EWB UW-Madison has partnered with the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Several current, long-term projects aim to provide groundwater drainage and storm water management infrastructure. With its unique geographical location, the Red Cliff community continues to suffer from annual flooding due to strong storms and snowmelt. The current projects aim to address the flooding issues through sustainable engineering interventions.

Concurrent with the engineering projects, EWB UW-Madison is in close contact with health care providers and workers in Red Cliff to identify collaborations that address health issues in the Tribe for the coming years.

Partners in this project include: the Red Cliff Tribal Council and Community, EWB-UW Madison, EWB-USA, the Indian Health Service (IHS), the UW-Madison College of Engineering, Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Pharmacy, and Center for Global Health.

Project Progress

• In an initial assessment trip early August, students collected land surveying data and met with prominent members in the Red Cliff community.
• A second smaller trip occurred in December where relations with the tribe were further organized, and plans for working on the cemetery flooding were discussed as an initial project to complete within the community. The progress and effectiveness of the design will be measured by the level of the water table in the cemetery.
• A four-day trip was successfully completed in mid-March. A memorandum of understanding was exchanged and the project design was presented to the Cemetery Committee. The EWB Domestic Group co-hosted a feast with the Cemetery Committee to promote public awareness of the partnership in the community. A perimeter walk and further surveying of the project grounds were completed. EWB members were also interviewed by the Ashland Press! The article can be seen in the domestic forum section. A meeting with the Housing Authority obtained more ideas for potential future projects addressing indoor air quality issues in homes.
• Our goals for Spring/Summer 2009 are to begin implementation and cemetery reconstruction, implement indoor air quality testing, and continue to foster a positive relationship with the Tribe.

We hope this project will be the first of many in a longstanding relationship with the Red Cliff community. For more information on the Red Cliff Band, please visit; http://redcliff-nsn.gov/

Future Project plans/prospects

Cemetery Flooding

The current plan may need some adjustments as we need to keep in mind the plans to expand the cemetery in the future. Test well and soil samples will be taken in the next planned trip in June.

Health Aspects

Communications with a community health center nurse and pharmacist are ongoing to establish a sustainable health project. Current ideas include: helping improve communications between health groups, improving the clinic health display and health education materials for the community, promoting healthy eating through fresh gardening and a med-drop program.

Red Cliff has requested air testing of some of their housing projects for mold/bacteria/radon.

Project Funding

Generous funding for the next two years of this project is provided through the Ira and Ineva Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment.

Interested? Get involved! Contact adresen@wisc.edu

SPECIAL THANKS!

We are honored to have the Red Cliff tribe’s collaboration with EWB. They have been very welcoming and helpful in our assessment trips. We want to extend another special thank you for the Jar of Life, (a jar of early maple syrup) from Mr. Marvin Defoe who serves in the Tribal Government at Red Cliff.