By Kim Simac

I attended the Mining hearing in the town of Mellen on Feb. 25th. I live in a neighboring county and was hopeful that opportunity and possible prosperity may be on the horizon for areas of the Northwoods. I have lived in the northern region of this great state for thirty years come June.

What a beautiful place to live and raise a family.

At times, continuing to live and provide for our family in this seasonal area has been difficult. Yet, we have managed and are thankful for each and every season we make it to another spring. The Eagle River Chain is the attraction in my neck of these woods. Sprawled across the vicinity are stunning lakes, rivers, and forests that have offered generations of recreation, fishing, hunting and a well-deserved escape for people.

On the drive over to Mellen we traveled through small towns. Though tourism and the beautiful lakes provide many a livelihood, little else caught my eye as to be offering sustainability for the good people living across the district.

There are the vast and renewable resources available in the timber that stretches across the north, which historically offered much employment over the past 150 years.

The world’s ever growing demand for wood and paper products created ability for families to live and prosper in this area. Loggers, mills and haulers learned how to steward the treasure that is “our” forests. Sadly, much of logging has been diminished, shut down due to regulations and closed tracks of land.

Questionable and needless restrictions passed down from the EPA and outside zealous environmental groups have dictated these actions. Such determinations over time have resulted in many leaving the north to find another place to make a living and raise their families.

The hearing was held in the Mellen school gymnasium. Surprising was that no one openly stepped up to support the mine. I was amazed. I listened as people shared their concerns for water safety, the environment, for their quiet, peaceful town. Many people stated that they didn’t mind life as it was in Mellen and that really made me wonder.

How could people not want to have a shot at some amount of progress? Good paying jobs would be available for some of the people from Mellen, and though everyone of course would not work directly for the mining operation, the trickledown effect would be substantial.

From the grocer, to the schools, to the gas station; new people coming to the area would offer rental prospects, property sales. Enriched populations at work, contributing, would add to the tax base and increase activities at all levels in the county.

But to be there and listen one would think such prosperity was not needed. That life in the area was stable. Certainly this could not be the case.

History has always told the story of how people “moved on” to more fruitful areas when a sustainable lifestyle was no longer viable in a particular region.

So are we to believe that unsustainable life is achievable in 2012?

I asked myself that question as I listened to the local town’s people share their views of liking life just as it was in Mellen and surrounding towns.

On the drive home I watched as old homesteads passed by. Mile after mile of winding, forest-bordered roads. I thought about those who had settled here many years ago.

To survive in the region’s harsh winter climates and short growing seasons was certainly a challenge. Yes, hard work, dedication and opportunity, allowed people to homestead the land, raise a family and make small towns flourish from the sweat of their brows.

Now; the region has modern schools, well-paved roads, possibly the highest standards of property regulations in the world, but there is simply no industry.

Remnants of great times gone by are unmistakable, but evidence of the ability to create a grand future seemed to be nowhere in sight as we made the trip back to Eagle River.

How long can the people of Mellen and neighboring areas sustain their citizens when the ability to think and thrive for themselves is restricted, harnessed or taken away?

Government programs that seed false assumptions of being able to care for one’s self loomed heavily on my mind. Would the day come when whatever aid was assisting in keeping such towns alive cease? Then what? What would become of these towns, the schools, the children?

The DNR gave its blessings to the GTac mining project, and to think for once they were on the entrepreneur’s side. Still, progress was denied.

The “interested company” has moved on to yet another suitable area, because as it has been said, “it is a big world.”

Why would elected officials, educated people, theoretically hired to look out for the best interests of their constituents, block their ability to be self sustaining? This was and is the question.

Are the claims of danger to the environment well founded when we live on proof that past mining and logging did not decimated our pristine waters, air and soil? If over the past one hundred fifty years have we learned nothing? Would we not steward our resources with care and honor?

Common sense tells me, there is more to this than meets the eye.

On that day, on that ride home, I did not know that growth and advancement would be denied to the people of the North.

Decisions we make today not only will shape our own future but they will most certainly affect those of our children. The debt, the shift in morals, the shredding of our foundation, a little more each and every day.

The ride was a quiet one. Each passenger deep in their own thoughts of the hearing, the dilemmas we are facing, and the ground battle we have been fighting for a few years now.

I gave thought and considered those who handed the keys off to me and my generation. What a near perfect gift. What sacrifices they made for us.

As we made it back into Vilas County and our journey neared an end, I contemplated the health of my generation’s inheritance, our legacy, and the condition of the gift that was passed on to us, not that long ago. I measured how the time was quickly approaching when it will be our time to pass on the keys. In my mind the picture of our gift being passed on to our children, was a tarnished and weathered image. Far different than the gleaming and shining one I know we received

As the sun set down for yet another day, we drove up our farm’s drive.

And with these thoughts in mind, a single tear ran from my eye.