Skunk Hill in Powers Bluff County Park

Background: Skunk Hill, or B^pwa kik as it is known to the Potawatomi, is located in Wood County's Powers Bluff Park in central Wisconsin. The Menominee, Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk people have lived there, gathered medicine and performed tribal ceremonies for generations. The Potawatomi, who lived on the hill until the 1930s, still consider Skunk Hill a sacred site. Today, spirit houses, marker trees and stone formations still top the graves of their ancestors who rest on B^pwa kik. Skunk Hill also served as a place of refuge for those Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk who refused to move west after the U.S. government forced tribal leaders to sign treaties ceding their lands.

Currently under the administration of Wood County Parks & Forestry officials, Skunk Hill now features a ski and tubing run on one of its slopes with an accompanying parking lot covering several graves. In December 1999, Wood County announced plans to cut 1,500 trees on Skunk Hill and expand the ski run to promote winter recreation and raise revenue. Since the announcement, Wood County's Powers Bluff Ad Hoc Committee heard from the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, the Ho-Chunk Nation, ecologists, botanists, archaeologists, foresters, and citizen groups such as "Friends of Powers Bluff" and "Descendants of Powers Bluff" who wanted to protect the hill. The coalition successfully stopped the logging proposal in July 2000. However, an unannounced logging on the hill at the end of March 2001, which felled several marker trees, stirred feelings of betrayal for all groups—the tribes, concerned citizens and environmentalists—who wanted to protect the burial sites. In addition to the burial sites, the groups wanted Wood County to protect the natural resources found on Skunk Hill that are unique to the region. From the rare goblin fern to the healing plants of blue Cohosh, angelica and wild ginger, Skunk Hill's dense maple forest canopy allows these rare plants to thrive.

Seeking to protect the uniqueness of Skunk Hill, members of these concerned parties contacted Midwest Environmental Advocates to seek assistance in safeguarding this unique natural resource and sacred site in central Wisconsin.

Midwest Environmental Advocates (along with Brown and LaCounte, LLP) is represented the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in their efforts to protect their ancestors'burial sites and the plant diversity of Skunk Hill. On April 12, 2001, the Prairie Band filed suit in state court seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction to stop the county from further desecrating burial sites. [View the complaint against Wood County Park and Forestry Department: complaint.pdf] [View the stipulation postponing temporary injunction hearing: injunction.pdf]

In the summer of 2002, MEA helped organize Native Americans, conservationists, and environmentalists to create a Community Plan for the site. [Vies the Community Plan: communityplan.pdf]

Status: In January of 2003 Wood Countyworked to develop a Master Plan for the site. It is now up to the local community to ensure that this plan is consistent with the Community Plan.