February 6-12, 2023

Namebini-Giizis (Suckerfish Moon)

The next Badger Box food giveaway is scheduled for this Thursday February 9 at the Red Cliff Food Distribution building. Due to the popularity of this Badger Box giveaway and to ensure all have a chance to receive food, you must be present to receive a box. Please contact the Food Distribution Program with any questions.

The giveaway is scheduled to start around 10:00 AM. This giveaway is open to everyone.

The boxes are expected to include:

apple cider; bagged apples; potatoes; onions; harvest butter; cheese; milk; eggs; greek yogurt dip; popcorn; cherry salsa; corn tortillas; trail mix; wild rice blend; beef sausages; pork/beef skinless wieners; bacon.

The Food Distribution building is located at 88430 Pike Rd in Gaa-Miskwaabikaang.



Please call Red Cliff Food Distribution with any questions at 715-779-3740 or 715-779-3706.

The Red Cliff Tribe and the Bayfield School District will host a sugar bush themed dinner open to the entire community beginning at 5:30 PM on Wednesday February 22 at the Bayfield School Cafeteria. All are welcome.

The meal has been organized to celebrate this year's Biboon Gabeshiwin (Winter Camp), set for Namebini Giizis (February) 20-26.

Local chef Chris Basina will prepare the meal. There will be building tours, storytelling, and classroom showcases after the meal.

Please contact the Bayfield School District at 715-779-3201 or the Red Cliff Tribal Historic Preservation Office at 715-779-3761 with any questions.

Are you interested in promoting recovery and removing barriers for others on their road to recovery? By becoming a Recovery Coach, you serve as a personal guide and mentor for people seeking or already in recovery from an addiction to alcohol and/or other drugs. See flyer for course learning objectives.

The training is set for March 20-24, 2023 at the Red Cliff Community Health Center.

For more information on how to register for this training, please contact Justin Hansen at the Red Cliff Community Health Center:

715-779-3707 ext 2397

jhansen@redcliffhealth.org

The Red Cliff Boys & Girls Club of Gitchi Gami will host its first ever youth pow wow this coming April 8th and 9th at Legendary Waters Resort & Casino. Youth Club members chose the theme "Smoke Fish Not Drugs." Be sure to mark your calendars and save the date.

See flyer for all pow wow details. Please contact the Club with any questions at 715-779-3722.

The Red Cliff Tribal Council is set to meet on Monday February 6 at Legendary Waters.

The Regular Session is scheduled to begin at 4:30 PM. Community members are encouraged to attend.

Click HERE to access the meeting agenda.

Red Cliff Behavioral Health Services and the Noojimo'iwewin Center now offers a Men's Support Group. The first meeting is scheduled for Monday February 6 at 6 PM, located at the Noojimo'iwewin Center. The group will then meet every Monday!

Reminder that the Women's Support Group meets every Saturday at 4:30 PM.

Call Noojimo'iwewin Center staff with any questions at 715-779-3508 or 715-779-3707 ext 2405.

Boozhoo Elders! You are invited to join Valentine's Bingo on February 14. Bingo will start after congregate lunch.Please call 715-779-3706 with any questions.

Wisconsin Native Vote, Native American Rights Fund (NARF), and the Red Cliff Tribe will host a dinner and night of fun on March 7 from 4-7 PM at Legendary Waters.

This is a free dinner open to the public. Discussion will be centered around the Wisconsin Supreme Court's impact on Native people, and the challenges Native voters face. There will be a free raffle, door prize, and bingo.

Please register for this event by clicking HERE.

Red Cliff Treaty Natural Resources and the Wildlife Department have been busy this fall and winter trapping waabizheshiwag (martens). This November, staff were able to capture two waabizheshiwag and fit them with GPS collars to better understand their territory and movements.

Staff say it has been interesting to see how close the two male waabizheshiwag are living to each other. The waabizheshiwag were first fitted with a GPS collar from a UW Madison graduate student. The collars were set to give locations very frequently, giving the student a clear picture of their movements and type of prey.

The collars were on the waabizheshiwag for only three to five days. After three days, the waabizheshiwag were trapped again and fitted with longer-term GPS collars to get a better look at the entire territory, resting sites, and possible feeding sites. Staff will again try to recapture these waabizheshiwag in the spring and download all the GPS locations of where these awesiinyag (wild animals) have been.

Looking at the photos below, you can see the throat patches of these waabizheshiwag are very different. One clear way to distinguish individuals is to look at these throat patches as they all have different markings, almost like finger prints.

Please contact the Treaty Natural Resources Department with any questions at 715-779-3750.

Access the entire Treaty Natural Resources Winter Ganawenjigaade newsletter HERE.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will hold a public listening session for the proposed Wolf Management Plan on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023 at 4 PM as part of the public review and comment period.

This listening session is an additional opportunity for anyone interested to provide input on the proposed plan while the public review and comment period remains open until Feb. 28.

