Clearwater County, MN

SOLWAY, Minnesota — Clearwater County Sheriff Darin Halverson spent a lot of time in the sun. By the time folks occupying the Fire Light camp finished their ceremonies and broke camp, his clean-shaven head was a bright shade of red. Despite a nasty sunburn and some sleepless nights, it was...

SOLWAY, Minn. (AP) — Clearwater County Sheriff Darin Halverson spent a lot of time in the sun. By the time folks occupying the Fire Light camp finished their ceremonies and broke camp, his clean-shaven head was a bright shade of red. Despite a nasty sunburn and some sleepless nights, it...

Indigenous and community leaders are facing mass arrests, and eviction, by Clearwater County law enforcement during their weeklong protest of the Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline after receiving an eviction notice for trespassing on its pipeline easement on Monday, June 14, 2021. According to a statement from the Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging (RISE) Coalition, the group had been occupying the easement since June 7 after the Treaty People Gathering, a gathering of around 2,000 marchers protesting the continued construction of the pipeline through Minnesota waterways.

An eight-day occupation of one of the two spots in northern Minnesota where the Line 3 oil pipeline will cross underneath the Mississippi River ended peacefully on Monday. A group of about 100 people who oppose the pipeline that is primed to be laid here this summer had pitched tents, built compost toilets and established a camp along the timber-mat boardwalk that extends to the riverbanks.

This spring, especially since early to mid-May, has been particularly active with birdlife in my neck of the woods. And now, avian offspring, too. Why in just the past week here at Assawa Lake, I’ve observed four newly hatched cygnets hatch and swimming with their doting trumpeter swan parents, as well as seen a pair of tiny sandhill crane colts feeding in the sedge meadow with their watchful parents. I’ve also seen numerous broods of ring-necked ducks and blue-winged teal, nesting red-winged blackbirds and scores of other observations.

Water protectors, indigenous leaders and activists showed up by the thousands in Clearwater County to protest continued construction of the Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline through northern Minnesota. After marching for nearly 2 miles to the Mississippi River on Monday, June 7, activists were met with no resistance from the...