It is gratifying to know that our event near Bentleyville was such a huge success! If the people who habituate the “Rants and Raves” page on Craig’s List (clearly the place to go for rational discourse of the highest level) are talking about us, we aren't “preaching to the choir.” We appreciate your attention to this crucial issue of torturing and slaughtering wolves for “fun” in northern Minnesota.

I wonder why the Northwoods Wolf Alliance exercising its first amendment rights on public property threatens some of you so much? Apparently, this has something to do with the notion that some of us are “Indians.”    Hmmm.

The post above recalls the walleye wars in Wisconsin a few decades ago. When Indigenous people want to use their rights under the various treaties in ceded territory, white sportsmen (ahem) brought guns to boat landings and threatened people’s lives. 

What, exactly, are you so afraid of? Do people acting within the laws, YOUR laws I might add, who think differently from you make you feel that your ideas will not be seen as reasonable in comparison? Are your beliefs and values so shaky and ungrounded in fact, logic, common sense and economic rationality that you fear if we participate in the “free marketplace of ideas” that you may end up losing some of your privilege? Do you fear we will handily show you to be behaving counterproductively if we were heard? 

It is really very interesting that our simple and silent display aroused such a stir from some of you. While our members, who represent a variety of cultural, ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds, don’t tend to appreciate the racism that permeates this area so often (though there are also many decent people of rationality and good will we very much do appreciate) it is a good thing to have it right on the surface where we can deal with it openly at least.

There is nothing about a sign that reads “Stop the Wolf Hunt”, or our logo, that is an affront to a family atmosphere. Even if there were, we were not inside the boundaries of Bentleyville, and if I am not mistaken, even if we were, isn’t Bentleyville on public property? 

There is, however, much about the recreational torture and killing of wolves for “fun” being sponsored by the state and subsidized by the public which one might quite reasonably find to be an affront to family values, in that it models sadism as appropriate conduct to the children of our state. 

I note that the FBI and other law enforcement, as well as domestic violence agencies consider a person who enjoys inflicting suffering on animals, for its own sake, to be a red flag for predatory conduct, including violence, towards human beings, and wonder why those urging no torture would be perceived to be the threatening ones. We do not think the state should be presenting torturing animals as “fun” for the family or anyone else. It is not fun, it teaches gross disrespect for life and mocks entirely preventable suffering. This is not consistent with the interests of the state in reducing violent conduct, this is not in the interests of our children or any of the citizens of this state, other than those with an irrational hatred of wolves and a frightening sense of entitlement to run over the majority of Minnesotans in order to indulge the blood lust this hatred inspires. That is not sound or rational policy.

Despite the assertion made by one poster, this recreational slaughter is not intended to reduce the population of wolves, according to the MN DNR. The reason for the wolf hunt in Minnesota was made perfectly clear in an internal DNR email written by Dennis Simon. He stated that the agency owed its primary and secondary clients, hunters and trappers and livestock producers, a wolf hunt now that the wolf was under agency management. This is not consistent with the roundtable management plan and is clear evidence that the agency, whose ONLY rightful clients are the citizens of Minnesota and/or the U.S. (when managing resources of significance to the citizenry of the entire nation, which is the case with wolves) has been captured by a narrow special interest (sport hunters, i.e. those who kill for thrills), and a corporate interest (livestock producers).

The MN wolf hunt is an example of a state agency again caving in to animal agriculture lobbies (sparing them the need to honor the obligation they committed to in roundtable negotiations in many regards, including implementing non-lethal wolf depredation control methods) and a concession to people who think it is fun to inflict completely gratuitous pain, suffering and death on an iconic animal, crucial to a healthy eco-system, who is unquestionably worth far more to Minnesotans alive than dead.

The wolf hunt is a slap in the faces of the majority of Minnesotans who, while we may respect subsistence hunting, no  longer have patience for modeling recklessly violent and sadistic conduct towards any living being.

