We went to look who to worry about a year ago this time and I know they do some good
work.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Very proud of them.
That's...
Yeah, I'm an alum there and it was also from a faculty member there too as well, so that's
a special place.
So when a gas leak of this magnitude or any magnitude happens, do your environmental specialists
say it can seep into the ground and if it affects harvesting and crops?
Absolutely.
And that's one of the things that our environmental specialists did provide is just their expertise
on their familiarity with the area just to let the tribes know the state, anyone else
know of just like the possible environmental impact based on volume, on the resource.
Yeah.
And as of now, have they given you an estimate of how much volume or?
Yeah, the last was the information that we received was about 31,000 barrels, which
is equivalent to about over a million gallons of liquid gas was leaked onto the landscape.
And technically the pipeline at that area is off the reservation but it can, that amount,
did the potential for it to spread is great, is it?
Absolutely.
You know, there's no way you can control once it's out of there being contained within
those, you know, those pipelines or whatever outside of that is, you know, it can go anywhere
and it also went into the air too so it was multiple, you know, a dynamic impact had occurred.
How is it tribal community in the area responding to this?
The tribal community, I would say that they're not happy, that there was a lot of families
that were concerned, there were some families that were, I don't know if there were tribal
families but there were families in the area that were displaced momentarily as they were,
as the cleanup was taking place, as it takes place now.
I don't know if they're back in their homes now but that's the information that was shared
that there was some evacuations that took place and for Bad River and in all tribes
that are part of Glufic where there is, you know, there is the concern for, you know,
impact the resource, impact our families, public safety, all those things are, you know,
the matter of concern for us.
And it's not the first leak?
No, that's the unfortunate thing and that was part of my communication with the Secretary
of the DNR and my urgency to have them do something to, you know, to stop the project,
you know, so that this is how I was informed that this was like the third spill in a month
and so that was raised a lot of flags.
I mean, one spill is enough to raise, you know, to raise a flag but to have multiple spills
within a month is truly concerning, you know, for us.
Yeah, and in a short amount of time, like you said, one is one too many.
From your perspective, have you been to the site at all?
I've not.
I've driven past it but there's a lot of vehicles there and it seems from my observation that
it's blocked off, but I have not gone there to look at anything or to observe, I kind
of just kind of keep my distance.
In a huge truck of that size and understanding, you know, nature and ground, what any ideas
of how could something that huge fall?
I don't know that.
I don't know what happened to the only thing that we were informed of was that there was
a, you know, a vehicle had rolled over and I don't know the details.
I don't know what led to that or I can't speak to that.
And as we finish up a few more things, what else more are you waiting for from the DNR?
Because any, I guess, you know, we appreciate them.
They were able to, so Enbridge halted, you know, the project for, I think it was for
48 hours or something like that.
I'm not exactly sure, but so we appreciate that, but anything that they may share that
is related to the work that we do, anything that we should be aware of, any concerns,
or even anything positive as far as clean up and things like that, or maybe like a timeline
for remediation or, you know, just an update on, you know, just the progress and just to
keep that communication going, because that's, you know, those questions are, you know,
are common and frequent.
But you say, is there a lack of information coming from DNR and Enbridge?
I'm satisfied with the information that we receive from the state, Enbridge has reached
out to our environmental team just once as far as I know, so we've not, you know, not
heard from them.
How does that make you feel considering how the environment is a part of travel life?
Well, I mean, it's kind of, it's a conflict because they don't necessarily have to communicate,
Enbridge doesn't have to necessarily communicate with Glyphic, we look at that as a benefit.
They should be really talking to the tribes, so they should be talking to Bad River.
And so I don't know how, what their communication is, but I hope that they're in communication
daily in multiple times so that they, you know, so that the tribe can stay informed
of, you know, what's going on, too.
But I would also think it's appropriate for us as well so that we can kind of stay involved
and informed as well.
And lastly, you know, with this, a federal judge gave Enbridge more time to complete
line five.
