Marin “Mark” Denning, Native American cultural speaker and educator, receives Environmental Hero of the Year Award

The Great Waters Group of the Sierra Club recognizes Marin “Mark” Denning’s outstanding work with its Environmental Hero of the Year Award.

He received his award Dec. 3 during the annual Holiday Party, where he shared his early experience with water as a child, carrying buckets of water on a shoulder yoke, from a nearby river to his home.

Denning reminds us all that not only is the Milwaukee area Native land but that Indigenous wisdom is well worth our consideration.
 

His humor, wit and spirituality combine to make him a highly skilled public speaker as well as a valued facilitator and discussion moderator. He is frequently the face of Indigenous presence to non-Native people at Milwaukee-area events.
 
A community organizer, he is generous with his time while working to protect Milwaukee’s rivers and waters. Recently, he has been instrumental in efforts to publicize and nurture the recent resurgence of sturgeon in the Milwaukee River.
 
A healing force, Denning organized a series of Unity Fires during COVID times, beginning in the summer of 2020. Held on the Wgema Campus in the Concordia neighborhood, near Bolton Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus and in city parks, the fire circles were open to all. The Unity Fires empowered community sharing and listening while socially distanced.
 
Great Waters Chair Jenny Abel says, “We are grateful for all the work that Mark has done to protect waterways and wildlife in the Milwaukee area and are happy to be able to recognize his work with this award.”

The Great Waters Group is the local, four-county affiliate (Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha Counties) of the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization