P1: Coldwater reservoir, Spring House and the "Spirit Tree," January 1998 (coldest day of the year—note steam coming off reservoir water since the Spring's sourcewater is warmer than the air). The Spirit Tree (up, right) lost its major limbs in a spring 1998 storm, secondary limbs grew. A Coldwater supporter burned the hollow tree (4/19/09) after placing an offering of lit sage in the cushion of duff inside the shell of the trunk. (click image for larger view)
	P2: Coldwater supporters, December 17, 1989; up, left, corner of huge warehouse that dumps stormwater down the hillside; up right the blonde limbs of the willow tree. The elm, hackberry and other trees around the reservoir have been removed. (click image for larger view) Photo: Dick Bancroft.

	P3: Coldwater Spring House interior, graffiti on west (orange) and east (white) walls after Goof Off treatment. The North wall is disintegrating under the pressure of emerging groundwater; outflow of groundwater is at the northwest corner of the structure, the only place where people are advised to collect spring water. Tree stump inside Spring House is the "step" for people to scoot down for water collection, August 31, 2011. (click image for larger view)

State of the art laser removal vaporizes graffiti and is recommended for historic sites. Sand blasting results in paint and cement dust blasted into the air and dropped into the water. Painting over the graffiti or motion activated camera surveillance was apparently not considered.

	P4: Jane Byron, technician with local government authority for ground and surface water, Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, standing in the erosion ravine at the top of the hillside behind (west of) the reservoir, May 16, 2005. (click image for larger view)

	P5a: Three photos, all March 20, 2009: Labyrinth rocks atop fist-sized rocks dumped into the erosion ravine, over-looking the reservoir—looking east across the Mississippi gorge. (click image for larger view)
	P5b: Frozen spring meltwater showing eroded path down-bluff to the reservoir. Fire circle rocks barely show at far left edge of snow. (click image for larger view)
	P5c: Dakota men's fire circle with rocks brought to the site from a sweat ceremony location, looking west. (click image for larger view)
	P6: Greg Strandmark, member Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community, with one of the carp illegally dumped into the reservoir, standing beside the willow tree and the defaced Minnesota Historical Society plaque (erected 1991); photo taken July 17, 2009. (click image for larger view)

In December 2002 a labyrinth was laid out with evergreen boughs at Coldwater on a rise just north of the Spring House. Over time visitors, mostly non-Indian who also consider Coldwater to be a sacred landscape, maintained the labyrinth with offerings of rocks and tree branches.

The labyrinth was visited more frequently than the Spring because it was more accessible. People simply showed up at all hours to walk the 7-circuits (symbol of the Mother Earth for Hopi people) in a meditative manner.

In November 2007, at the behest of MNRRA, "the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had the [labyrinth] materials removed to be used for erosion control." The large rocks were dumped at the top of the hillside above the Spring which exacerbated the erosion.

Previously FWS had dumped a load of fist-sized and smaller rocks into the ravine. Added to those rocks and the large labyrinth rocks, MNRRA later pressed FWS to remove big rocks from an Indian sacred fire circle at the top of the hill above the Spring—those rocks too went into the ever-deepening ravine. Rocks, of course, do not have roots and do not hold the soil. (P5a, P5b, P5c)

With destruction of the labyrinth visitors to the property dropped off and graffiti artists and junkies moved in. The Main Building became a drug "shooting gallery," thieves broke into one building after another for copper pipes, and kids found a great place to vandalize.

In 2001, then-Congressman Martin Sabo requested a study to determine the cost of removing all the decaying asbestos and mold-ridden BOM buildings and infrastructure; $1-million was the answer. Since 1996 the federal government has spent more than a million on site security. The buildings are currently scheduled to be removed this winter, 2011-12. (P6)

In early August 2011, MNRRA contracted with a Milwaukee archaeological firm to conduct another survey at Coldwater. Artifacts found include one trade bead with scratch marks that look like a snake head and an Indianhead penny—both post-contact finds, found southwest of the Spring and reservoir.

Originally the hill behind the Spring was 17-feet higher, MNRRA reported. Studies before this archaeological dig gave evidence of extensive re-contouring of the land by the U.S. Army for the reservoir and waterworks that pumped water to Fort Snelling from 1880 to 1920, and from the 1950s to 1980s, much more earth-moving for the BOM campus buildings and roads.

