According to the National Fire Protection Association, a fire department in the United States responds to a fire somewhere in the nation every 24 seconds, and a home fire occurs every 93 seconds. With 75 percent of all fire deaths and 73 percent of all injuries caused by home fires, having a working fire alarm can save lives.

Furnaces are critical during Wisconsin winters and are often used nonstop, which can increase the risk of carbon monoxide leaks in the home. According to Wisconsin Department of Health (DHS), carbon monoxide is the most common cause of poisoning. Data from the Wisconsin Environmental Public Health Tracking Program found that carbon monoxide poisoning sends about 500 Wisconsinites to the emergency room each year.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include a dull headache, weakness, dizziness, nausea or vomiting, shortness of breath, confusion, blurred vision and loss of consciousness. At high levels, carbon monoxide can kill within minutes. If you suspect you or someone may be experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning, or your detector sounds an alarm, go outside immediately and call 911.

Chairman VanZile is hosting a Facebook Live briefing on COVID-19 every Friday at Noon. Watch the briefings on the Tribe's Facebook page.

As we celebrate Women's History Month, this week we feature Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of Honor the Earth. The following information is from the Center for Humans & Nature:

Winona LaDuke is an internationally renowned activist working on issues of sustainable development renewable energy and food systems.

She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is a two-time vice presidential candidate with Ralph Nader for the Green Party.

With Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on the issues of climate change, renewable energy and environmental justice with Indigenous communities. And in her own community, she is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation based non-profit organizations in the country and a leader in the issues of culturally based sustainable development strategies, renewable energy, and food systems. In this work, she also continues national and international work to protect Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering.

In 2007, Ms. LaDuke was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, recognizing her leadership and community commitment. In 1994, Ms. LaDuke was nominated by Time magazine as one of America’s 50 most promising leaders under 40 years of age. She has been awarded the Thomas Merton Award in 1996, Ms. Magazine's Woman of the Year (with the Indigo Girls in 1997), and the Reebok Human Rights Award. The White Earth Land Recovery Project has won many awards including the prestigious 2003 International Slow Food Award for Biodiversity, recognizing the organization’s work to protect wild rice from patenting and genetic engineering.

A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, she has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. She is a former board member of Greenpeace USA, and is presently an advisory board member for the Trust for Public Lands Native Lands Program as well as a board member of the Christensen Fund. The author of five books, including Recovering the Sacred, All our Relations and a novel, Last Standing Woman, Ms. LaDuke is widely recognized for her work on environmental and human rights issues.

By Anna V. Smith, The New York Times

Last year, after the museum that Tayler Gutierrez worked at in Salt Lake City closed temporarily because of the coronavirus, she turned to her beadwork.

A citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Ms. Gutierrez, 24, had been practicing beadwork for years after learning from a mentor, the Diné poet Tacey Atsitty, and she already had a modest following on her Instagram page, where she posted her custom hat brims, earrings and leather pouches.

But when the museum reopened in May, Ms. Gutierrez decided to take a much bigger leap: She put in her resignation notice and committed full-time to her craft.

In July, she dropped her first collection of beadwork on Instagram; it included a set of earrings layered with two-tiers of dentalium shells and Swarovski crystals, and another pair with blooming flowers stitched with beads onto moose hide.

She teased the thirty pieces in the collection with photos on Instagram before she made them available for sale, but with relatively few followers she wasn’t expecting many people to buy.

Instead, everything sold in five minutes.

Ms. Gutierrez was shocked but thrilled - especially after the months of labor and love she had put into the work. (It takes around eight hours to make one pair of floral beaded earrings.) “Beadwork is definitely a very time-consuming process, which I think is one of the most beautiful things about it,” Ms. Gutierrez said in a Zoom call. “It’s definitely slow, slow fashion.”

Ms. Gutierrez just started her business Kamama Beadwork last year, but she is one of many Indigenous beadwork artists on Instagram who have seen a spike in followers and sales that far outpaces their available stock.

Partially, that’s because with craft fairs, powwows and art markets shuttered, many vendors and buyers are relying more heavily on the internet. The most common avenues are through social media - particularly Instagram - or e-commerce websites like From the People, which launched in May as an online market space for Indigenous artists.

Sales have been spurred by a national dialogue around racial injustice that has led to increased efforts to support Black and Indigenous artists and businesses.

Read more of the story here.

The Forest County Commission on Aging is looking for your thoughts and ideas that will help them improve the programs and services offered to the residents of Forest County.

The feedback that is provided will help develop a three year plan that includes goals for developing new or expanded programs and services that help meet the needs of people as they age.

Please take a few minutes to complete this short survey.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your ideas more, please call or email Tammy Queen, Forest County Aging Director, at 715-478-7712.

