KESHENA - Encountering bears can be a relatively common occurrence for many people just strolling on the Menominee Reservation.
“There’s a level of respect that we won’t mess with them and they won’t mess with us,” said Calvin Waukau, 15, a sophomore at Menominee Indian High School in Keshena. “But one time I turned the corner and came face-to-face with one. It was pretty scary. … Them bears get pretty big.”
Waukau is one of about 50 students at the school to join the recently formed S.U.N. Squad, which stands for Sustainability Under One Nation, and collecting data on black bears in the Menominee Forest was one of their recent activities in the field.