ManOMin conference provides information

FORT FRANCES—Despite one small snag, the fifth-annual ManOMin Watershed Conference provided participants with plenty of information on the environmental sustainability of the Manitoba, Ontario, and Minnesota basins.
The two-day conference, held over in International Falls, Mn. last week and presented by the Rainy River First Nations, saw 18 presenters from both sides of the border speaking about the issues.
“As a whole, the event went very well. There were no real problems,” noted conference chair Adam Scott, though adding just days before the event, they learned keynote speaker Albert Marshall could not attend due to a death in his family.
“Our first reaction were our thoughts were with him and his family, but then we needed to sit down and figure out what we were going to do,” Scott said.
Fortunately, Robert Shimek, from the Indigenous Environmental Network in Bemidji, Mn., was able to step up and give the keynote address focusing on the theme—“Seeing with Both Eyes: Balancing Traditional Aboriginal Knowledge with Contemporary Science.”
“Contemporary science has increased and improved the way of life and caring capacity of the land, water, and resources, but it’s come as a cost,” Shimek stressed, citing harmful factors such as unsafe levels of mercury in the water.
“It’s great to walk into a room and turn on the light, but you have to remember it’s another shovel of coal from our Earth—it’s not free and it’s not easy,” he added.
Scott also echoed the difficulty of the theme.
“I think we made a valiant effort at trying to incorporate it into all aspects of the conference, but it’s a very tricky thing to do,” he admitted, noting many presenters handled the theme concept very well.
“Some stayed more on one side than the other and vice-versa. But I don’t think that took away from anything,” Scott added.
“I think it allowed people to see it is a difficult thing to do—it’s not something that a snap of the fingers and any project or any decision can easily take the two concepts and come to a resolution.”
He noted the comments they’ve received from participants has been positive, but that he would have liked to see more people attend the conference.
“The numbers can always be better,” he remarked. “When all was said and done, we had about 50 people.”
Scott had indicated last month they were hoping for about 100 to attend, but explained it still turned out to be an excellent conference.
“People were happy with the speakers we had and the format,” he noted. “And I think there was a lot of good information that came out of the conference.”
Scott said presentations, such as Paul Radomski’s from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource and John Shimek’s from the White Earth Land Recovery Project, were of particular interest.
Radomski spoke about Minnesota’s alternative shoreland standards and the science behind them while Shimek gave an update on the Minnesota wild rice legislation.
There also were some more localized presentations by Ilka Milne (of the Rainy River Valley Field Naturalists) and Joe Hunter from the Sustainable Sturgeon Culture.
“Anytime you can have a local person from the district . . . I think it hits home a little better,” said Scott. “By having someone local, it allows people to see what is happening in their backyard, in terms of dealing with some of these issues.”
But while plenty of information was offered, Scott noted no actions were taken beyond the conference specifically.
“As the conference stands right now, it’s primarily information sharing and gathering,” he indicated.
“We’ve tried to come up with ways to encourage things to grow out of it and I think we are making steps towards that, but we don’t have a formal mechanism built into the conference that stimulates that.”
He said perhaps that’s something they will look at adding in the future.
Later this week, the conference’s steering committee will get together to debrief on the event.
Then this fall, it will begin planning for the 2009 conference, which will take place on the Canadian side of the border.