Registration is required by noon CST on Feb. 6 for anyone wishing to provide comment on the proposed plan during the listening session. Registrants will speak in the order of which they’ve signed up, and each speaker will have two minutes. Speakers are also encouraged to review the plan on the DNR’s Wolf Management Plan webpage before joining the listening session.

Register to speak HERE.

Review the plan HERE.

Members of the public who do not wish to provide testimony during the hearing and only want to listen can watch a live feed of the hearing on the DNR’s YouTube channel. After the event, the recording will be accessible on YouTube for on-demand viewing.

Watch the hearing live HERE.

DNR staff will give a brief overview of the plan, and the public comment period will immediately follow. To make sure staff hear from everyone who registers to speak, staff will not be addressing questions.

In addition to the public listening session, the DNR will continue to accept comments through the Online Comment Tool, email (DNRWildlifeSwitchboard@wisconsin.gov) or through the mail until 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 28, 2023.

Please mail comments to:

Wolf Management Plan Comments

101 S. Webster St.

PO Box 7921

Madison, WI 53707-7921

Interested in learning more about budgeting and managing your personal / family finances, how to save, and how to build credit?

Join this free community workshop from 5:00-7:00 PM on Wednesday February 15 at the New Hope Commons, located at 37580 Pageant Rd in Red Cliff.

Dinner will be provided along with gift cards and raffle prizes. Child care will be available. You do not need to register -- simply show up!



Please contact RCCHA with any questions at 715-779-3744.

Click image to access the entire Behavioral Health February newsletter.

Click image to access and learn more

FoodWIse Nutrition has released its February 2023 newsletter!

FoodWIse is federally funded statewide by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). FoodWIse advances healthy eating habits, active lifestyles and healthy community environments for Wisconsin residents with limited incomes through nutrition education at the individual, community and systems levels.

Click HERE to view the full February 2023 FoodWIse newsletter.

Boozhoo families with the Red Cliff Early Childhood Center! Week 18 of the Second Step Curriculum will teach your children how to manage waiting and patience. Teachers will be implementing this curriculum and families will also receive these exercises to continue practicing at home.

Contact the ECC with any questions at 715-779-5030.

Dear Early Head Start Families,

I hope that the New Year finds you and your family happy and healthy.

I would like to let you know that we will be reducing our service hours for Early Head Start. We will be closed for students eight extra Fridays through the end of the school year, beginning January 27th.

Below are dates of closure that were regularly scheduled for services. We will also be sending out amended calendar pages to assist with keeping track of the changes.

January 27, February 24, March 10, March 24, May 5, May 19, June 2, July 14 

This is only through this school year and will impact 8 scheduled Fridays. We know that this may cause challenges for some families and for that we apologize!

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jamie, Center Director, at 715-779-5030 ext. 2527 or Jenn, Center Administrator, at 715-779-5030 ext. 2561.

The Red Cliff Education Department is offering additional financial support for those who have already applied for the Higher Education and Job Training Program.

Click HERE to learn more and access an application.

Red Cliff Chippewa Housing Authority is accepting applications for housing and housing assistance!

RCCHA provides clean, safe, adequate, and affordable housing for qualified families and elders.

Housing options to apply for include low rent, 6-plex, 4-plex, Elderly, Tax Credit, Tax Credit Rehab.

Oski-Ombendaam New Hope Supportive Housing

The Oski-Ombendaam New Hope housing contains efficiency, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units. The goal of New Hope housing is to provide supportive services to those individuals and families while providing clean, safe, adequate, and affordable housing.

Click HERE to access an application for Housing Assistance.

Click HERE to access an application for New Hope Housing Assistance.

Red Cliff Chippewa Housing Authority tenants have access to a Residential Resource Coordinator. The coordinator will help tenants get connected with various resources.

This service is available to Housing tenants Monday through Friday at New Hope Building A, at 37580 Pageant Road.

Please call 715-779-3744 extension 3514 with any questions.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has extended the public comment period for their draft wolf plan through the end of February 2023. Read the plan and submit a comment HERE.

The public review and comment period is a key opportunity for the public to share their thoughts on the proposed wolf management plan. The DNR will review and consider all feedback submitted during the review period while preparing the final draft of the proposed wolf management plan.

The draft management plan lays out a holistic approach to ensuring the state’s wolf population remains healthy and secure while balancing the diverse interests of the public.

The proposed plan was developed in consideration of many factors, including public input, consultations with Wisconsin's tribal nations, scientific literature reviews, a study on current public attitudes towards wolves and potential outcomes of various management decisions.

The draft plan aims to effectively balance the tradeoffs between three main objectives:

• Ensuring a healthy and sustainable wolf population to fulfill its ecological role.

• Addressing and reducing wolf-related conflicts.

• Providing multiple benefits associated with the wolf population, including hunting, trapping and sightseeing.

In addition, the draft plan details proposals to increase public understanding of wolves, identify important scientific research to be conducted and outline steps to ensure collaboration on science-based wolf management in Wisconsin.