What are your short and long-term concerns about more time?
Well I think it's evident that in this last month that they have been prone to, you know,
to create, you know, to damage, you know, the resource.
So the concern has been, is validated by, you know, leading up to the rewrote and these
different things, the concerns that, you know, the tribes have had or even any constituent
or any citizen of this state, you know, there is always just the environmental concern,
the structural concern, you know, and it's come to, it's come to light now that they
have made, you know, that they're susceptible to, you know, to really, really sloppy work.
And so our hope, my hope from our organization's standpoint is that they take time to refocus
maybe and maybe figure out some ways to reassess how they're going to go about their, you know,
if it's tightening some things up on a work site or making sure that your vehicles are
not abandoned and they take care of their vehicles or if it's the construction or, you
know, things like that, that they, you know, that they are held to a high standard and,
you know, and that's just probably, I would think as, you know, that you would want that
from any organization that you're going to produce your best work, so we would expect
them to do that so that there would be no more accidents like what we've experienced.
So with an extension, giving, having them provided more time opens up the, opens up
the possibility of more mistakes and more accidents happening.
It's, from what I mentioned, wild rice season. Are any of the fields near this area?
No, it's, you know, it's, it's kind of in an open, open area, more of kind of like farmland.
So the more of that immediate concern is probably for more crops and more of that vegetation
or in the forest area, but no a real immediate can impact any of our rice beds in the area.
Okay, thank you for that. I want to switch gears and talk about the Apostle Islands and
this proposal to re-designate it to the Federal National Park.
From an environmental standpoint, can you tell us about Redcliffe tribe, the Redcliffe band,
and their cultural connections to the Apostle Islands and the waters there?
Well, how we look at it from, from, from the Glyphwix perspective is that for Redcliffe,
they have a, a saying like their, their model, their slogan is that they're the hub of the Ojibwe nation.
Madeleine Island, or how we say it in our languages, is, and then when a conning, menace,
is, you know, the place of the golden-breasted flickers, Madeleine Island, and that's a central,
spiritual homeland for, for, for our, for our, the Ojibwe people from this part of what
do we now know as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota.
Essentially the tribes that are comprised of Glyphwix are all, many of our creation stories
or our migration stories center around the island and those islands in that area.
So it's, it has a strong cultural meaning to, to the Ojibwe people in the Great Lakes area
for Redcliffe, they have been, they've never left.
So there's a time when many of our people were centered on the island and we kind of had them,
or kind of moved inland into a community like my, where I'm from as my, where I'm enrolled
as far as the LeCudre, we, my ancestors just came from the island too.
And so there's a connection, you know, there's a connection there.
So it means a lot, you know, the culture, the cultural connection, environmental connection,
economic connection means everything to the Ojibwe people, but even more so for Bad River
and also Bad River too, because Redcliffe and Bad River at one time were just one, one band,
the La Point Band, but they split.
And so the, how I look at Redcliffe is there, kind of like the stewards of the caretakers
of those, of those islands, because many of, many of the other different bands kind of moved away
more inland into different areas, but, but we all have a common ancestor back to, back
to those places.
And earlier this year I covered the state of the tribe's address, and Chairwoman Nicole
Boyd was the, the speaker.
And I remember she spoke about strawberries and a connection to, to, to, to strawberries.
Can you tell me about some of the, the natural products and crops and fruits and vegetables
that are, that are grown there that Ojibwe people love and use?
Well, in the, in the Bayfield area, in that Redcliffe Bayfield area there's a lot of orchards
there, so there's apple orchards and then there's strawberries, blueberries, a lot of different
peaches, and it's really unique in the way that the climate, where the climate is there
specifically, so they have a unique opportunity to grow different fruits and vegetables.
For, for us, for, and, and I don't want to, I'm not speaking for the, for the Chairwoman,
the berries are, those berries are part of our sacred food.
So, in addition to, we've already talked about wild rice so far, wild rice, corn, berries,
and, and different meats are, are crucial for us that we, that we have to have.
