A Quick Update: The Lake Superior group arrived at MSP, met the Dragons instructors, and (after encountering a lot of traffic) are now at a rest stop en route to Potter's Farm. All is well.
Hello Menlo Borderlands Lake Superior Community! The last two days have been lively and filled with learning about the new place we will call our home for the upcoming week. On Monday, we started by making a group mission statement: The Superior Trip's mission is to respect all people, land, and culture. We will make the most of the trip and cultivate lasting memories. We will prioritize communication and inclusivity to build community. We will be open to new experiences, be present, make friends, and have fun! We have read a few different perspectives, from indigenous writer Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass, to Wisconsin environmentalist Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac. We learned about Ojibwe tribal history and a current environmental protest on the Enbridge Line 5 going through one of the reservations we will visit. Students are tired of being all in one place (see conference room photo), and soon will be tired of traveling tomorrow. They are all excited fo...
Hi everyone, We have had a busy few days--pardon our late posting. We got in fairly late and quite tired yesterday evening. We had to sleep and get up super early this morning and off to our meetings. We spent the morning at GLIFWC, a multi-tribal agency that regulates resources on public lands in the Western Great Lakes area. We learned about how a treaty between the federal government and the Ojibwe peoples resulted in federal ownership of the land while the Ojibwe retained the rights for hunting, harvesting, and otherwise recreating with their resources. Students asked great questions and were quite attentive throughout. In the afternoon, we went to the Great Lakes Visitor Center where we looked at exhibits about the history of the Lake. We also did a short boardwalk hike around the lake. A number of different flowers were in bloom, from buttercups to trilliums to violets. The trees were just beginning to leaf out. It was a relatively windy day and cold--a high of 57ยบ. The nigh...