Beavers and manoomin have coexisted in waters near the mine for thousands of years. Beavers build worlds within the waterways of this area - the infrastructure they build creates habitats for other beings. Their dams can filter contaminated waters. However, when beavers are not kept in check by trapping and natural predators, the dams they construct can disrupt relationality. When beavers build too many dams and the flow of water is too altered, wild rice beds are damaged.

When they built the mine many long-standing foodways were disrupted. The pit ripped up topsoil and vegetation, destroying habitats in the process. However, our plant and animal relatives are resilient. Even as the mine was in operation, wild berries and muskrat found ways to make their homes within it. After the mine closed it took a lot of time and love to rebuild these foodways. Dogwoods, red clover, and manoomin reclaimed the bottom of the pit, helping to restore the soils and protect the quality of the waters.

Beneath the surface of the Malartic Pit, there are miles of shafts and tunnels that form the roots of the city. Settler scientists believed for years that nothing could survive more than a few meters deep. Microbes have flourished below the surface of the mine since time immemorial, but to make the tunnels viable for human, plant, and animal life we needed to figure out how to supply light and oxygen. While most people live deep within the tunnels, in some of the parts of the city closest to the surface, you can look up and see the networks of roots of the forest above.

After the mine closed, the people had to work to rebuild a relationship with its soils. Decades of extraction severely impacted the structure and quality of the soil. One of the first steps taken to restore this relationship was planting red clover. Not only can red clover feed human and more-than-human relatives, it improves the quality of the soil. Red clover fixes nitrogen in the soil, making it more available for other plants and supporting their growth. We can’t know all of the relations that might exist within the soils, but we have worked hard to try to foster good relations with the relations we do know.