On:
In: Center for Biodiversity, Collette LaRue, Dan Meinhardt, First Nations Education Department, Ho-Chunk Nation, Margaret Ellis, Menominee High School, Menominee Nation, Northeast Land Trust, Oneida Nation, Oneida Nation High School youth singers, Potawatomi, Potawatomi youth drum group, Stephanie Dodge, Stockbridge and Brothertown Nations, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wequicok Creek Natural Area, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Nikolas Shepard (in red) and the Potawatomi youth drum group provided honor songs for the Wequiock Creek ceremony. Image credit: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

By Margaret Ellis – Yotsi’nahkwa’talihahte (Wild Rose), Oneida Nation
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay First Nations Graduate Assistant, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Wisconsin Sea Grant and UWGB Center for Biodiversity hosted the third annual tobacco blessing at Wequiock Creek. Wequiock Creek is one of several natural areas managed by UWGB and is a tributary to the Bay of Green Bay. I was honored to have organized and facilitated this year’s tobacco blessing and couldn’t have done it without the previous Graduate Assistant Stephanie Dodge initiating and laying the groundwork for the event.

Dodge, another UWGB First Nations education doctoral student, knew that bringing the Indigenous voice back to the area and ensuring we do that with prayer was essential to the restoration efforts at Wequiock. “Wequiock Creek Natural Area shares a long history of shared land, water, and resources with multiple First Nations,” Dodge said. “Along the shorelines of the Bay and traveling into the Fox River has long been the location of settlements and trade routes for Indigenous people.”

Margaret Ellis introduces the various youth groups present for the blessing. Image credit: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The Ho-Chunk and Menominee Nations both hold ancestral land claims deriving from their creation stories that take place along the banks of Green Bay. Menominee Nation’s creation story takes place on the Menominee River near the mouth of the bay and the Ho-Chunk Nation honors the Red Banks area as their creation story location. For many Nations, their creation or origin stories hold a lot of knowledge and practices that still guide how they live their lives and practice their cultures today. These areas are not just points of interest but rather living, breathing connections to their places of origin.

Potawatomi settled in the area after migration and later through forced removal. The Oneida Nation migrated with the Stockbridge and Brothertown Nations to the area and purchased land from the Menominee Nation in the early 1800s.  As you can imagine, the area holds great meaning, historical knowledge and relevance to all the Nations mentioned.

This year’s tobacco blessing was attended by individuals representing the various invested parties in the Wequiock area including Northeast Land Trust, UWGB First Nations Education Department, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Potawatomi members, Oneida Nation members, Menominee Nation members, Ho-chunk Nation members, and others interested and committed to the restoration of a vital tributary to the Bay of Green Bay.

Kanataloloks Zacarias-Skenandore (purple), Oneida Nation Elementary School Earth Song instructor, and Charlie Doxtater (red), Oneida Nation High School earth song instructor with Oneida Nation High School students/singers who provided friendship songs for the event. Image credit: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

The highlight of the event was the youth groups from three nations: Oneida Nation High School youth singers, Potawatomi youth drum group and Menominee High School Science class students. The Menominee students helped with a site dig earlier that month with Dave Overstreet as a part of a project to recognize the lands as ancestral homelands to the Menominee Nation. The Oneida Nation High School provided earth songs and the Potawatomi youth drum group provided honor songs – a beautiful way to honor the area as well as demonstrate the beauty and uniqueness of each culture.

After the event, there was great feedback about the overall feeling and message that the blessing provided.

“It was quite a moving experience. As I delve deeper into the history of the lands that surround the Green Bay Estuary. I continue to learn,” said Collette LaRue, a Conservation Photographer and UWGB affiliate.

Dan Meinhardt, associate professor of Human Biology and curator, Richter Museum of Natural History at UWGB, has been attending since its inception.  “I am honored to have attended all three blessing events. Hearing from First Nations people with special connections to the land, especially in the songs and music of the youth, is always so moving and inspiring. The blessings have become a real highlight for me.”

The tobacco blessing is a great opportunity to reconnect people with each other, with the land, the history of the area and the rich culture it represents. Bringing people together in prayer and community provides a sense of belonging and authenticity that supports any restoration efforts being done at Wequicok Creek Natural Area.

The post Annual Wequiock Creek tobacco blessing first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/annual-wequiock-creek-tobacco-blessing/

Wisconsin Sea Grant

On:
In: A Taste of Wisconsin Waters event, Bodin Fisheries, Charlie Henriksen, Emma Hauser, Henriksen Fisheries, Ho-Chunk Nation, Hoop's Fish Market, Marlon White Eagle, Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, Preston Cole, Rock Springs Free Spring water, Sharon Moen, Steve Summerfelt, Superior Fresh, United Nations Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

A Wisconsin Sea Grant event held in Madison this fall celebrated Wisconsin’s water, from drinking water to water on which businesses rely for their livelihoods. These include commercial fishing and aquaculture operations.

