Line 5 Pipeline Reroute Endangers Maple Trees and Native Lifeways
Ashland, Wisconsin – Northern Wisconsin residents gathered to boil maple sap along the banks of the Bad River, on Canadian oil giant Enbridge’s pipeline easement for its 41-mile Line 5 reroute on March 29, 2026. Enbridge started construction activities in late February, despite numerous ongoing lawsuits challenging its operation of the pipeline.
Unicorn Riot heard from Bad River Tribal Member Joe Bates and local resident Liam Delmain about the significance of the event and risks of Line 5. “We’re gathering here today to spend some time connecting with the water that we’re fighting to protect. It’s the same water that runs through the maple trees growing here on the river bottoms that bring us sugar this time of year,” said Delmain. Bates says that Enbridge is forcing the city of Ashland to sell them water, which they will use for drilling.
Harvesting maple syrup is a Native tradition of many tribes, including the Anishinaabe, dating back even before settler colonization. Locals gathered at “Bad River Crossing,” where the Bad River meets the Tyler Forks River and flows into Copper Falls State Park, which draws over 200,000 visitors each year, and boiled down maple sap into sugar.
Participants honored the rivers and old-growth maple floodplain forest, which Enbridge plans to cut down and drill through to lay its pipe. Residents spoke about risks to treaty-protected land, wild rice, and fish.
Line 5 is a 73-year-old pipeline that carries up to 23 million gallons of oil each day through the Great Lakes region. In 2019, the Bad River Band sued Enbridge for six years of illegal trespass, citing concerns over the risk of a rupture near Lake Superior.
A federal judge ruled in favor of the Bad River Band in 2023 and ordered the pipeline removed from the reservation by June 2026. In February, the same federal judge ruled that Enbridge can continue operating Line 5 on the reservation until the Seventh Circuit rules on the appeals.
The Bad River Band had demanded Enbridge leave the watershed, but the company is planning to route the pipeline through hundreds of rivers, streams, and wetlands that flow into the reservation.
Ashland County, according to activists, accepted funds from Enbridge to be used for policing the pipeline reroute. All the while, Ashland County also receives funds from Bad River for policing duties on the reservation.
In April, the Band and environmental groups filed for a stay on Line 5 construction, arguing the reroute will cause irreparable harm. A Bayfield County judge is currently weighing the decision.
The State of Michigan, Bay Mills Indian Community, and other tribal nations are also in litigation with Enbridge for its operation of Line 5 through the Straits of Mackinac. The lawsuits cite risks of a catastrophic oil spill into Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
Past coverage of Line 5:
Enbridge’s Line 5 Reroute Blasts Through Bedrock Without Permits, Threatening the Great Lakes [May 2026]
Indigenous Leaders Demand Halt to Enbridge Line 5 Reroute Construction in Wisconsin [April 2026]
Anishinaabe Leaders Raise Alarms About Enbridge’s Covert Line 5 Police Deals in Wisconsin [March 2026]
Protests Against Line 5 Continue in Wisconsin and the Courtrooms [Oct. 2023]
Enbridge Ordered to Shutdown Line 5 and Pay Bad River Band $5.1M [July 2023]
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