Rally to Protect Our Relatives
Rally to Protect Our Relatives
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Hibernating bears delay transmission line construction
Spiritual ceremonies held near Ladysmith to honor bears life
By Jim Bailey for Superior Sounder
A mama bear and her cubs can sometimes have more of an affect on a half-billion dollar construction project than all of the legal battles that environmentalists and other citizens bring about…at least, in the short run.
Bob Ringstad of Ladysmith is one of many people who feels victimized by the property condemnation process being used by the for-profit Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPScorp) of Wisconsin. The proposed 345,000 volt Duluth-to-Wausau electric transmission line that WPScorp intends to build will run through Ringstad’s neighborhood.
Poised to begin clearing the strip of land taken from Ringstad’s neighbors, the bulldozers rumbled into place. Out for a last look at this part of his northern haven, Ringstad’s neighbor Gary Miller came across a mama black bear with cubs, denned up for the winter beneath the protective branches of a large conifer. A look around by Miller told him that the area to be cleared by the earthmoving equipment was only a couple of hundred feet away.
What effect would the ground-shaking earthmoving equipment have on the hibernating bruins? Hoping to find the answer to that question, Ringstad first called the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, where he was connected with Dave Siebert, Director of the DNR’s Office of Energy.
Ringstad waited for a return phone call from somebody…anybody. That never happened; no calls came in from power line builder, American Transmission Company, from Siebert himself, or even from Ladysmith’s local DNR office.
Knowing that the earthmoving was scheduled to commence soon, Ringstad turned to a large network of organizations for help. The local group formed to fight the transmission line, S.O.U.L., began to spread the word. The mighty 100,000 watt Ojibwe-owned public radio station WOJB 88.9FM broadcast interviews and reports about the hibernating bears. Wisconsin Public Radio picked up the story and then AP spread the news to all corners of the state.
With their feet held to the fire, American Transmission Company, admitted that according to biologists, the sudden rumble of bulldozers could frighten the mother bear and cause her to run away, abandoning the cubs. In that light, two weeks ago ATC agreed to temporarily halt activities in that area, waiting to resume until the bears would naturally come out of hibernation and, presumably, wander away.
Word continued to spread about the bears, though. With the help of Anishinaabeg O’ Waaswaagoning founder Mike Chosa of Lac du Flambeau, his two sisters Betty and Virginia (both Bear Clan women), entertainer Bobby Bullet St. Germaine, the Anishinaabe Niijii-Protect The Earth organization, and elders from several bands of regional Ojibwe people, the idea to hold ceremonies at Ladysmith developed.
The last thing that these various people wanted to do was to disturb the hibernating bears, so the ceremonies were held in Ladysmith itself. After marshalling their numbers in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, the group first went to the local DNR headquarters.
Tellingly located in a building formerly used by Flambeau Mining, it overlooks the hundreds of acres of decommissioned open pit mine.
“We went there to signify that the DNR and ATC should have been doing a better job of identifying life and land along the [power] line route. They don’t have any idea how many other bears or endangered species are along the line’s route. S.O.U.L. took them to court last summer. We were up against…expensive lawyers from the power company. The result is that land owners, doing this by accident, just entered the real world, and who knows how deep those woods are” said Sandy Lyon of S.O.U.L.
Lac du Flambeau spiritual man Bobby Bullet St. Germaine smoked a pipe, shared with people of the four winds. A separate pipe was passed around to all who cared to partake of it. They prayed. St. Germaine brought forth his hand drum, and sang to the assembled people, to the spirit of the bear, and to the Creator. A sprig of cedar tied with the four colors of the races was given to each participant as a way of recognizing each other as relatives.
Later, those in attendance traveled to the Ladysmith Library, where they shared a traditional meal of wild rice, venison, corn and berries.
Issues profound did indeed abound when Native elders, environmentalists, members of Midwest Treaty Network and S.O.U.L., opponents of open pit mining and members of many different Ojibwe bands gathered in Ladysmith last Saturday.
As sociology pioneer the late Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can have an effect upon the course of civilization. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
