Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated each year on the Vernal Equinox, April 22, on which events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

This year, the annual Earth Day observance at the Tribal Office Building was held on Tuesday, April 26, and had a new attraction this year, thanks to the efforts of Ho-Chunk Nation DNR Forester Mark Gawron.

Gawron obtained a black ash log, soaked in water prior to the event, and then made it available for the observance. Participants then volunteered to take turns pounding and stripping the log for basket-making material.

Other attractions in the atrium consisted of fire-fighting equipment and techniques, live fish habitats, leaf identification and rubs, and fur and pelt identification. Also, Dennis "Dino" Tlachac of Nature’s Niche, Stevens Point, provided an educational session and hands-on wildlife exhibit. His collection of exotic bugs, reptiles, mammals and birds from around the world provided a look into how wildlife interacts with each other as predators and prey.

The new attraction, black ash pounding, provided a look at how black ash baskets have been made for centuries and how that knowledge needs to be kept intact.

“The purpose of the black ash pounding demonstration was to create awareness of the process, have folks try pounding, and to recruit some new pounders,” Gawron said. “We need pounders to continue the tradition.”

Gawron got the idea from Kelly Church, Michigan Lower Peninsula basket maker, and HCN Community Forester Greg Blick. Kjetil Garvin identified a small grove of dying black ash in Juneau Country from which a log could be obtained. Bill Hall, a current Black River Falls pounder, was willing and volunteered his services to instruct on the proper technique of pounding a black ash log.

“Earth Day seemed like the perfect time to try this,” Gawron said. “Also, with the Emerald Ash Borer being discovered in Jackson County last August, our time for cutting and pounding black ash logs is very limited. Perhaps there are only two to five years before the ash resource will be gone.”

Gawron said he got excited about a live black ash pounding and he wanted to see it happen.

“This demonstration exceeded my expectations,” he said. “We may get a couple of new, young, pounders from this event.  Jeriah Rave and his sons graciously volunteered to finish pounding the splints out of the log.

“If the splints are of high enough quality,  I have an idea of asking one of  our basket makers to teach a ‘family basket gathering’ using these splints, where at least one parent and one child per family come together to learn basket making,” Gawron said. “My thought is that if at least two people or a family are interested they can motivate each other to stay interested and keep the basket making tradition alive.”