BEMIDJI, Minn. -- The Leech Lake and White Earth Ojibwe bands want to co-manage all northern Minnesota resources with the state of Minnesota, asserting treaty rights.
That goal became clear Monday in a letter from Leech Lake Tribal Chairman Archie LaRose to state Natural Resources Commissioner Mark Holsten to call off a hastily arranged meeting.
The meeting was set in reaction to a statement last week that tribal members planned to assert their treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather by illegally fishing on Lake Bemidji May 14, the day before the official walleye season opener.
Tribal leaders, however, later urged that there be no protest, that tribal officials were working for a diplomatic solution. Both Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Holsten were unaware of the desire to exercise treaty rights.
"I regret that a tribal member attending our ongoing 1855 (treaty) meetings went to the press before you or Governor Pawlenty were provided this notice," LaRose wrote Holsten. "Our legal director anticipated to get in front of the story but could only clarify potential objectives and outcomes of the 1855 meetings that had not yet been presented to the Leech Lake RBC (Reservation Business Committee)."
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The ongoing meetings have been held to discuss what the bands should do to exercise rights under an 1855 treaty that provides the right to hunt, fish and gather, and have been working in concert with the White Earth Band as both bands are in the 1855 territory.
LaRose, Leech Lake District Rep. "Ribs" Whitebird and White Earth officials have been holding 1855 Ceded Territory Rights Committee meetings for months, a Leech Lake Tribal Council statement said Monday.
The meetings are for "development of the options and strategies for Minnesota's recognition of 1855 Ceded Territory hunting and fishing rights - just like those in the 1854 Ceded Territory and Tri-Band agreement with other MCT bands," the statement said.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in that case, ordering co-management of Lake Mille Lacs, the state's premier walleye fishery.
"These are the People's Rights," LaRose said in the statement. "Too often many people are living in poverty and they could live healthier and earn a modest living with more resources available to them.
"Members of my family hunt, trap, fish, gather wild rice and medicines and make maple sugar - these traditions are important parts of our culture," LaRose said.
"I know that tribal members are very interested in co-management of ceded territory resources and that an 1855 off-reservation fishing code has been drafted and nearly ready for presentation to Leech Lake and White Earth reservations to consider adopting," LaRose wrote to Holsten.
Brad Swenson is a reporter for the Bemidji Pioneer, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.
