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behind.
>> Republican Andy Manske

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is also running. In other
news, the Ho-Chunk nation

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will receive 165 acres of
their ancestral homelands

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in a land transfer. The
effort was funded by the

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Dane County Conservation
Fund in collaboration with

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the county's Land and Water
Department. Here and now,

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reporter Erika Ayisi went
to the site to hear how the

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Ho-Chunk will use the
property. This report is in

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collaboration with Icty,
formerly Indian Country,

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today.
>> Every plant is a

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resource, right? They say
everything our Mother Earth

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gives us. He goes like,
that is a form of medicine.

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You just have to find out
what it is so you can smell

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that.
historic preservation

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officer for the Ho-Chunk
nation, says plants can

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soothe sores on the body.
>> It allows you to heal a

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little bit better. So it's
a different form of

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medicine.
mounds, and waterways in

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the Lower Mud Lake Natural
Resource Area are a part of

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165 acres of property
returned to Ho-Chunk nation

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from Dane County.
Quackenbush says the land

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acquisition is an
opportunity for the public

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to learn.
>> So the milkweed itself,

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we call it Marquette. You
just during this time of

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year, these heads over here,
while they're really young,

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you pick that and it
doesn't hurt the plant at

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all. Once you gain the
knowledge and use of it

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there, that's something
that we tend to pass on

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from generation to
generation. The plants.

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>> So nearly $6.5 million
from the Dane County

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Conservation Fund was used
to purchase a private

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property south of Babcock
County Park, including

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significant frontage along
Yahara River Lower Mud Lake

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and Lake Waubesa. Dane
County will place it in a

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conservation easement in
partnership with

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Groundswell Conservancy, a
nonprofit environmental

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organization, to
permanently prohibit

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development, preserve
public access and protect

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the land's cultural
significance.

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>> Ho-Chunk nation will own
and manage the land,

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steward the land in
perpetuity.

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>> Quackenbush says. The
Ho-Chunk are the land's

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original caretakers.
>> We're the only tribe

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that has the ability to
speak confidently about the.

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We were the first and
original people from this

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region right here.
>> When you say ancestral

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territories, we're Ho-Chunk
always here.

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>> We have beautiful
stories that talks about

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how we adapted through time
from living in a place of

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refuge and moving back into
these first places as that

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glacier began to recede.
>> He says. Their oral

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history talks about their
cultural and environmental

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adaptation. As Ho-Chunk
people moved through the

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region for thousands of
years.

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>> That place of refuge
that we referred to,

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today's society calls
Driftless Area.

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>> He says. Their
indigenous language

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mentions red banks of the
past that are still evident

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in Wisconsin today.
>> We say Moogasuc in our

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language. It places you
exactly where that location

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is. These red banks that
are associated with this

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ancestral place of origin.
>> According to Quackenbush,

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the Ho-Chunk nation will be
solely responsible for

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costs including property
taxes and maintenance of

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the land. With insight from
the conservancy that

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includes six archeological
sites and 22 ancient burial

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mounds.
>> There's a mound system

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that rises right straight
through it that's nothing

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more than a large mortuary
site. It's like walking

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across a burial system. For
modern people out there,

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there's some respect that
needs to be instilled in

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that.
>> According to

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archeologists, there's at
recorded archeological

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sites in the Dunn Township
part of Dane County. But

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the sites on the 165 acres
donated to Ho-Chunk were

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lost in a series of
treaties between the

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Ho-Chunk and the federal
government during the 1800s,

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long before Wisconsin was
an established state. This

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began an era of forced
removals for Ho-Chunk, the

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original caretakers of this
land and its waters.

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>> By captions in time in
the 1800s, primarily where

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a lot of land was ceded
because there was forced

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removals.
>> Jon Greendeer, president

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of the Ho-Chunk nation,
says the treaties forced

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the tribe to relocate
across the Midwest, but

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they returned to Wisconsin.
>> We were able to not only

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survive in some of those
regions, we were also able

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to thrive and repopulate.
>> Ho-Chunk became an

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official nation in 1963,
and today has about 8000

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enrolled members. Greendeer
says the land acquisition

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is about regaining their
cultural footprint on their

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ancestral homelands.
>> For the Ho-Chunk nation,

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we never really believed in
land ownership. We believed

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that the land was there for
us to use as we need it.

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>> Considering that there's
a conservation easement

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between Dane County and
Groundswell Conservancy,

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who is on the title in this
project.

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>> The Ho-Chunk nation is
going to be entitled to the

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project, and it's going to
be a part of anything going

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forward. If there's any
decisions to be made in

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terms of development in
that area.

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>> As to the property,
Groundswell Conservancy

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says the group, along with
Dane County, will do annual

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visits to the location.
>> To make sure that the

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conservation values are
being upheld in conjunction

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with the Ho-Chunk nation.
>> And support Quackenbush

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in meeting the tribe's
goals to preserve the site.

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>> What we want is the
protection and enhancement

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of the environmental
resources.

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for the public to sit and
engage and learn.

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>> This property is a
beautiful educational

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opportunity unfolding
before our eyes.

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>> In Madison. I'm Eric
>> In Madison. I'm Eric