The Wisconsin Native Loan Fund (WINLF) is recruiting 12 individuals for our newly formed Leadership Council.

The Leadership Council will be comprised of low-income Native Americans in WINLF's service area. Individuals who serve on the Leadership Council will gain skills to prepare them for personal growth and leadership roles in their communities.

The goal of the Leadership Council is for participants to empower themselves, to improve their living situation, and to enhance their overall skills to advance personally and professionally as leaders in their community.

Leadership Council participants will increase their knowledge of WINLF’s financial education programs, including expanding their awareness of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and receive mentoring to prepare them to take part in local government and community boards, such as Housing boards, Tribal Councils, Zoning boards and more.

WINLF is also recruiting mentors who are business owners, teachers and community leaders with experience in local government, boards and Tribal Councils. Mentors will be asked to participate by occasionally presenting subjects they specialize in to the Leadership Council. Mentors will be paired with participants on a local level to provide guidance based on participants’ interests.

The Leadership Council will meet twice a month. Meetings will last approximately an hour. One of the monthly sessions will focus on receiving participants’ input on WINLF's development of new products to meet potential borrowers' needs, identifying group training goals, and providing peer support. The second monthly meeting will provide participants the opportunity to learn from leaders in Tribal communities as well as educational presentations based on the team goals selected by participants.

The Leadership Council will start by meeting virtually, and when appropriate, transition to in-person meetings that will include presentations.

Participants who attend both monthly meetings will receive a $50 monthly stipend to offset any costs associated with participation and any cost associated with travel will be paid by WINLF.

The Leadership Council project is funded by a Catholic Campaign for Human Development grant.

Individuals interested in joining the Leadership Council as a participant or mentor should complete this survey.

The Wisconsin DOJ MMIW Task Force is calling for submissions from Indigenous MMIWG2S survivors, families, advocates, and artists who wish to express their testimony in the expression of art. This art should reflect the strength, resilience, and determination of our MMIWG2S survivors and families, as well as bring awareness to the epidemic of MMIWG2S.

We recognize that art to us as Indigenous peoples is medicine and helps us to share and document our experiences. We are accepting all forms of art submitted such as (but not limited to): beadwork, quillwork, basketmaking, woodworking, moccasin making, painting, drawing, and regalia making that tell your story of MMIWG2S.

We are asking for digital pictures of your artwork be sent into the task force by following the digital submission instructions linked here. If possible, we ask artists to submit a written explanation of the art and its personal meaning to them in connection to MMIWG2S.

These digital submissions of art will be used in the Wisconsin DOJ MMIW Task Force Report and Implementation Plan, outreach materials, social media, and other task force related presentations.

If you wish for your artwork to be considered for the MMIW Task Force Logo, deadline is March 31, 2021.

Read more here.

View the application here.

GLIFWC is pleased to announce available internships for its 2021 GLIFWC Summer Internship Program.

Through this internship program, college students will work one-on-one with their GLIFWC mentors in various divisions and learn about necessary coursework, college degrees, and trainings that result in gainful employment in a multitude of careers, including natural resource and stewardship careers with Tribes.

Also, interns will participate in a multitude of traditional Anishinaabe cultural events and learn about the importance of Treaty Reserved Rights to the Anishinaabe people and their history in preserving these rights.

Internship Opportunities include:

Click here for detailed information. The deadline is March 22nd.

Provided by the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Epidemiology Center

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NNHAAD) has been observed every year on March 20th since 2007. This day originally started as a collaborative, national effort to increase awareness, mobilize, and highlight the work of HIV prevention among American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.

The date chosen to observe NNHAAD has special significance. March 20th is the first day of Spring, which is considered “a time of equality and balance and … a time of profound change, new beginnings and birth; a celebration of life for all people.” Focusing on new beginnings and balance is a positive way to reflect on HIV/AIDS and start conversations, while also reducing stigma often associated with HIV/AIDS.

Prevention of, testing for, and treatment of HIV have changed significantly since the virus emerged over three decades ago. Medications commonly known as PrEP and PEP, when taken correctly, can effectively stop the transmission of HIV. Testing for HIV and knowing your HIV status is also a great way to prevent the spread of HIV and take control of your own health. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once. HIV treatment consists of taking medications known as antiretroviral therapy (ART). With proper treatment, most people can get the virus under control and lead healthy lives. To find HIV prevention services near you, visit the website.

The theme for NNHAAD 2021 is Zero is Possible Together: Innovation + Awareness. Although the usual community gatherings and testing events that might normally take place on this day aren’t possible this year, taking time to take care of yourself, your health, and the health of your community could be a great way to observe NNHAAD.

Click to Register - Ojibwe Traditions for Families

If you have something you wish to share, please email your information by Tuesday morning.