Yes, the times are changing, and if that frightens some, well, that’s sad, but no excuse for refusing to object to this outrageous hunt. Perhaps instead of attacks on Craig's List, it would be more productive to engage in civil and reasonable discourse about why the roundtable management plan, which well represented the interests of all stakeholders in Minnesota as identified by the DNR, was ignored and not implemented? Why not discuss the very small number of domestic animals actually killed by wolves (about 91 head of livestock in 2011, hardly a huge issue) and the fact that farmers and other people concerned about domestic animals were enabled vis a vis the roundtable management plan, to kill or have killed wolves they felt were threatening domestic animals and ask ourselves why they still lobbied to not have to live up to their end of the bargain when wolves were de-listed? Why not write Governor Dayton or MN DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr and ask them when they will respect the public in whose trust these animals are to be “managed?”

As for “Indians at Bentleyville”, it is true that the Anishinaabeg nation(s) collectively banned wolf hunting on their reservations and that two, the White Earth Nation and the Red Lake Nation, declared their reservations wolf sanctuaries. Those familiar with the mission of the Northwoods Wolf Alliance are aware that we intend to facilitate the Anishinaabeg and non-Anishinaabeg people of this area, i.e. Anishinaabeg Akiing, to work together to protect wolves. I don’t think that being a member of the group or being at the Bentleyville event, is grounds for any kind of projection about other characteristics. If someone was there, one may reasonably assume that they are a member or supporter of the NWA and that they were at Bentleyville Friday night. No person speaks for others, I think those of us who are reasonable and rational understand that. If someone wishes to equate attendance at the event with presuming to speak for every person in any demographic group, the error belongs to the person so assuming.

We all are committed to protection of the wolf in MN, WI and MI and to respect for traditional environmental and other ethics as we understand and continue to strive to learn more about them. I think it is clear that there has been a single dominant paradigm at work when it comes to policy in this state and regardless of our cultural identification, we all agree there is a need for different voices to be heard. The DNR did consider tribal representatives to be significant stakeholders when assembling the roundtable that was to set policy upon de-listing of the wolf from the federal endangered species list. However, it disregarded tribal voices, as a whole, when electing to give in to ag and sport hunters demands for a hunt. The state is obliged to consult (which entails more than informing) with tribal nations on policy affecting culturally and otherwise significant resources. The state did not meet its obligation to sovereign nations in this regard and no matter our heritage, we are ALL treaty people. Treaties are the law of this land, the highest law of the land, negotiated between sovereign nations. It is the obligation of all of us to honor and respect both the letter and the spirit of these agreements. 

We are asking that law, and rational policy, be adhered to. Who reasonably objects to that? 

This brings me back where I began- the walleye wars. The treaties were good enough when the “settlers” wanted to take land, resources and push both indigenous people and wolves out of the way for agriculture and other economic activity, with enormous brutality. Yet when it comes time for the people to enjoy their freedoms and privileges under these treaties, suddenly the hatred and death threats emerge. 

You may not agree that the wolf hunt should stop. But if you have a problem with the peaceful and respectful exercise of freedom of speech in a public place, or with attempts to encourage Governor Mark Dayton and The MN DNR to fully respect both the letter and the law of the treaties that govern ceded territory, you have a problem with democracy, “family values” and a logical consistency issue that you need to work on.

Clearly, the acceptability of thrill kills has not resulted in more `tolerance' for non-human predators and those who think killing is fun have argued.

Instead, it has created a climate in which even agencies feel that they have a `social license' (miigwech to Mike Wiggins Jr. who I am stealing this from, with credit, in many of my presentations) to blatantly encourage poaching, ie. breaking the law they are entrusted to uphold.

In such a climate- when those entrusted to uphold the law feel free to BRAG about poaching- do you HONESTLY believe that a single wolf that dies today or who will die during the hunting, trapping and snaring slated to begin in Minnesota on Nov 9 (UNLESS WE STOP IT) will die `humanely'? 

Seriously? This hunt is motivated by hatred. Not just hatred of the wolf either. Sport hunters are by definition, sadistic. They enjoy inflicting unnecessary suffering and death. I think this is a clear signal that we first end all recreational killing of wolves, then everyone else. No more sport hunting. 

