Gus Frank, Community Chairman of the Forest County Potawatomi, and Sandra Rachal, Sokaogon Chippewa Community Chairwoman, are co-recipients of the Conservationists of the Year award for their work protecting the Wolf River. Over the last three decades, the Forest County Potawatomi, the Mole Lake Band of the Sokaogon Chippewa tribes, and the Menominee Nation have worked to prevent mining in an area near Crandon, Wisconsin. In October of last year, the two tribes honored here joined forces to purchase nearly 6,000 acres of land in northeastern Wisconsin near the headwaters of the Wolf River for $16.5 million.
By taking the dramatic step of purchasing these lands, the tribes are preventing destructive mining proposals in this sensitive area thereby protecting their groundwater and preserving the Wolf River. The purchase of the Crandon Mine has been recognized nationally as an innovative and successful resolution to this decades-old environmental controversy.
~ Art Harrington
This purchase protects the Wolf River, the wetlands and the groundwater of Northern Wisconsin. It ends the threat to the tourism economy – the economy that most of us in Northern Wisconsin, including the tribes, depend on. We all depend on the waters and natural resources of the Northwoods – for recreation, to bring tourists to our State, and, for the Tribes, to sustain our traditions. We’re proud to be a part of protecting this area for future generations.
~ Gus Frank
