Sturgeon: Menominee Indian Tribe youth & EPA Earth Challenge

(Keshena, Wisconsin) - The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin contributed over 4 tons of electronic and pharmaceutical waste to the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge. This is the second of several videos explaining the numerous MITW projects including teaching youth about the legend of the sturgeon and its place in tribal culture, cleaning up the reservation, and replacing gang symbols with Native American art. In part two, the non-profit interfaith Earth Healing Initiative looks at the sturgeon education classes. The tribe was creative as it added other facets to the challenge like teaching the children about their culture and the close relationship to the earth and its many lakes and streams. All classes at the tribal school taught the students about the sturgeon, that is a vital part of Menominee legend and heritage, said Joe Awanahopay, language arts instructor at the Menominee tribal school. Called the protectors of Menominee wild rice, the sturgeon used to spawn on the reservation until a man made dam blocked the route so the sturgeon could not reach their ancestral spawning grounds. Earth Week tribal school classes applied subjects like math, history and others to different aspects of the life cycle, biology, habitat, legends, current/past spawning grounds and the cultural and practical value of the sturgeon, an important fish to the Menominee people since the dawn of their tribe. "The sturgeon are a historic importance to our people," Awanahopay said. "Since the beginning of time, our people have relied upon the sturgeons for various reasons including for food and scraping hides." "In our legends, the sturgeon are the protectors of our wild rice," said Awanahopay of the slow-growing giant fish known for its thick hide and rubbery snout whose uses and related regulations have sometimes pitted white fishermen against American Indians. "We have been engaging the students in the culture, language, science and the social studies of what the sturgeon mean to our people." "In the science department they have been studying the anatomy and the physiology of the sturgeon," Awanahopay said. "In the language arts department they are looking at the sturgeon habitats and what the effects of pollution are." "In social studies they are looking at the different migrations, the geography, the path the sturgeon used to take to come to their home here - their traditional spawning grounds on the Menoninee Indian reservation," he said. "Because of two dams that are here now south of our reservation, sturgeon are no longer able to come home here to their ancestral spawning grounds." The tribal school students are immersed in Menominee culture and learn to speak the language and its meaning. This was applied to the sturgeon lessons. "In the language and culture room, I focus on the historic importance and the legends of the sturgeon and how these things were passed down from one generation to another generation and why it's important for our youth to hang on to that," Awanahopay said. The students learn "to look forward into the future with the knowledge of the sturgeon, but yet hang onto their spiritual and cultural heritage that is so rich." The tribal school students have a vast reservoir of sturgeon knowledge that the elders are happy to pass on. "We are so fortunate to have so many elders that we still work with that are able to give us this knowledge and pass it from one generation to the next, despite all of the forced assimilation and the changes in our youth, who are trying to make their way in modern society yet integrate the traditions with the technology in today's world Awanahopay said. Sponsors include the tribe's Community Resource Center, Menominee County Police, Menominee Tribal Police, Tribal Clinic Wellness Program (Maehnowesekiyah), Probation and Parole, Community Recycling Project, Recreation Department, EarthHealing.org and the U.S. Post Office in Keshena. This video is possible by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the EPA's Region 5 office in Chicago, the EPA Great Lakes national Program Office in Chicago, in cooperation with the non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative in Marquette, MI. The EHI involves American Indian tribes and "a coalition of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together to heal, protect and defend the environment," said EHI founder Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, Michigan. --- Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin: http://www.menominee-nsn.gov MITW Tribal School: http://mts.bia.edu/ College of Menominee Nation http://www.menominee.edu Earth Healing Initiative Keshena, WI page: http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org/keshena.html Earth Healing Initiative: http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Bah'i Community) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website: http://www.interfaithresources.com 1-800-326-1197