Tribal Support and Treaty Rights

MEA works to protect unique natural resources and sites sacred to Native Americans. MEA also works to build coalitions between conservationists and Native Americans with the common goal of protecting land, air, water and rare resources for future generations.

History of Treaty Rights in Wisconsin

Prior to its statehood in 1848, Wisconsin was settled by the Ojibwe (“Chippewa”) tribes and other Native American tribes who sustained their economic, cultural, and spiritual well-being on the land. In 1837 and 1842, the Ojibwe tribes entered into treaties with the United States government that ceded tribal lands in northern Wisconsin to the government, but allowed tribal members to continue to hunt and fish on the ceded territories. These treaties represent a government – to – government relationship that exists only between the United States government and the tribal government.

Despite the sovereignty of Native American tribes and clear treaty rights to hunt and fish in the ceded territories, Wisconsin’s tribes have faced racism and hatred when attempting to exercise these basic human rights.

In 1989, members of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians attempted to spear fish during their traditional walleye harvest after being denied that sovereign right for more than 50 years by the State of Wisconsin. Tribal members were met with violence, intimidation, and racial slurs. [see "A Painful History" sidebar] Ultimately, however, with the aid of the courts and community support, Ojibwe tribal members were able to stop the harassment and continue their traditional spear-fishing rights.

New Threats to Treaty Rights

Ojibwe treaty rights on Wisconsin’s northern waters now face a new, collateral threat from private property rights advocates, irresponsible industry, and powerful legislators bent on granting special favors to both. A recent Wisconsin law, known as the Jobs Creation Act, exempts development on hundreds of Wisconsin’s northern rivers and lakes from environmental review in the name of developing those shorelines for the construction of expensive private homes, boat launches, and piers. However, these same waters provide habitat for growing and harvesting subsistence foods for Ojibwe tribes in Wisconsin, such as walleye, muskellunge, and wild rice.

Conservationists have struggled to stop the hemorrhaging of Wisconsin’s water quality protections, highlighting the damage done to tourism and recreation in northern Wisconsin. However, what effect will this new, destructive law have on Ojibwe treaty rights to harvest fish and wild rice on those waters in the ceded territories?

Building Solidarity Between Conservationists and Tribal Governments

Midwest Environmental Advocates is organizing conservation groups, Native American tribal governments, and Native American support organizations to support a petition to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to enhance its regulatory authority over northern Wisconsin’s rivers in an effort to limit the damage caused by the Wisconsin legislature. The purpose of the rulemaking petition is to preserve pristine rivers, and thereby preserve treaty rights on and the recreational and aesthetic opportunities offered by those rivers.

Below are resolutions from tribal governments supporting the Northwoods Hundred Healthiest Rivers Petition:

Sokaogon Chippewa Community

Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians

Lac Courte Oreilles

Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Supperior Chippewa Indians

Other resources:

Learn more about the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (“GLIFWC”)

Read “A Guide to Understanding Ojibwe Treaty Rights” by GLIFWC

Great Lakes Indian Tribal Council

White Earth Land Recovery Project

Indigenous Environmental Network

In a decision halting the discrimination and interference with Ojibwe treaty rights, a federal court listed the abuses suffered by the Ojibwe nations:

Protesters [of Ojibwe Treaty Rights] have dragged heavy objects through the spawning beds to stir up the lake bottom and make it difficult to see fish. Also they have played "leapfrog" with spearing boats, blocking the path of a boat by pretending to fish by hook-and-line so that the spearer has to go around the protester boat, and then moving quickly in front of the spearing boat again. Another protest tactic is shining boat lights into the faces of spearers so that they cannot see to fish or into the eyes of the boat driver so that he cannot guide the boat. At some boat landings [protesters] launch boats and remain close to the landing so that they can verbally harass plaintiffs and other spearers and impede their progress as they try to move their boats out to the spawning areas.

Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Stop Treaty Abuse 759 F. Supp. 1339, 1345 (W.D. Wis. 1991), rev’d on other grounds, 991 F.2d 1249 (7th Cir. Wis. 1993).