At the personal request of Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault, the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe, in cooperation with the National Indian Gaming Association and Menominee Tribal Enterprises, donated a semi-truck load of firewood to the North Dakota tribe in support of its fight to halt the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.
The Standing Rock Sioux, along with thousands of protesters from tribes across the nation, are engulfed in a battle to halt construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline over concerns it will destroy sacred tribal lands and contaminate drinking water.
Firewood is not readily available or accessible on the reservation in North Dakota.
The firewood was harvested from trees grown in the Menominee Indian Nation Forest, harvested by Menominee Tribal Enterprises, donated by three Native American organizations and transported by Lee Miller, a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe.
Miller, who is the father of Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Council President Shannon Holsey, drove the semi-truck of firewood to North Dakota and delivered it to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
“This donation is even more special because every aspect of it was organized and facilitated by Native American people,” Holsey said. “The Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe is solidly in support of the Standing Rock Sioux’s efforts to ensure concerns over the pipeline are addressed by state and federal agencies, and we hope that the sovereign rights of the Sioux Nation are respected and upheld.”
The Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Tribe has approximately 1,470 members throughout Wisconsin; 34 percent of them live on the tribe’s reservation in Shawano County.
The Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe is the largest employer in Shawano County and operates the North Star Mohican Casino Resort, which features 1,200 slot machines and 22 table games. Each year, the tribe contributes more than $100,000 in funding to the area’s two largest school districts and more than $200,000 to support neighboring communities and other Wisconsin Indian tribes.