Regrading the land back to the 1880s without rebuilding the hill behind the Spring lacks historic consistency. Re-contouring the land in itself means loss of vegetation and more erosion.

	P7a: Archaeological trench on the hillside west, behind and above Coldwater reservoir, week of August 8, 2011. (click image for larger view)
	P7b: Coldwater hillside shorn of vegetation, trenched, and backfilled by a bulldozer on August 16, 2011. The hillside is a couple of feet lower than the surrounding land with vegetative cover. Note the visitor and the hole left of the Spring House where the 1880s steps are completely eroded. (click image for larger view)
	P8a: Archaeological worker in the deepest of three trenches around the willow tree; note the soil layers, week of August 8, 2011. (click image for larger view)
	P8b: Archaeological trench with seeping water beside the willow tree, week of August 8, 2011. (click image for larger view)
	P8c: Willow tree cutters under the tree with a back-filled trench in the foreground, August 18, 2011. (click image for larger view)
	P9a: Hillside dirt flowing downhill past the Spring House into the reservoir. A seeping grotto has formed behind the Spring House where steps down to the reservoir are completely eroded, August 18, 2011. (click image for larger view)
	P9b: The fist-sized rocks slid downhill. Larger rocks from the labyrinth and Dakota men's fire were considered sacred and had been moved to safer locations by people who don't write letters to bureaucrats, August 18, 2011. (click image for larger view)
	P9c: Fist–sized rocks covered by erosion mat after rye grass seeds were sprinkled around; this part of the hillside will have trouble holding with the spring melt, August 30, 2011. (click image for larger view)
	P10: Around the Spring House where erosion is most extreme, hillside dirt has filled the edge of the reservoir above the water level, September 2, 2011. (click image for larger view)
	P11: Coldwater Spring House needs a roof to shade the Spring and to protect the historic limestone structure from further weathering, August 30, 2011. (click image for larger view)

Seven trenches were dug in the immediate Coldwater reservoir area. Two of the trenches were dug vertically on the already seriously eroded hillside behind (west of) the reservoir. (P7a, P7b)

Three trenches were dug close to the great willow tree, ripping up roots the size of an adult's arm and leg. John Anfinson, Ph.D. history, MNRRA Chief of Resource Management, told Coldwater supporters that the willow would be removed. There was a huge outcry. On 6/7/11 he sent out an email stating "While the willow tree is very old and fragile, we are leaving it in." (P8a, P8b, P8c)

On 6/8/11 Anfinson reiterated: "I made it very clear in my email yesterday and at the Full Moon Walk that we had no plans to take down the willow." On 8/16/11 the archaeology trenches were back-filled.

On 8/10/11, Sheldon Wolfchild, Dakota leader from the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation in Morton, Minnesota, posted a letter addressed to Anfinson who said he never received the letter.

"The Dakota people who respect and honor our Sacred Sites and the natural vegetation surrounding these sites which include specific sacred trees such as our willow trees! and in particular the Sacred willow tree at our Dakota Sacred site Coldwater Spring, are requesting you grant the wish of our elders and spiritual leaders to put a stop on cutting down our Sacred willow tree at Coldwater spring."

On 8/18/11, MNRRA officials and Coldwater supporters who had gathered to witness the removal of "Grandmother Willow" noticed that the erosion control "snake" between the hillside and the reservoir had been over-topped with eroded dirt. (P9a, P9b, P9c) The erosion control device lasted less than 48 hours. Dirt in the reservoir is above the water level, 5-feet, on the of the west (hill) side. (P10)

Sr. Jane McDonald, Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet, compares Coldwater to the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis—one sacred basilica, one sacred spring. Coldwater supporter Dee Logan said, "The willow tree is down but the buildings are still standing."

People bond deeply with trees—beyond their ecological and financial value. Trees seem to be our elder relatives, greater in wisdom, strength, protection, beauty. Every culture, religion and state has tree associations.

MNRRA spokesman Alan Robbins-Fenger, Land Use and Planning Specialist, said: "We didn't know where the trenches would be," and, cutting the willow roots "wouldn't hurt the tree." It is our understanding that MNRRA contracted for the archaeological survey and thus is the responsible party.

Apparently tree limb crutches were never considered for the willow. Over 100 willow cuttings were picked-up by Coldwater supporters to plant as the next generation of the beloved willow.