Let's make it clear exactly what this is about. Spotlight the cruelty. I will be sharing some `notes' about how to create and use facebook, then other social media, create your own content, share it in the right places.

Many organizers, no leaders....... Change will only come from you. You have more power than your realize, your voice is a gift, as is your body. Use which ever you can.

I am humbled and more appreciative than I can find words to express for the support, both with volunteer time and cash donations, that our speakers, co-sponsors and supporters contributed to make WOLF WALK 2013: STOP the sport hunt on ma’iingan, a huge success!

This is going to be a very long post. There are so many to thank.

First there is Ken Andrews. He is an incredible artist who I "discovered" via mutual Facebook friends. I have long followed his wall there and look at the art in those albums for hours at a time. We did not have a logo of our own last year, so no t-shirts or other materials to distinguish the Northwoods Wolf Alliance from other groups and somewhere along the line I saw ma’iingan on Ken’s page. I knew immediately that I wanted to use that art for our logo and was humbled when Ken agreed!

Ken’s art is amazing and reflects the unique cultural and spiritual feel of our area, it resonates deeply with people of many cultures and I hope you will do yourself a favor and check him out on Facebook.

I don’t yet have a complete list, but other walks took place on the same date- and our member Xotzin did a banner drop in solidarity with us all the way out in Colorado!

WOLF WALK 2013 was amazing! We rallied at the Civic Center Plaza where most of our co-sponsors and supporters had helped us out by bringing tables we’d borrowed and set up literature and other materials about the wolf hunts and other issues of importance to our community. Since I was at another event until just after this one started I am not even sure exactly who helped with the chairs and tables, but I think that Richard Harbaugh, Kathy Spencer-Harbaugh and Matt from Occupy Duluth had much to do with it and suspect it was Scot Bol (several organizational affiliations) who arranged for us to borrow them! I think every single co-sponsor and most supporters were involved in logistics, set up or break down! Chi miigwech to our many allies! We could not have done this without you! Please see the list of co-sponsors and supporters and thank and support them as well!

I am embarrassed, but must admit I was late to an event I played a major role in organizing. That has only happened once before in my entire "career." I do take pride in being professional, but confess that we pushed the envelope a bit to accommodate both our rally and the talk at the International Wolf Center conference. Since the IWC conference involved many researchers and policy makers that we don’t usually get in front of, I think it was a good decision. We all hope a "stop the hunt" rally won't be necessary next year.

The talk to the IWC audience was so well received that I had a lot of trouble leaving the DECC and getting to the rally! All of the literature that Susan Oswood and others helped create and which Susan and Debra Wilde spent I don’t know how long stuffing into folders for me to hand out was gone and people wanted more. I did give out our contact info and promised to follow up on requests for additional information. Once I got there and we were able to get underway we listened to Robert DesJarlait, Red Lake Anishinaabeg elder and Director of Protect Our Manoomin, Skip Sandman local Anishinaabeg elder, candidate for an At Large seat on the Duluth City Council, and mentor, friend and family to many of our members, Barry Babcock, an environmental activist and deer hunter who has long lived on the Leech Lake Reservation, Melissa Smith of Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf, and Howard Goldman of the Humane Society of the United States, as well as myself, detailing reasons to oppose the hunting of ma’iingan (wolf) in Minnesota.

We enjoyed listening to the Little Horse Drum Group and the Burntside Lake Singers before we began our march thorough downtown Duluth and on to Canal Park.

Many people have expressed appreciation for that particular element of WOLF WALK 2013 - that we went to Canal Park and did the round dance on the shore. Canal park is a place of historic significance and hopefully someday soon I can interview some elders and write about that. I only know a few of the stories and teachings.

Dan Adams of the Duluth-Superior Native American Community  spoke at the round dance and many sang. Then we all went and enjoyed a wonderful feast that a volunteer who wishes to remain anonymous had waiting for us when we arrived at the Central Hillside Community Center. Tony Hernandez and Renee Van Nett of the Native Alliance, Kelly Foss and Lisa Herthel also worked hard on coordinating and setting up the feast, and we are very grateful. We had plenty of good food! Kathleen Spencer- Harbaugh brought her famous (and delicious) home made pizza too! We were honored with more singing and drumming during the hand drum contest that Jaron Andrew, one of our Duluth Indigenous Commission members organized for our enjoyment! Miigwech Jaron! I love hearing these guys sing.