A centerpiece at the Taste of Wisconsin Waters event featured a floating candle, cranberries and rocks. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

This first-ever, invitation-only event was organized by Sharon Moen, food fish outreach specialist. She got the idea from conducting a needs assessment with commercial fishermen and fish farmers in Wisconsin.

“They told me what they would really like Sea Grant to help them with was articulating the importance of their industries to decision-makers,” Moen said. She incorporated that into the event by inviting state legislators and natural resource professionals. Two other objectives were to celebrate Wisconsin Sea Grant’s 50th anniversary and the United Nations’ Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture.

“The U.N. really took a bold stand on supporting local fishing communities and what they bring to society,” Moen said. “Certainly, aquaculture and fisheries in Wisconsin could be considered artisanal compared to some of the big operations.”

A Taste of Wisconsin Waters featured a water bar where event-goers could sample nine waters from around the state and vote for their favorite. Same for a fish spread table, which featured eight spreads donated by commercial fisherman and fish farmers throughout the state.

The favorite Wisconsin water was Rock Springs Free Spring water from a natural spring near Madison. The favorite fish spread was a tie between Bodin Fisheries and Hoop’s Fish Market. Both are located in Bayfield, Wisconsin, and used whitefish as their base ingredient.

An event participant samples Wisconsin water from the water bar. Credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

“People had a good chance to network with each other and taste some appetizers made out of the fish and listen to some speeches,” said Moen. “I was really pleased that Preston Cole was able to join us. He’s the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources in Wisconsin, and then Marlon White Eagle, the president of the Ho-Chunk Nation was able to join us, too. So, it was really great to have dignitaries and scientists and fish producers all mingling together and to hear those conversations.”

Speeches were also offered by Wisconsin Sea Grant Director Jim Hurley; Steve Summerfelt, chief science officer for Superior Fresh, an aquaponics business that raises Atlantic salmon and grows leafy greens in Hixton, Wisconsin; and Charlie Henriksen of Henriksen Fisheries.

Cole outlined current challenges facing water systems in Wisconsin. “There’s a lot of places in the state of Wisconsin that people don’t have surety when they turn on their tap that they’re going to have clean fresh drinking water,” he said. “A lot of the circumstances are lead laterals in some of our older cities. I think there’s probably about 100 communities still in Wisconsin spread all across the state that still have lead laterals. And for children, there is no safe level for lead. We know that emerging contaminants like PFAS [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances] in our drinking water do serious harm where we’ve been finding legacy contaminants from firefighting foam.”

Cole also shared some thoughts on a “Taste of Wisconsin Waters.”

“I think this is awesome. For folks in this room tonight, from commercial fishermen, to researchers, to restauranteurs, people who count on that fishing industry, people who count on the research that’s occurring – I met a couple of those researchers this evening – and I think it’s a wonderful way to look forward by relishing how far we’ve come in the past and providing clean water and research around our water systems.”

Summerfelt with Superior Fresh was also impressed by the event. “I’m ecstatic that Sea Grant put this together to recognize how Wisconsin uses water for food and brought in aquaculture. Sea Grant has not only helped educate consumers about eating Wisconsin seafood, which is so good for them because there’s nowhere else you can get omega-3s, which are good for your brain and heart, like you can get it from seafood. And then, Wisconsin Sea Grant has also been instrumental in funding research that’s helped the technology develop that’s used in Superior Fresh.”

Depending on funding, similar events may happen in the future, and they may be open to the public.

Preston Cole. Credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Many of the outcomes will take a while to manifest, but Moen explained that one connection was made right away. “A thousand arctic char from the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility that is operated through the University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point, got homes. One of the fish producers, because he heard about them being available, came and collected them and took them back to his farm for growing out as an experiment. So that was a big plus,” Moen said.

She also said that networking among the event-goers led to site visits to research and education facilities and that she’s received invitations to host similar events in two other Wisconsin communities. Moen and Emma Hauser, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s aquaculture and education outreach specialist, recently met with staff from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to discuss working together to support the food-fish industry. “This happened as a direct result of the Taste of Wisconsin Waters,” Moen said.

The post A Taste of Wisconsin Waters first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/a-taste-of-wisconsin-waters/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-taste-of-wisconsin-waters

Marie Zhuikov