FoC was told that MNRRA's ecological consultant is located in Denver, Colorado. We wonder why Native Americans with historic knowledge of this area and non-Indians who have been intimate with the land since the mid-1990s are not consulted.

We question the wisdom of making decisions about this ancient, fragile landscape by people at out of state desks. FoC does not understand why stabilizing the ravine, like "stabilizing the patient," is not a priority.

Coldwater supporters were told by Dr. Anfinson that the area would become an oak savanna, then modified to a mixed hardwood savanna but that "no trees would be permitted around the spring." The only oaks left on the 27-acre Coldwater property after soldiers and pioneers cut them for firewood (1820s-40s), are at the extreme north and south ends, at least a quarter mile from the Spring.

Since oaks are very slow growing no one alive today will live to see the proposed savanna. Every tree and sumac bush existing near the Spring is to be removed. Also scheduled for taking down are approximately 65 pines and spruces planted by BOM in the 1960s and 1970s, and native cottonwoods and Manitoba maples (box elder).

A dense grove of 100-plus-year-old burr oaks line the length and hold the soil atop most of the Mississippi gorge from the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers upstream to downtown Minneapolis. Mississippi blufftop ecology evolved with this oak savanna transition between the tall grass prairie to the west and the eastern hardwood forest to the east.

MNRRA announced a small demonstration tall grass prairie "for educational purposes" on the rise above the spring. The Mississippi blufftop is not the habitat for tall grass prairie plants which occur further inland from the river.

The oak savanna habitat is "practically extinct," "rare," "listed as globally imperiled." What a grand undertaking to return this 27-acre plot to indigenous vegetation especially during the climate change yo-yo weather we've experienced lately.

To maintain the thin soil above the Mississippi gorge, Friends of Coldwater argues for the natural death of existing trees during the years-long transition—rather than a clear-cut park with no place for bird's nests, a silent spring.

Another problem with waiting for 100 years for an oak savanna to grow is that the National Park Service is scheduled for cutting by Congress and a plan for reforestation at Coldwater has not yet been drawn up.

Conclusion

Friends of Coldwater urges MNRRA to reconsider Coldwater as a TCP and to maintain access to the Spring during reconstruction.

Coldwater is arguably the most historic land in Minnesota, a 10,000-year-old Spring just above the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, gathering place for Upper Mississippi tribes and birthplace of the state. Where Coldwater Creek empties into the Mississippi the bedrock is 351-million-years-old. This land holds stories geologic and human.

We are thrilled at the prospect of MNRRA's plan to remove the BOM buildings, roads and infrastructure. Daylighting Coldwater Creek below the reservoir is universally popular.

Constructing an auxiliary creek at the south end of the reservoir would take more water out of the reservoir which now grows algae in June and is without shade since the elms, hackberry and willow have been cut. With no shade and the 20-gallon-per-minute decrease in flow since highway construction, the reservoir is less and less attractive to Native and non-Indian Coldwater supporters and more attractive to vandals and beer party folks.

While many people value the old army reservoir as a meditative reflecting pond others would like to see the ruins of the historic Fort waterworks removed. If the dissolving 1880s limestone Spring House (P11) is to be restored, it needs to be stabilized with a roof ASAP along with soil stabilization of the hillside.

The MNRRA practice of executing plans without notice to consulting parties is causing growing antagonisms. Friends of Coldwater calls for a mediated inclusionary process of face to face discussions with interested supporters.

Susu Jeffrey
for Friends of Coldwater
September 2011

Postscript: In December of 2011, the local head of the National Park Service authorized clear cutting of the 27-acre historic Coldwater property. Hundreds of trees including a grove of indigenous cottonwood trees, a grove of evergreens home to songs birds, indigenous sumac bushes and Manitoba maples, and rows of locusts planted against erosion simply disappeared.

Despite the fact that every climate change authority recommends planting trees as the most important hedge against climate chaos, National Park officials decided to change the look of the land.

Subsequent reconstruction of the Coldwater campus included importation of thousands of tons of dirt fill to flatten the grade of the Mississippi gorge in order to create a prairie. Prairie landscape is the current fashion in park landscaping, it is the cheapest, fastest way to prettify cleared land.

The present superintendent of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, John Anfinson Ph.D., is an academic who does not consult with local Dakota leaders. Anfinson claims that the National Park Service “owns” Coldwater.

Coldwater is a recognized, acknowledged Dakota sacred site.

All images by Susu Jeffrey unless otherwise noted.

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