by Nick Vander Puy

"My father, in the country we sell you, we wish to hold-on to that which gives us life---the streams and the lakes where we fish, and the trees from which we make sugar."

- Maghegabo, Leech Lake Pillager band, speaking at 1837 Fort Snelling Treaty with the United States.

The Namekagon River still gives us life. For thousands of years natives canoed, fished, trapped, and fought along the river from it's source near present day Cable, Wisconsin west to the St. Croix and the Mississippi. During the eighteen hundreds the river floated immense pine logs. Now harried suburbanites and country people alike from the early twentyfirst century visit the still sparkling river for joy and peace of mind.

There have been other defenders of the Namekagon as well. In 1953 a judge denying a permit for a utility to build a 22 foot dam across the river wrote about the unique features of the river, "the canoeist has the illusion of being in the forest primeval, far from civilization."

Former Wisconsin Governor and Senator Gaylord Nelson the founder of Earth Day also helped save the Namekagon River. Back in 1968, faced with development pressures to build a two coal fired electric plants near Stillwater, Minnesota Senator Nelson championed the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. It passed Congress overwhelmingly. President Johnson signed it. The Namekagon and St. Croix became the first rivers protected east of the Mississippi.

The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act intends "to protect for posterity, the river's free flowing character, water quality, and the natural, scenic, aesthetic, cultural, and recreational values of the river." More than three thousand properties lining the riverway were purchased and dismantled at the cost of 21 million dollars to restore pristine quality. Billboards were banned. Adjacent property owners gave up rights to use their land for public utlity purposes or for any industrial or commercial activities including but not limited to mining, quarrying, or sandgravel removal operations. There was fear on the parts of Senators Nelson and Mondale and other conservationists that utilities might stake out a claim resulting in more smokestacks.

Even today the Lousisana Pacific plant on the outskirts of Hayward tears up the forest like a beast from Mordor stinking of formaldyhde. There are hideous overlit signs and shopping malls almost everywhere in this northern Wisconsin resort town, but the Wild and Scenic Namekagon River buffers the worst of the industrial order. According to long time progressive activist Martin Hanson from Mellen, "If the Namekagon hadn't been protected, Hayward would be a real mess."

And the utility dragon? Well, a few years back, it returned belching even more noise, stink, and slobbering, when Gov. Tommy Thompson's handpicked Public Service Commission lackeys gave American Transmission Company (ATC) the go ahead to bulldoze a ten to fourteen story tall high voltage tranmission line between Duluth and Wausau, 250 miles across the heart of northwest Wisconsin and the Namekagon River.

At least the current Public Service Commission under the Doyle-Lawton administration is taking a closer look at whether the budget busting Arrowhead line, crossing the Namekagon, is really necessary or would the King Weston route, costing less and running on existing right of way between Eau Claire and Wausau work instead.

The National Park Service (NPS) faces a similiar decision balancing the public's right to preserve the Namekagon in it's natural condition versus the necessity to supply electrity. After an environmental impact review the NPS can either allow or prevent the line from crossing the Wild and Scenic Namekagon River in northwest Wisconsin. If the transmission line is buried in the proposed location, it'll be close to an underground gas line. If the transmission line were to corrode and ignite the gas line this could result in an ecological disaster.

Everyone who supports keeping the Namekagon Wild and Scenic is invited to Springbrook, Wisconsin, Saturday May 10 at 9 am. Springbrook is located between Trego and Hayward on highway 63. The founder of Earth Day Gaylord Nelson plans to attend. So does former DNR Secretary George Meyer. Several Chippewa drums have been invited. There'll be a ceremony to honor the river and warriors. Free food and music. Come on down to the river and pray.

Maybe we can leave a legacy to our grandchildren like Gaylord Nelson leaves to us that Americans can get by with less than nine of everything and simply use less. Maybe even share.

For more information about the Namekagon River Gathering http://www.protecttheearth.com/GaylordNelson.html

Nick Vander Puy is a public radio reporter for the Superior Broadcast Network, living in northwest Wisconsin less than ten miles from the Wild and Scenic Namekagon River.

His work can be heard on WXPR, WOJB, and http://www.superiorbroadcastnet.com

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