Hilary J. “Sparky” Waukau | Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame

1922 – 1995
Inducted 2001

“I recognized the sanctity and greatness of our forests and I was conscious of how fragile the environment was.” — Hilary “Sparky” Waukau

On a summer day in 1995, a group of people opposed to a proposed sulfide mine near the headwaters of the Wolf River marched up Spirit Mountain near Crandon. The group wanted to draw attention to its cause, and a frail-looking Native American in a wheelchair led the marchers that day. It was the last march for Hilary Waukau, Menominee Nation tribal leader and respected elder, U.S. Marines World War II veteran and longtime environmental leader and conservationist. Waukau would die two weeks later in a Shawano hospital of the effects of heart attack, stroke and other disease.

Waukau was anything but a figurehead. He had been involved in environmental and conservation causes most of his adult life and was an early and unyielding protector of the Wolf River. He is credited with playing an important role in no fewer than six separate efforts to protect or enhance the Wolf River and the surrounding environment in northeast Wisconsin. Waukau received honors from state and national groups for these efforts.

Many times he and the Menominee formed coalitions with others interested in environmental protection. At the same time, Waukau considered it essential that the Menominee and other Native Americans protect their separate and distinct culture.

Born in Keshena on the Menominee Reservation, Waukau lived all of his life there, save for three years of military service as a U.S. Marine in World War II and a nine-month callup during the Korean War. The impact of his work on environmental matters went well beyond the reservation, but his efforts were appreciated at home.

The Menominee manage a forest on the reservation that is world-famous for its size and for the fact that the Menominee so effectively practice sustainable forestry. A year before he died, the Menominee Nation renamed its forestry center the Hilary J. Waukau Senior Forestry and Environmental Resources Center.

Waukau was also among the leaders of an effort to oppose construction of a Nuclear Waste Repository in the Wolf River Batholith granite bedrock in north central Wisconsin. The Department of Energy had proposed this site as a possible location for a repository. DOE officials took the site off the list for consideration.