Volunteer and photographer Chuck Ashley donated 3 beautiful framed wolf prints of his art and I got a woman’s cut Idle No More t-shirt designed by Sarah Little Redfeather Kalmanson to show off!

The entire event was photographed by Ivy Vainio, Official photographer of WOLF WALK 2012 and 2013! See a selection of Ivy's photos on the Photo Gallery page. Chris Oswood of Innovox Audio provided the public address system for the rally.

SO MANY people and organizations worked together to make the walk a success.

Miigwech and AAAAAAWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOO....... for your support!

"If you take the fur of ma’iingan, you take the flesh off my back." Endaso-Giizhik, Red Lake Anishinaabeg elder, Makwa Indoodem (bear clan).

To read the creation story of the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) please see The Mishomis Book, by Edward Benton Banai. See also "Prophecies, Mining and Water" www.youtube.com, and the Protect Our Manoomin web site.

The second season of trapping, snaring and hunting ma'iingan (wolves) in Minnesota is set to begin November 9.

WE NEED TO STOP IT! If we fail again, not only will hundreds more wolves suffer a hideously cruel fate for no reason other than the "fun" of mostly white, out of state weekend "outdoorsmen," the viability of ma'iingan in Minnesota will be severely threatened.

It is clear that this torture and slaughter of wolves for "sport" is both ecologically and economically unsound, and is opposed by the majority of Minnesotans. The tribes in ceded territory, in which this abomination is planned to again take place, have made their opposition to a thrill kill on a spiritual brother crystal clear.

The hunt, as admitted to in an internal DNR email, was intended to appease those that the DNR considers it's "primary and secondary" constituencies- the sport hunting groups and the ag lobby. Why are these groups accorded special privilege by an agency charged with acting in the public trust?

ENOUGH!

GASHKOZIN! NIIBAWIN! GIIGIDOON!

All people of conscience need to WAKE UP! STAND UP! and SPEAK UP! at this time.

We will have an open mic at the feast after the walk. We will be able to record the statements of those of you who have something to say to the "leadership" of this state. Address the Governor, DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr, legislators and federal officials by NAME if you like. TELL YOUR STORY TO THEM. Tell them why the hunt hurts you. Tell them why the hunt hurts our environment. Tell them why it is totally unacceptable for them to treat ma'iingan as a resource to be managed by those who do not understand its profound significance to the original people of this land -- the ones who know it best. Tell them what you expect them to do about it. (INTERVENE TO STOP THIS HUNT NOW, is my suggestion.)

We will make a video record of your statements and send them to the Governor, the MN DNR, the relevant House and Senate committees and, social media volunteers permitting, every single member of the House and Senate in Minnesota

We will, with help from social media volunteers, POST these messages to not only You Tube with the right search parameters considered (ie. people who search for those we name for any reason will hopefully find all of these too) but also post to the facebook pages and twitter pages of those named AND all the reporters and media we can find people to cover. Feel URGED to volunteer to help out, the more the better!

This should net us a good deal of mainstream media as well.

If you are too far away to join us, hold you OWN rally and get clips!I would LOVE to include a list of 50 other locations in which `STOP THE HUNT' rallies will be held on Oct 12, 2013.

WE NEED TO GENERATE A NATION WIDE OUTCRY- The BIGGEST HOWL WE CAN MUSTER!

