enjoying the information and stories.

Want to keep it going?