Author, activist and bioregionalist Stephanie Mills gave the following address as the keynote speaker at the 18th annual Freshwater Summit in Traverse City on Oct. 30, 2025. (Mills will appear with artist and community organizer Seth Bernard at the Grand Traverse Circuit from 6-8 pm on Jan. 14 for a program titled “Starting From and Staying With the Nature of Place.” The event is sponsored by the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation and TitleTrack.)
Holly T. Bird, a local attorney, indigenous activist, and member of the Traverse City Area Public Schools Board of Education—and whose family had roots on Little Glen Lake—joined the ancestors on April 3. Bird was co-executive director of TitleTrack and advocated for everything from indigenous visibility and racial justice, to clean water and energy, to LGTBQ+ rights. A proud member of the Thunder Clan, she traced her heritage from Apache, Yaqui, and Perépucha Tribes and joined the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipe Line in North Dakota in 2016. Click here to read the poignant note Bird wrote to her friend, now State Rep. Betsy Coffia, in September 2018.