Don't debate sadists. PLASTER the evidence all over the FB walls of policy makers at the state and federal level AND the FB pages of the media. Tweet this with their hashtags and all their followers will see it. Add a link from the FBI or other law enforcement agency as to the connection between the torture of animals and predation of other human beings. Sick is as sick does and yes, these people are disturbed. ANYONE who kills, much less tortures for fun is a sadist. You cannot reason with such people, it is time to OUT them, and their enablers who include notably Barak Obama. He is responsible for this every bit as much as whoever pulled the trigger. He, as well as the governors and wildlife agencies in the relevant states, gave wildlife to irrational thrill killers to execute in order to further subsidize animal agriculture. By the way, don't forget to hold that industry accountable too. Boycott beef, pork, lamb, turkey and chicken until animal agriculture agrees to implement non-lethal depredation control methods.

I don't like posting photos like this. But if this photo angers you, saddens you, sickens you, then stand up and say something. Support wolf activism wherever you may be. If you're in Minnesota, join the Wolf Walk on October 12. In our Anishinaabe origin stories, the ma'iingan is our brother who walked the Earth with Original Man. Whatever happens to ma'iingan happens to us. This doesn't have to happen. We need to stand strongly against this genocide of our brother and the Third Order of Life. Hoka.

The Northwoods Wolf Alliance was delighted to learn that the lovely woman who I told was "beautiful," and "looked just like Jessica Lange" when we chatted at a July Northwoods Wolf Alliance rally in Duluth, was in fact, Jessica Lange. We are even more delighted to read her letter to Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton in support of ending the sport hunt on the wolf, whom the Anishinaabeg, the original people of the north woods, call Ma'iingan, and who is their spiritual brother, with whom they share a parallel fate. 

Ms. Lange's well-written appeal reminds Governor Dayton of his obligation, not only to Minnesotans, but to the entire nation. As Minnesotans, we believe that the nation should be able to rely on our state to set wildlife policy in a manner consistent not with the demands of the agricultural lobbies or the very small percentage of people who kill or maim wildlife for "fun," but in the public trust, recognizing and allocating appropriate weight to both the science and the public's clear intent that the wolf forever howl in our north woods. Lange is correct in that the clearly ill-advised and hasty hunting, trapping and snaring of wolves in Minnesota that took place last year must NOT be repeated. 

It is particularly important that Ms. Lange makes this plea as a resident of northern Minnesota. The impression that most of us in wolf country want wolves tortured and killed, either for "sport" or because those involved in animal agriculture seem to have a hatred for non-human predators far out of proportion to actual economic considerations, is simply false. As I wrote in a column for the Duluth Budgeteer (April 8, 2013), St. Louis County Commissioner Mike Forsman misled the Minnesota Senate Environment and Energy Committee last March when he testified to the effect that the St. Louis County Board of Commissioners had passed a resolution in support of the wolf hunt. There is no record of any such resolution. It simply didn't happen.

 The Northwoods Wolf Alliance works on protecting Ma'iingan from a perspective that embraces traditional Anishinaabeg environmental ethics as we understand them, in what we call Anishinaabeg Akiing (parts of MN, WI and MI) and is based in Duluth. Our group, along with other groups and individuals in Minnesota, was dismissed by the Governor in his August statement to the effect that he heard no significant opposition to the wolf hunt throughout all of 2012. Our group has nearly 600 members and continues to grow. Wolf Walk 2012 drew hundreds and got coverage in the Huffington Post. We've rallied repeatedly in Duluth, as well as in Bemidji, St. Paul, Virginia, Hinckely and elsewhere.
 
Deaf to the voices of wolf supporters around the state, Governor Dayton appears to be culturally blind as well. Does he not see that most of the northern part of our state is in ceded territory? Has he no respect for the fact that northern Minnesota is Anishinaabeg country and that every tribe in the Minnesota Chippewa Tribes (MCT) as well as the Red Lake Nation, banned wolf hunting, and that two, the White Earth Nation and the Red Lake Nation, declared their reservations to be wolf sanctuary? Does he not recognize the profound disrespect for the spirit, if not also the letter of the various treaties which apply in the ceded territories, in inviting mainly white sport hunters to come into Anishinaabeg country, to kill their brother for fun?

