Indigenous People’s Day, October 11, 2021
Ron Preston photographing a student looking across the Milwaukee River to the east-bank green lawn where the Kletzsch Park Dam fish passage will now be built. The thunderbird has landed on the concrete of the west bank where the original spring flow still emerges from an outflow pipe near his right foot. Building the fish passage on the east bank will spare the legacy oaks of Indian Prairie’s anthropogenic savanna and may allow MMSD to daylight Indian Prairie’s original canoe landing to the right of this photo.
The proper siting of the fish passage was a hard-won outcome for Milwaukee Audubon Society benefiting riverine wildlife habitat, an Audubon Important Bird Area (IBA), a significant wildlife corridor, a rare beauty spot within urbanized Milwaukee County, the legacy site of Lapham’s Indian Prairie, and all of the peoples that value and enjoy the site.
This photo is an unusual addition to Peter’s bird list for the Milwaukee River corridor, showing the potential for healing and wonderful site recovery. The relationship between Audubon’s longstanding focus on conservation and birds naturally links with the deep land history and American Indian bird perspectives.
Photo by Jim Uhrinak for Milwaukee Audubon Society