More details about the plan’s objectives and metrics for evaluation are described in the implementation section of the management plan. The descriptions and metrics provided give a clearer understanding of the intent behind each objective, how the DNR plans to measure it and what conditions constitute satisfactory progress toward the objective.

What’s Staying The Same?

The draft plan provides that DNR staff will continue to monitor wolves each year and address wolf-related conflict (consistent with current law). The DNR will continue supporting and conducting scientific research and science-based decision-making. Collaboration with other agencies, tribal nations, stakeholder groups and the public on items of mutual importance remains a department priority.

What’s Changing?

The plan proposes several changes to align the DNR’s wolf management strategy with the current state of the wolf population, the available science and the perspectives of a diverse public, such as:

• Moving away from a single numeric population goal and instead using an adaptive management process focused on balancing the three main objectives (above).

• Reducing harvest registration times and issuing zone-specific wolf harvest permits to improve the department's ability to effectively meet harvest quotas.

• Adding mechanisms to address localized concerns, including wolf harvest concerns near tribal reservation boundaries and focused wolf harvest in areas with a history of wolf-livestock conflict.

• Revising wolf management zone boundaries to better reflect current wolf distribution and habitat.

The public is encouraged to review the updated plan in detail to learn more.

Click HERE to order online!

For the full job description and how you can apply, please visit wisc.jobs and search Job ID# 9007.

Invitation to artists and craftspeople to demonstrate cultural traditions

The 28^th Portage County Cultural Festival (PCCF) is scheduled for Saturday, May 13, 2023, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at The Stevens Point Area Senior High (SPASH), 1201 North Point Drive, Stevens Point, Wisconsin. In past years, this event, which is free to the public, has attracted as many as 14,000 people of all ages and cultural backgrounds to sample food, music, folk dances, crafts, and games from around the world and here in Wisconsin.

The Portage County Cultural Festival (PCCF) is a community initiative celebrating Central Wisconsin’s rich cultural heritage. It began in 1992 and brings together area residents to showcase their cultures and learn about multiculturalism in a fun and festive environment. Dubbed; ”a landmark event for the community run completely by volunteers” by the Portage County Gazette, the PCCF brings together people of all ages from Central Wisconsin and beyond for a day of celebration and enjoyment of each other’s cultures. More information about the Portage County Cultural Festival can be found at the festival website, http://www.portagecountyculturalfestival.org/.  

We are seeking members of ethnic/cultural groups to demonstrate a traditional art, craft, or other cultural activity. Demonstrators are expected to share information about their cultures and are welcome to bring examples of their art for sale if they wish, although this is not required. Participants are expected to comply with all applicable copyright and trademark laws.

Thanks to the generosity of donors to the PCCF, there are limited funds available to offset travel expenses for demonstrators. 

Those interested in participating as demonstrators should send a request for an application form as soon as possible to PCCF, P. O. 739, Stevens Point, WI 54481 or via email to pccf92@gmail.com. When you receive the form, please read the information on application, policies, and expectations of demonstrators carefully. To ensure mutual understanding, applicants are asked to sign or initial on the space provided on the completed application form before submitting it to PCCF, P. O. 739, Stevens Point, WI 54481 or via email to pccf92@gmail.com by February 15, 2023.



Anyone with interest in participating in other aspects of the festival (vendors, dancers, musicians, native language speakers) can express this interest by contacting the PCCF organizers at pccf92@gmail.com.

The Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market & Festival is scheduled for June 24-25, 2023. Artists can apply to be featured!

Learn more and apply online HERE.

Greetings! We have exciting news! Native American Tourism of Wisconsin will be hosting the Native Wisconsin Arts Festival in June 2023 at the Menominee Nation Casino Resort/Powwow Grounds. Our goal is to raise $75,000 in support of NATOW’s tourism initiatives throughout the state.

But we can’t meet this goal without your help.

Below are the details for this year’s sponsorship levels:

1. $5,000 - Bear Level: Your company name and logo on our event signage; Your company/org name on our Golf Tournament Signage; Listed as event sponsor in all PR, marketing and outreach for the conference; Your logo on event T-shirt; Complimentary 1-year Associate Membership; 2 Conference Registrations; VIP Reception.
2. $2,000 - Eagle Level: Your company name and logo on our event signage; Your logo on event T-shirt; Complimentary 1-year Associate Membership; 1 Conference Registration; VIP Reception; Listed as an even sponsor on social media and website.
3. $1,000 - Wolf Level: Your company name and logo on our event signage; Complimentary 1-year Associate Membership; Your logo on event t-shirt; VIP reception.
4. $500 - Manoomin Level: Logo on event T-shirt; Complimentary 1-year Associate Membership; VIP Reception.
5. $150 - Booth Spaces for vendors.

If your organization would like to participate in this year’s event as a sponsor, please contact us to donate or for more information. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Respectfully,

Suzette Brewer

Executive Director

Ph: 715-861-1212

Email: director@natow.org