 It is ecological insanity to authorize another hunting, trapping and snaring season on Ma'iingan in 2013. It is economic insanity to sanction the irrational hatred of a few towards this animal when people spend millions of dollars each year to come to the north woods, hoping just to hear that iconic howl. Governor Dayton, it is a shame that you did not hear us last year. It is unfortunate that you will not acknowledge that your and the DNR's true constituency is not sport hunting organizations or the agricultural lobbies, but the citizens of this state - citizens who have told you in many ways, from lawsuits, polls and rallies, to the tribal bans and creation of wolf sanctuaries, that they do not want to subsidize the recreational killing or torture of wolves in Minnesota. It is a shame that state agencies and state policy have been captured to such a degree by special interests.

 The Governor has stated that he has no power to end the wolf hunt. It is our understanding that the 2011 legislature merely authorized the DNR to institute a hunting/trapping season at its discretion. It did not mandate that wolves be hunted and trapped in Minnesota. Even if the matter is in the hands of the legislature and the courts at this time, it strikes me as disingenuous of the governor to act as if his influence is not a significant variable in this matter. Governor Dayton should immediately direct the Democratic members of the House and Senate to get a bill through committee to halt the planned hunt with all due haste.

The DNR Roundtable worked hard to create a wolf management plan that was to be the policy of this state upon federal removal of the wolf from the Endangered Species List. Sport hunting groups, ag lobbies and the tribes were at the negotiating table. That agreed-upon plan was well thought out, well researched and contained a rational balance of the various interests identified as being important to stakeholders in Minnesota. The Northwoods Wolf Alliance calls upon the governor to direct the DNR to return to that management plan. Do not allow another hunting, trapping and snaring season on wolves in Minnesota in 2013. We do not accept that Governor Dayton is powerless to effect positive influence that we may avoid continuing a disastrous policy. 

I think it is about time that the public insist that agencies, organizations and the media begin to use language more accurately. Killing captive animals is not "sport." Killing and torturing wolves for fun is not "sport." Animals are not "harvested," they are killed. News media must stop serving as a PR arm for people who are essentially inflicting pain and suffering because they enjoy it. When we grant a social license to treat sadism as recreation, is it any wonder that human beings think it is ok to treat each other in many of the same ways - like objects put here to harm for their amusement? By adopting the spin these "harvesters" use, news organizations effectively condone pointless killing for fun. The FBI takes animal cruelty very seriously because those who prey on humans almost invariably have a history of it. These people should be getting psychiatric evaluations, not press.

As we approach Wolf Walk 2013, I am reminded of the speech Robert DesJarlait gave at last year's walk.  The text of Robert's talk is below, as relevant and as moving this year as last.

Boozhoo Anishinaabedoog miinawaa Indinawemaaganag

Endaso-Giizhik Anishinaabemong

Makwa indoodem

Miskwaagamiiwi-zaaga`iganiing indoojibaa

Greeting my fellow Anishinaabe and my Relatives

My Anishinaabe spirit-name is Everyday, I belong to the Bear Clan, and I am from the Red Lake Nation.

My English name is Robert DesJarlait and I am the Director of Protect Our Manoomin.  Protect Our Manoomin is an Anishinaabe grassroots organization that provides education and outreach on issues regarding wild rice and sulfide mining in Minnesota. Protect Our Manoomin stands in solidarity with the Northwoods Wolf Alliance on the issue of the wolf hunt in Minnesota. And we recognize the various groups and citizens who are here today and are involved in the effort to stop the wolf hunt and save the wolf.

Today, we come here in diversity, yet we come for a common cause, and that common cause is to speak for those who can’t speak. We come here to speak for the wolf.  

In my language, the wolf is called Ma’iingan. The relationship between the Anishinaabe people and ma’iingan is thousands of years old. 

Our history is recounted in our oral traditions. Through our stories, we know about our relationships with the natural world. The story of Original Man and Ma’iingan reaffirms our connections to one of our closest relatives – the wolf.

Long ago, Gichi-Manidoo (the Creator) created Aki (the Earth), the plants, the animals, and, lastly, human beings. The first human placed on Earth was called Anishinaabe (or Original Man).  After being placed on the Earth, Original Man wandered for many days. One thing Original Man noticed was that unlike animals and birds, he was alone. He spoke to the Creator and said: 

“Grandfather, why is it all the animals and the birds come in pairs? Why am I alone?

