Matthew Borke was raised in southern Michigan and a graduate of the Northern Michigan University’s Culinary Arts program. After a successful 25-year career as a Chef in the US from coast to coast, Matthew transitioned to a Water Protector. 

Water Protectors are peaceful activists, organizers, and cultural workers focused on the defense of the world's water and water systems. Water protectors are distinguished from other forms of environmental activists by this philosophy and approach that is allied with an Indigenous cultural perspective that sees water and the land as sacred.

Matthew is presently a petitioner in the MI Supreme Court against the Enbridge Line 5 Tunnel project.  

Education is a fundamental part of Matthew’s practice. 

Jannan J. Cornstalk is a citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. She is a water warrior and organizer of water related events to bring awareness of the sacredness of Water/Niibi. Jannan has participated in panels, conferences, summits and panels related to water. Her two main mentors are grandmother water walker, Josephine Mandamin-ba and United Tribes chair, Frank Ettawageshick.   She has helped organize the Pipe Out Paddle Up flotilla for four years and is a recipient of the Michigan Environmentalist of the Year award 2018 and 2021. Jannan served on the LTBB’s Natural Resource Commission and was the tribal liaison for the Stewardship Network conference in Lansing MI to engage more Native speakers and participation. As director of the Water is Life Festival she helped facilitate and bring speakers and musicians from various areas of Michigan to bring awareness of water issues such as the Detroit Water Shut-offs, Flint, and water equity. Jannan is a grandmother of six grandchildren and mother of three grown children. She  grew up in Chicago, Illinois and now resides in Petoskey, MI.

Sean is the Michigan Director for Clean Water Action. He has been involved in the campaign to decommission Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline for the past 12 years, and he is the Campaign Coordinator for Oil and Water Don't Mix, the statewide coalition working to decommission Line 5. He also serves on the board for Michigan Campaign Finance Network, and the steering committee for the Michiganders for Money Out of Politics ballot initiative.

Brian O’Mara is a Geological Engineering graduate of Michigan Tech and has more than 35 years of experience providing consulting and construction management support for a wide variety of infrastructure and industrial facilities developments and environmental remediation projects, including more than 80 miles of tunnels and shafts from pre-design, project planning, permitting, construction, operations, decommissioning and re-use.  His clients include 3M, Consumers Energy, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, DTE, Ford, GE, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Macomb County Department of Public Works,  Massachusetts Water Resource Authority, MDEQ, USAF, USACE and USEPA.  He has worked thousands of hours underground as a Resident Inspector and Staff Engineer for various deep tunnel and shaft projects in the Great Lakes region and testified as an expert witness in the Enbridge Line 5 Tunnel matter before the MPSC in 2023 and is currently preparing a technical review of the Line 5 Tunnel Environmental Impact Statement issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers. 

Mae is an Anishinaabe Odawa woman from the Waganakising Odawa Nation, known in English as the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. She grew up in the Upper Peninsula with family in the Straits and the Marquette area. Thanks to the support of her community, she was able to earn a bachelor’s degree in Native American Studies from NMU and is currently finishing a master’s degree in Cultural Resource Management through CMU. She has been involved in Native American Student Associations, language revitalization projects, archaeology digs, and worked as a museum educator for the Mackinac State Historic Parks. 

This background, fueled by her love for her Anishinaabe community and her love of history, has all been leading up to her current role. In February 2025, Mae began working for her Tribal Nation as their Tribal Historic Preservation Officer and NAGPRA Representative. This position carries the responsibility of protecting and preserving her Tribe’s cultural resources as well as repatriating ancestors and sacred items.