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Home ›Letter to the Editor: Earth Day and Effigy Mounds
To the Editor:
Happy spring fellow human earthlings!
I write these words on Earth Day, 2017. If you have been following the seven years of our exposing the damage caused at our beloved Effigy Mounds National Monument by federal employees you may care to know that we have recently received our last long awaited redacted (FOIA) Freedom of Information Act Request.
People lived here in the Driftless Area for thousands of years before our European ancestors arrived. These cultures had a very nature based society and revered their home to the extent they built earthworks, earth art many in the shape of other creatures.
Historically there were white folks who came on the scene who appreciated these mounds uniqueness and importance to the human story. The likes of locals Ellison Orr and others formed a group and petitioned congress for protection beginning around 1905. Effigy Mounds National Monument would finally be created in 1949.
Many years later a toxic mix of personalities would go on a crime spree that would last for several decades, plus the cover-ups.
These personalities all wore National Park Service uniforms. Fortunately all the criminals are gone. However much of the damage remains.
You can read all about this story on the internet at the Iowa page on, https://www.peer.org/state-federal-watch/state-watch/ia.html
The latest FOIA can be found at, https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/foia/foia-frd.htm ISB Munson Investigation Case File.
Timothy Mason,
McGregor
Friends of Effigy Mounds