COLDWATER SPRING is on the National Register of Historic Places and is the last remaining acknowledged sacred spring in the Twin Cities. Flowing for 10,000 years, even under the last glacier, Coldwater's current 100,000 gallon-a-day pristine groundwater flow has been reduced by construction of the Hiawatha reroute. Considered the Birthplace of Minnesota, Coldwater was home to the soldiers who built Fort Snelling & the site of a pioneer settlement that serviced the fort. Before European settlement, Coldwater was a traditional gathering place for upper Mississippi indigenous nations who came together for "great religious, spiritual events," in the words of Eddie

Benton Benais, Grand Chief of the Anishinabeg Mdewiwin (Medicine) Society. "How we take care of the water is how it will take care of us," Benais said. "Water is sacred."

SPONSORED BY: Friends of Coldwater, a Minnesota non-profit educational organization & Twin Cities Reclaiming.

INFORMATION: www.friendsofcoldwater.org

An email exchange with Susu Jefferies who is a contact person for the organization:

How is a victory defined by your campaign?

Friends of Coldwater has a proposal called Green Museum where Coldwater's 27-acre campus would become a Mississippi blufftop green space, with walking paths and pre-contact restored vegetation linking up Fort Snelling with Minnehaha Park. We would like to have Coldwater become sacred parkland.

Basically we want to get rid of the 11 abandoned buildings and the roads and return this blufftop 27-acre parcel of land to green space. Unlike traditional parks with portable toilet, asphalt walk-ways, asphalt bike-ways, dog runs, etc. we would like to restore the land to pre-contact burr oak savanna. This is being done in the Snelling Parkland down the bluff in the prairie restoration area that was pioneer Abraham Perry's homestead.

Where is the campaign happening?

The campaign is happening geographically around the spring but will strategically involve appeals to the National Park Service in the form of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and response (or endorsement) of the statement. Potentially the campaign may appeal to decision making bodies of the city and state, including MNDOT. Neighborhood organizations and congregations can also be key players.

What have been the highlights of your campaign so far?

The spring was nearly sold to the Twin Cities airport for warehouse space and a multi-story parking lot. Cancellation of the $6-million sale of the 27-acre Coldwater campus was the only good thing to come out of 9/11. When the airline business went down the economic drain, the purchase agreement went with it.

In 2001 the Coldwater protective law was passed in the State Legislature providing for "no loss of flow to or from the spring." It took us three years of lobbying to get the bill through. The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District used our Coldwater law to take MNDOT to court and get the road design for Hwy 55 changed.

What is it about the campaign that you have been excited and inspired about? Why are you motivated to work on this?

Coldwater is not simply a pretty park. It has been historically, and is currently, considered sacred space. We have court-ordered, video-taped testimony by Anishinabe, Dakota, Iowa, and other elders and respected spiritual leaders affirming that fact.

We have talked about organizing churches to respond to SACRED sites, i.e. respond to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) from the sacred or respectful point of view. Some people think only manmade places are "sacred." Seriously--we have the basilica, the cathedral, etc. and we have this 10,000-year old spring that is creator-made that was nearly sold to the Twin Cities airport for warehouse space and a multi-story parking lot. Yes, really!

If a church group appealed to other church groups it might be more--what?--believable than if Friends of Coldwater tried. So there is a very important role to play at the table for the faith community.

What efforts or projects are happening soon in the campaign?

The FEIS will be processed during the 1st quarter of 2006. We need people to write to the National Park Service with comments. This means you have to get educated on the issue. Please see the Friends of Coldwater Green Museum proposal at www.friendsofcoldwater.org.

What things are needed to be done?

Attend events--like the Full Moon walk each month. Organize meetings to respond to the FEIS. We have heard MNDOT is preparing a bill to nullify the 2001 Coldwater protective law re: "no loss of flow to or from the spring." So we have to watch the legislature since Hwy 55 will be rebuilt and expanded in about 15 years. A third of Coldwater's flow runs under the 55/62 interchange which is already sunk 6 1/2-feet into the water table. We also may need to attend Minnehaha Creek Watershed District meetings—they used our Coldwater law to take MNDOT to court and get the road design changed.

Does it create systemic change?

The water wars are coming--here on our water planet with us water-people harming our future. Coldwater is the last spring of size in either St. Paul or Mpls--now down to 100,000 gallons per day.

The Dred Scott case--included Scott's claim to freedom based on his residency in the free (then) Wisconsin Territory where slavery was illegal.

Where is Dred Scott in local history? Where are Indian people? Coldwater is

a living museum--a place where school children could "see" where history

comes from. Coldwater is also the home of a Dakota deity, Un Kte Hi. Destroy

the home of the deity and you destroy the deity.

We've got Martin Sabo on our side. He's going to retire soon. He got the

$750,000 to determine the "disposition" of the Coldwater campus. Coldwater

should be part of Sabo's legacy. Also his daughter, former state Senator

Julie Sabo, engineered the Coldwater protective law of 2001 through the MN

legislature.