And the Creator said: “I am going to send you a companion. Together you will wander on the Earth and name all the things you see.”

The Creator sent Ma’iingan – the wolf – to walk with Original Man. Together, they traveled over the Earth and gave names to animals and birds, to plants and trees, and to rivers and lakes. And after many years, they returned to where their journey began.

Then the Creator said: “You will now walk separate but parallel paths.  What happens to one will happen to the other.”

In their separate lives, Original Man and Ma’iingan were alike. They had families that they raised with love and strong family values. Original Man lived in a clan, and Ma’iingan lived in a pack. The plants provided them with medicine, forests provided shelter, and animals provided food. 

And, like the Creator told them, they shared the same fate. Ma’iingan was hunted for his fur, and Original Man was hunted for his hair. Their existence was considered an impediment by the colonizers; therefore they were shot, murdered, and forced off their land. 

This was the path and the fate that the Anishinaabe and Ma’iingan shared together. Today, we share a similar fate. And that fate is tied to mining. 

In 2008, Polymet released its Environmental Impact Study. The study focuses on specific areas that will be impacted by its mine. In the section on Wildlife, Polymet states that a wolf pack lives within a designated critical habitat located near the mine at Hoyt Lakes, and the pack will suffer a loss and fragmentation of habitat because of mining activity.  Polymet states that this pack will migrate into Superior National Forest or the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. 

Like in the past, Ma’iingan is being forced from his land. Of course, Polymet doesn’t deem this as critical to the survival of the wolf. And, as Polymet states in their study, the life expectancy of their mine is 40 years, after which, the wolf can return to its former habitat. The question is – what will remain of that habitat that will have been exposed to 40 years of toxins and pollution.

One thing that the Polymet study doesn’t address is the expansion of copper mining in Minnesota. According to mining exploration maps, mining companies plan to build mines that begin on the shores of Anishinaabe-gichigami (Lake Superior) and extend far into the interior of northern and central Minnesota. If the Polymet mine is going to affect the loss of wolf habitat in Hoyt Lakes, what will be the loss of wolf habitat if mining occurs all across northern and central Minnesota? Where will Ma’iingan go? 

The Anishinaabe share a similar fate. And that loss will be a loss of habitat for hunting, fishing, and harvesting wild rice on ceded land that is protected under our treaty rights. Like Ma’iingan, our food sustenance will be diminished, and the animals that migrate away from the mining will leave few animals to sustain our traditional diet that is essential to our health and well-being. 

The relationship between the Anishinaabe and Ma’iingan, and all the other animals as well, extends beyond the story of Original Man.  

In our belief system, wolves and animals have a special place. All animals have a close connection with Mother Earth and with plants. Each animal and bird species is endowed with unique powers that were given to them by the Creator at the time of the Creation. Through the gifts that were given to them by the Creator, animals possess and reflect their inner being, their soul-spirit.

At the time when the Anishinaabe lived on the shores of the Great Salt Waters – the Atlantic coast – the Creator sent seven animals to teach us how to govern ourselves and how to build our social structure. The seven original animals were the Crane, Loon, Fish, Bear, Martin, Deer, and Birds. These were our original clans.  As the Anishinaabe multiplied, more clans were added, including the wolf.

All Anishinaabe people belong to a clan. Their clan heritage is passed on to them through their father. Our clan animal is our kin relative. The quality and character of the animal is passed on to us. For example, the character of Wolf clan people is perseverance and guardianship; the character of Beal clan people is strength and courage. Although the structure of our communities is no longer based on the clan system, our clan animals continue to shape and form who we are as individuals.  Our clan continues to provide us with self-identity and guides us in our roles in our communities.

Our elders teach us about the Four Orders of Life. Aki – Mother Earth – is the first order, followed by plants, then animals and, lastly, human beings. The Earth, plants, and animals can exist without human beings. But, human beings cannot exist without the Earth, plants, and animals.

