LANSING, MI — As Gov. Rick Snyder prepares to lay out his agenda for 2013, hundreds of people have formed outside the Capitol to protest Right to Work Legislation and advocate for environmental issues.

About 500 protesters — about half against Right for Work and half part of a Native American group — had gathered around the state Capitol as of 5:30 p.m. Snyder will give his third State of the State address tonight at 7 p.m. Follow live coverage here.

At the East entrance of the Capitol, the Native Americans — part of an organization called "Idle No More" — gathered in a large drum circle advocating for environmental issues, such as banning hydraulic fracking.

Beatrice Jackson, a grandmother in the Three Fires Midewiwin Lodge, said she is concerned about fracking and keeping the Great Lakes clean.

The 63-year-old Mt Pleasant woman wants to hear Snyder acknowledge the aboriginal people of Michigan in his State of the State address. She said more than 200 Native Americans from northern Michigan came to the Capitol. Snyder has said he approves fracking if it is done right.

As guests began to arrive, groups from the United Auto Workers and "We Are Michigan" were at the entrances of the Capitol with recycled images from a "Walk of Shame" protest last week. Protesters held pictures of legislators who voted for RFW and had "shame" written across the portrait.

“This is an issue that hasn’t gone away," said Mike Severino, a nurse at Sparrow Hospital. "All options are still on the table.”

Severino, who said he is a Republican and worked for his party's Senate caucus for ten years, said he is not expecting to hear anything from Snyder that addresses his concerns.

"We've heard a lot of stuff from the governor and his actions have spoken louder than his words," Severino said. "So I'm really not too optimistic about what he speaks about, I want to see what he does."

Tents began to be assembled for the demonstrations around 3:30 p.m. Michigan State Police spokeswoman Shanon Banner said authorities have not had any issues as of 5:30 p.m. "We're not expecting anything here," she said. "We hope everyone is peaceful and respectful."

Protesters gather Wednesday outside the state Capitol in Lansing before Gov Rick Snyder's State of the State address.

The protest comes after large demonstrations in December as the legislature voted on Right to Work legislation. Protesters came to the Capitol last week as legislators were sworn in for the 2013-14 term.

The state, however, seems to be split on Snyder. A poll released Tuesday by Mitchell Research & Communications shows 50 percent likely voters who responded approve of the job Snyder is doing, and 43 percent disapprove.

Earlier this week, Snyder said he hopes the protests commence in a "respectful fashion."

“That’s part of democracy, so I appreciate that,” Snyder said Monday. “I know we’ve gone through tough issues. I just hope we can all do it in a respectful fashion.”

Fritz Klug is a politics and energy reporter for MLive and the Kalamazoo Gazette. Contact him at fklug@mlive.com or 269-370-0584. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or App.net.