This week on Minnesota Native News, two important decisions that affect Native lands – and a Twin Cities park acknowledges the sacred.
Transcript
Marie headlines:
This week on Minnesota Native News, two important decisions that affect Native lands and a Twin Cities park acknowledges the sacred.
Marie Story 1:
Marie Intro:
In Northern MN , there are still pristine waters that are safe to drink from. Most tribes have members that harvest wild rice. Recently there were two big wins for the environment.Emma Needham has more:
EMMA
Back in 2017, The Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa contested a Copper-Nickel Mining permit given to the Swedish owned mining conglomerate known as Poly-Met .. Last week The Supreme Court ruled that the permit violated state law The court ordered the DNR to gather more information on the possible environmental effects downstream of the mine.
The fond Du Lac Band cited the Clean Water Act of 1972, which says that the downstream discharge cannot have a detectable impact on those waters.
Poly Met had planned to unearth 900 acres of wetland.
Environmental groups and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa were quick to celebrate the ruling, saying the decision “hits the reset button” on the proposal. Ginew Collective founder and attorney Tara Houska told Native News Online“The denial of the Polymet permit is a huge win for the water and for future generations...Polymet now has to restart or abandon its attempt all together and I hope its shareholders are listening.”
Polymet says the mine would create hundreds of jobs in Minnesota while supplying metals that the U.S. economy needs.
In another win for the environment, the federal Environmental Protection Agency The (EPA) wants the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to protect wild rice waters. Minnesota tribal and environmental groups have repeatedly pushed the MPCA to do just that. The issue is the amount of sulfide in the water. Now the federal EPA is telling the state it violated the Clean Water Act by not enforcing sulfide limits in at least 30 bodies of water... A public comment period on this topic is open until May 25 th.
Intro to Emma Needham reports (Emma will write) MN Supreme Court pauses Polymet Permit per Fond du Lac AND at least 30 wild rice waters get protection
Marie Story 2: This spring, visitors to Indian Mounds Regional Park in St. Paul will be reminded that they are on sacred land. Laurie Stern reports.
The park is high on the bluffs overlooking the river and across from downtown. Some of this land has been preserved. Much has been destroyed. New signs - in Dakota – and English – tell the history.
Carved into a metal banner are the words: This is a burial place. Our ancestors are still here.
I always came out here to pray, put out my tobacco and bring my kids over this way. And teaching them how to pray and give offerings.
Crystal Norcross is an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Reservation. She grew up in this neighborhood and has fought to reclaim its story.
Not necessarily for the park amenities, but because the way I view this park is to be more or not even this park this place as as an entity or a being. My ancestors felt it and I felt that I always knew this place was special. And that's why I was always so drawn to it.
She took care of it: Picked up trash after raucous parties and – eventually – got elected to the neighborhood council on a promise to protect it. Now – after years of negotiation, that promise is coming true.
But right now, just seeing this little bit, and in our language means the world to me, because, you know, you don't see things like this in a city, how often you have burial mounds that are preserved in a city.
Crystal Norcorss was not alone in her campaign. It was a 4-year effort by the Dakota tribes, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and the city of St. Paul. But it was led by American Indian community members here on the east side of St. Paul. Maggie Lorenz is one of them.
I am Ojibwe and Dakota. I'm enrolled with a Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe in North Dakota. I also have familial ties to the Spirit Lake nation in North Dakota, and I'm the executive director for Lower Phalen Creek project and Wahkan Tipi Center.
“when you enter Mounds Park from MoundsBoulevard by 94, you'll see an addition to the to the sign that says this is a cemetery. And I think that's really important. And there's also a number of different features added to the park benches, asking people to respect this place using that quota language in different areas.
Maggie’s mother grew up in the boarding school era. She raised Maggie to downplay her Native heritage.
I knew I was native, but I didn't have any connection to what that meant.
Now Maggie is part of a movement to make sure Native people and places are acknowledged as being here first. Here at the burial site there used to be dozens of burial mounds. Now there are only six. Still, increasingly, the site is a place where Native ancestors can rest, and Native families can feel at home.
I'm able to raise my kids in a society now where being native isn't something that is hidden or shameful, and that people who are native can feel proud to be who they are. And, and, and be seen and acknowledged in our homelands.
Marie Intro:
In Northern MN , there are still pristine waters that are safe to drink from. Most tribes have members that harvest wild rice. In two big wins for the environment, the permit for a copper nickel mine has been withdrawn. In the other case, the federal EPA has sided with environmentalists & tribes to protect wild rice beds. Emma Needham has more:
EMMA
Back in 2017, The Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa contested a Copper-Nickel Mining permit given to the Swedish owned mining conglomerate known as Poly-Met .. Last week The Supreme Court ruled that the permit violated state law The court ordered the DNR to gather more information on the possible environmental effects downstream of the mine.
The fond Du Lac Band cited the Clean Water Act of 1972, which says that the downstream discharge cannot have a detectable impact on those waters.
Poly Met had planned to unearth 900 acres of wetland
Environmental groups and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa were quick to celebrate the ruling, saying the decision “hits the reset button” on the proposal. Environmentalist and attorney Tara Houska told Native News Online “The denial of the Polymet permit is a huge win for the water and for future generations...Polymet now has to restart or abandon its attempt all together and I hope its shareholders are listening.”
Polymet says the mine would create hundreds of jobs in Minnesota while supplying metals that the U.S. economy needs
In another win for the environment, the federal Environmental Protection Agency - or E-P_A - wants the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to protect wild rice waters. Minnesota tribal and environmental groups have repeatedly pushed the MPCA to do just that. The issue is the amount of sulfide in the water. Now the federal EPA is telling the state it violated the Clean Water Act by not enforcing sulfide limits in at least 30 bodies of water... A public comment period on this topic is open until May 25 th.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Emma Needham.