When we look at what is happening to our brother, Ma’iingan, we see ourselves. When we see the blood of a murdered wolf, it is our blood.  When we see the paw of a wolf in a trap, it is our hand in a trap. When the fur of a wolf removed, our flesh is removed. 

This is the fate that the Anishinaabe face. And it is a fate that everyone here faces. This is about more than the hunting and killing of wolves. The name of the game is ecocide. Those who oppose the wolf hunt or sulfide mining are labeled as environmental terrorists. But we are not the terrorists. We are here to protect those that can’t speak. Through our actions, we must seek to restore the Four Orders of Life. That is our duty and responsibility. Because without them, we cannot exist.

Ahaaw, mii’gwech

Mii sa go 

To: Honorable James E. LaFave Administrative Law Judge 600 North Robert Street P.O. Box 64620 Saint Paul, MN 55164-0620
From: Reyna Crow, Northwoods Wolf Alliance, Duluth MN.

RE: OAH Docket No. 60-2002-30171

My name is Reyna Crow and I am one of the co-founders of the Northwoods Wolf Alliance. We are a Duluth based organization with an immediate goal of ending the hunt on ma’iingan, the wolf, and with an overall focus on Anishinaabeg environmental ethics.

I want very much to comment on the proposed status changes to many individual species in Minnesota. However, the way the DNR handled the wolf subsequent to de-listing as a federal endangered species necessitates comment on the process by which the DNR `manages’ wildlife first.

I want to cite an email from Dennis Simon to Kathy DonCarlos, both of the DNR, in which Mr. Simon states “... we owe it to our primary clients, hunters and trappers, and to livestock producers as secondary clients, to do what we can to establish a legitimate harvest opportunity now that the wolf is under our management authority.”

The primary and secondary clients of the state DNR are, of course, the citizens of Minnesota. As a primary client of the DNR I, along with the 316 other members of the Northwoods Wolf Alliance, oppose the proposed change in status of the grey wolf from `special concern’ to `none’. We furthermore oppose without qualification the hunting, trapping and snaring of wolves in Minnesota.

We are not satisfied that the DNR has applied due diligence in meeting its duty to survey wolf numbers and distribution in Minnesota as should have been done even before merely considering a hunt. It would seem that about a third of the very roughly estimated population was just wiped out, mostly for `fun’. The DNR has no idea how this hunt has effected the future of this species. We do not want narrow interests to continue to dictate the fate of ma’iingan or any other species in Minnesota.

In fact, the complete disregard shown by the DNR for a management plan that was exhaustively negotiated by a cross section of the public the agency is supposed to represent, including sport and other hunters as well as livestock owners, demonstrates that we cannot expect either science or the public interest to inform DNR policy.

For this reason, we also oppose any reduction in the protection afforded to not only the grey wolf, but even a single other species in this state until such time as whatever changes are necessary and sufficient to recapture the agency from the narrow special interests it is clearly representing have taken place. Only when good faith in the form of adequate science and regard for the public interest on the part of the DNR has returned to the `management’ process should lessening protection for any species be considered.

Things went very well at the DFL (Democrat, Farmer Labor Party for non-Minnesotans) Central Committee meeting today, or at least did for the time I was there. Attendance at the meeting seemed lighter than we expected perhaps because of the warnings of snow. However, we seemed well received and got 65 signatures from committee members wishing to sponsor the resolution! Only twenty sponsors are required to put a proposal before the committee. Some folks from Protect Our Manoomin (many of us are members of both groups) joined us outside with signs too!

I left a bit early to take part in a smaller group meeting with Rick Nolan. About 25 of us were there, and I was the only one who spoke about the wolf hunt. Many environmental groups were represented and they spoke to the proposed mine in Hoyt Lakes, the land swap, and directly related issues save myself and one other, who mentioned climate change as her biggest environmental concern. 

However, I was approached by many of the people in attendance both before and after the meeting thanking us for what we are doing and expressing solidarity. Quite a few people asked for more information, one wants to help out and I will be seeing many of these people again next Sunday at the local UU church which has invited me to speak to them about the wolf hunt.