The Crandon Mine Victory

For over 20 years, Native American Tribes and the people of Wisconsin struggled to keep multinational mining corporations from locating a huge sulfide mine at the headwaters of the Wolf River. The battle was over when the Mole Lake Sokaogan Chippewa and Forest County Potowatomi Tribes paid $16.5 million to purchase Nicolet Minerals Company.

You can read more about the Crandon mine and this amazing victory here and at the Midwest Treaty Network and NoCrandonMine websites.

By Richard Ryman
Green Bay Press Gazette
Dec. 07, 2003

ASHWAUBENON -- Wisconsin Indian tribes on Saturday celebrated a successful, nearly three decades-long fight to keep land near Crandon from being mined.

A powwow to celebrate the resolution of the Crandon mine issue was held Saturday afternoon in the Brown County Veteran's Memorial Arena.

Before the grand entrance ceremony, a coalition of 33 environmental groups honored the Forest County Potawatomi, the Menominee Nation and the Mole Lake Band of the Sokaogon Chippewa tribes for buying the land and putting to rest nearly 30 years of acrimony.

"It's the perfect conclusion. The right people bought it," said Dave Blouin of the Mining Impact Coalition.

On Oct. 28, the Forest County Potawatomi and the Mole Lake Band of the Sokaogon Chippewa paid $16.5 million to buy the property from Northern Wisconsin Resources Group. The sale includes 5,770 acres in Forest County and 169 acres in Shawano and Oconto counties. The deal includes an agreement between the tribes and Nicolet Hardwood Corp. of Laona to cooperatively manage the forested land for at least 15 years, with the tribes owning the timber rights.

Zoltan Grossman of the Midwest Treaty Network said the deal was a combination of gaming revenue and the renaissance of Native American culture in Wisconsin, and a willingness of tribes to work together.

Gus Frank, chairman of the Forest County Potawatomi Community, said a woman who works in his office best summed up the importance of the deal.

''She said 'Now my grandchildren will have water to drink.' That was just a very profound statement," he said.

Environmentalists and the tribes said acidic mine runoff and cyanide used in ore extraction would jeopardize groundwater and adjacent wetlands, including the Wolf River.

Frank said gaming revenue made it possible for the tribes to buy the land. He warned that revenue is in danger because of a lawsuit by Republican legislators challenging Gov. Jim Doyle's gaming compacts with the tribes.

Bob Schmitz, a founder of the Wolf River Watershed Alliance in 1976, said the Mole Lake Chippewas put everything on the line to purchase the property.

"These people have mortgaged their homes and their futures and probably their children's and grandchildren's futures," he said. "They don't have the money the Potawatomi do."

Ken Van Zile of the Wolf River Protection Fund said the effort to save the Crandon site is not over.

"Our tribe is one of the poorest tribes in Wisconsin. We need help now," he said.