It's a cultural thing. It's a ceremonial spiritual thing for us.
And strawberries are, you know, the, to us are called the heartberry.
The, the word in our, in our languages, ode imin, ode imin, and ode means our heart,
and min is the, is like the seed or the berry part of it, so the heartberry.
So, those are the first ones that are, the first ones to, to ripen.
So, those are like the first ones. So, they play a huge part in our seasonal progression
of our harvest. So the, so the strawberries are first.
But they're also used in a lot of our puberty rituals for our, for our young ladies.
And so that's a huge part of that. So, one thing I'll add, and I don't know if this will get to the,
the Madam Chair wore some beautiful beadwork.
My wife made that, made that beadwork. So, I, it's, it's a, it's a, like an extra meaning to, you know,
for a beadworker to put their work in, to put their vision, their time, their energy, their love into their work.
And so to see that reflected is, is also a huge part of like our culture, the reflection of that.
And for Ojibwe people, Ojibwe floral design is, is, is a huge part of how we express our, the artistic ideal.
And so to see that, and to have the Chairwoman mention that, you know, I think is inspired by, you know, the, the beautiful beadwork that she had on display.
So I just want to acknowledge my wife's work too. And, and that ties to my wife's understanding of that.
Her artistic expression as a Anishinaabe woman, but also as a mother, and also tied to our daughter.
So, those things, the, the strawberry was a key part of that, you know, raising our daughter together.
When my daughter changed from a girl to a woman, there was a ceremony done that included the, the strawberry.
So that's all linked together and tied together as well.
That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that.
You're welcome.
And I remember, it's a necklace that she, that she.
Yeah. Yeah. Very, very beautiful work that was, that she does.
It's the area, apostle islands affected by climate change at all and changing weather patterns.
I think climate change impacts everything. And those are things we have to be concerned of and aware of.
And so I would say absolutely, absolutely that climate change impacts, you know, those things.
So we have to be informed to educate it on how to be, you know, how do we address those things?
If it's warming waters, if it's altering, you know, habitat or structure, we have to be, we have to monitor that.
I think that's a big part of our role is being able to monitor, monitor those different things that to assist Redcliffe and Bad River and those tribes that are kind of located on the big lake to assist them as far as being able to assess the health of the fishery,
the health of water, and the resources, any impacts, the structure, you know, that's a, that's a huge part of what, what we do.
So that your staff will go out and help and make changes.
Yeah, there's, yeah, there's annual assessments that we, that we do on the, on the big lake.
So Glyphric has multiple obligations. So we have an inland part.
So there's part of the seated territory obligations to look at the inland side.
That's doesn't, that doesn't include the big lake.
So, and then we have the big lake responsibilities.
So there's, you know, there's fall and spring assessments that our fisheries, our fisheries teams go out and assess the, you know, spawning areas and fishing areas and monitor the health of the fishery, quality of the water, impacts to, you know, structure and things like that.
That's, you know, under constant monitoring and assessment by, by our teams.
Mm-hmm.
I know even at the State of the Tribe she mentioned and what's brought us here today is this proposal to turn nearby the, the Bayfield area into a national park.
And Sherwin Boyd has said, there's concerns about that.
And, and also we've interviewed Bayfield County officials who are not in favor of it.
How do you support Redcliffe in their messaging that this is not something that they're in favor of?
How do you support them in this?
Well, from a technical perspective, our biologists and our teams and, you know, whether it's through our legal teams or our enforcement, things like that, on a technical side we support them on a technical side.
So if they need anything in addition to what they may not have capacity for themselves, we assist them in that, in that way.
Can you give an example of what that would look like?
It could be biological assessments, it could be, you know, in that, in, in, or it could be legal analysis, you know, and, you know, if there is, you know, any assistance that may be, and it could be, you know,
it could be analyzing any of the legislation.
Because many, you know, the tribe possesses their, has in their capacity for their own legal, their own legal counsel, but they could reach out to us for many legal assistance that we may provide or just analysis if we're analyzing policy.
But it could be on a, on a ground level too, if it, you know, if they need some additional resources for assessing water quality or it could be fishery health or, you know, structural integrity, you know, those are things that they, you know, they may need assistance with as well.
And speaking of structural integrity, she's mentioned that if there is, if this, this designation comes to pass, it could bring too much tourism to the area.
It's my first time here and what I notice is, in addition to how beautiful and serene it is, it's very clean.
How, if this were to pass, how could that change the Radcliffe area reservation and what they can handle if more people start coming?
Well, I think anytime you promote tourism and more traffic, it not only just foot traffic, but vehicle traffic or even boat traffic is not a positive, it's not going to have a positive impact on the resource.
So if you have more boats in the area, that's going to, you know, that's going to put the potential for fuel contamination into the, you know, into the water body.
Foot traffic will obviously, you know, could impact, will impact different areas of which may have not been really utilized or, you know, so it could impact, you know, structural integrity as far as maybe harvest areas and things like that, that may have been just kind of maybe just left alone.
So that's, those are a number of different things and so for us as an organization, we receive a lot of our direction from our tribal leadership.
So we listen to what they say and we carry out the things that they want done.
So we listen to their tribal leadership, we listen to their biological experts that they have within their capacity.
So there's a lot of communication, but we also listen to their harvesters and so there, if there has been a decline as far as what's been available to them, that's a concern for us.
So we, you know, we monitor those things and advocate for their support and we will always support them in any way that they want.
So that's our obligation, that's our role is to support them.
Have they mentioned any specifics in regards to overtourism or even oil that you mentioned?
Have they mentioned any concerns as it is now with more oil into the waterways?
It's the same general, I think you think, when you think of increased traffic, you know, it's not a no-brainer as far as those general concerns.
So those things I've already mentioned as far as increased boat traffic, if it's foot traffic to different areas and even increasing, you know, I don't know, it could be any economic perspective.
The economic pursuit, you know, will alter the landscape and it will impact, you know, their harvesters ability to practice their treaty rights.
If there's more people there, it's obviously going to be crowding, it's going to, you know, it could be a detriment to what's available for the harvesters to harvest.
I think the hunting and fishing season, especially if outsiders are coming in and are not aware of treaty rights and can that just complicate matters?
Yeah, because people that may want to go there on vacation may be just inadvertently in these areas of that where it could be historical harvest areas for tribal members.
So that's kind of an undue burden on the tribes to, you know, and I don't know what, I would only be concerned that that would be once again proposed with the possibility of have to accommodate more people.
You know, when it's already a struggle with things that are, as they are right now, you know, outside of any more traffic, there is those concerns that are just happening naturally.
I've already talked about climate issues and, you know, the degradation of resources as it is.
If you're just going to compound that, if you're inviting more traffic and people to the area.
Yeah, yesterday when we were around Bayfield, people were saying like, Apple season, it can bring 30, 40,000 people and is there housing?
And that's, you know, without a federal designation, that's just the season.
Is there enough housing and motels and hotels and casinos are enough as it is already?
So as we finish up this proposal, no one knows where it's going to go, but how will you continue to support what Redcliffe wants and what they want is not this to happen?
Yeah, so what we'll do, we have the capacity to analyze those things that may be happening on a policy side, on a legislative side.
So we'll, our experts will be, you know, continuing to monitor that and we'll be in communication with Redcliffe and their tribal leadership, especially with Chairwoman Boyd.
But also looking at them for, to see if they're, you know, where they're at too.
You know, it's not necessarily what Glufic wants, it's really what letting, you know, letting Redcliffe, letting, or having Redcliffe let us know what they want from us.
So what we, what can we do to assist them in their effort to, you know, to, in which way, whatever way that they want to, whatever direction they want to do.
So we're just available to them at any time.
Perfect. Thank you. And I think we'll end on that.
Thank you.
All right. Perfect. Thank you.