Tribal Members To Vote on Hunting Rights Agreement
Consent Decree Would Standardize Practices Among Tribes, Manage State Resources
By Amy Polk

An agreement among Michigan's five Native American tribes and the state and federal governments may define and standardize Indian hunting and gathering rights in Michigan. Tribal members will continue to have subsistence fishing, hunting, and gathering rights on undeveloped, public lands. The tribes and government, however, will work more closely to manage natural resources so they will be available well into the future. No commercial harvest will be allowed on Michigan lands and inland waters, except for items sold by small-scale "mom and pop" craft and artisan operations. The decree does not apply to the Great Lakes, where fishing rights were clarified in 2000.

Language of the Inland Consent Decree was finalized Wednesday, September 27, and is awaiting adoption by the tribes before the agreement will be heard in federal court October 22. If a federal judge rules in favor of the decree October 22, it will legally define Native use of natural resources on the inland areas of Michigan. A particular tribe's rejection of the decree will not prevent its consideration in the federal court.

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan's largest tribe with 29,000 members, is voting on whether it will accept the decree as written. Tribal members will receive ballots and copies of the decree by mail and have until October 17 to vote on the it. The referendum was mailed September 27 and will ask members, "Do you approve or disapprove of resolution: Authorization to Ratify the Inland Consent Decree?"

Sault Tribe Communications Director Cory Wilson told The St. Ignace News he cannot comment on the consent decree until after the tribe's election ends.

The decree is the result of a lawsuit against the state of Michigan filed by the federal government and Indian tribes. An Agreement in Principal was signed by all parties last

summer which committed all those involved to formulate an agreement or settlement.

The Bay Mills Indian Community approved the decree last week. Three other Lower Peninsula tribes, including the Little Traverse Bands of Odawa Indians in Petoskey, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Suttons Bay, and Little River Band of Ottawa in Manistee, have yet to take formal action.

The decree applies to treaty-ceded lands established by the 1836 Treaty of Washington. The treaty lands roughly include the eastern half of the Upper Peninsula, the northwest third of the Lower Peninsula, and north of the Thunder Bay River near Alpena. In those areas, American Indian tribes can hunt, fish, and gather resources on public lands without the state and federal restrictions that non-Indian hunters and anglers must comply with.

If adopted as written, the consent decree will establish the same fishing, hunting, and gathering regulations for all Native American people using Michigan lands and inland waters. Native Americans now comply with regulations imposed by their own tribes, but those regulations vary from tribe to tribe. For example, one tribe allows 20 lines or "tip-ups" in one ice fishing hole, while another allows seven, said Jim Ekdahl, a Department of Natural Resources Upper Peninsula field deputy and lead tribal coordinator for the Inland Consent Decree. The consent decree will limit all Native American ice fishing to seven lines per hole. It will limit deer hunting bag limits to five deer per hunter, and only two of the five can be bucks.

The consent decree was sought to explain Native hunting, fishing, and collection rights and eliminate disputes over those rights. The decree is also designed to prevent overfishing and exploitation of resources by marrying state and tribal management practices in a way that respects biology and cultural use.

"The important point is that this meets their needs for subsistence use of resources in a way we believe provides adequate protection of natural resources," Mr. Ekdahl told The St. Ignace News.

The agreement answers a 171- year-old question about tribal hunting, fishing, and gathering rights allowed by the 1836 Treaty of Washington. Indian tribes gave up what is now known as the treatyceded land in the northern Lower Peninsula and eastern Upper Peninsula, but were assured continued, traditional use of undeveloped lands in those areas for fishing, hunting, and gathering until those lands are needed for settlement. Public forests, lakes, and streams in the treaty-ceded areas are still regarded as traditional Native American hunting, fishing, and gathering sites.

The decree upholds many of the more liberal hunting, fishing, and gathering rights, but in many instances now requires tribal resource managers to align efforts with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

A Native American who wants to gather birch bark on state land, for instance, will be able to do so in designated areas and must first get a permit from the tribe. Tribal authorities will consult with DNR forest managers to determine suitable areas to harvest white birch bark.

The state has never allowed the general public to collect birch bark on state lands owing "to a common understanding that once you remove white birch bark from a tree, it kills the tree," Mr. Ekdahl said.

Birch bark collection for making crafts and practical items is regarded as an important Native American cultural right, however, and Native American traditionalists demonstrated how one can harvest birch bark sustainably during the right time of year on certain trees.

Mr. Ekdahl used this example to explain how both sides negotiated and compromised over the past four years to reach an agreement.

"We thought the opportunity was there to negotiate," he said. "The consent decree defines the extent of the 1836 Treaty rights, it provides for protection and management of natural resources, and it protects private properties."

Native American hunting, fishing, and gathering rights are not extended to private properties.

Michigan's Native American membership for all five tribes is about 42,000, so Mr. Ekdahl predicts that impact on natural resources will be minimal.

"We do not think there will be a dramatic increase in the deer harvest," he added. "There are 735,000 deer hunters statewide. If 25% of the tribes hunted, they would only have about 10,000 people hunting."

A few other highlights of the 144-page consent decree include:

Fishing -

• Maximim of four lines for open water fishing and seven tip-ups for ice fishing.

• Use of gill nets is not allowed on inland waters except for research purposes by the tribe's professional biological workers. Trap or impoundment nets are allowed, but use is regulated by permit.

• Walleye fishing will be limited. On lakes more than 1,000 acres in size, Native Americans can harvest 10% of that lake's population of walleyes. Under the decree, Indians can take 514 walleyes from Brevoort Lake, for instance, and 154 from Millecoquins Lake. If the lake is less than 1,000 acres, Native Americans can harvest 5% of the estimated population. At Caribou Lake near DeTour, Native Americans could harvest up to 141 walleyes.

• Indians can spear fish in lakes under regulations for various species and seasons. Spring walleye spearing will be allowed, for example.

Hunting -

• The tribal deer hunting season will begin the Tuesday after Labor Day and would end the first weekend in January. Firearms can be used by Native Americans during that entire time except during a 14- day "quiet period" between November 1 and November 14.

• Native Americans would be allowed a bag limit of five deer, of which only two can be bucks.

• Native Americans will be allowed to harvest up to 10% of Michigan's entire bear target harvest.

Gathering -

• White birch bark gathering would require a permit from a tribal authority who has determined suitable gathering area on state land.

• Firewood can be gathered with a permit on state land, as long as the wood is already dead and down. Firewood harvesters cannot cut live trees, and there will be a five-cord limit for each permit.

• Conifer boughs can be gathered with a permit in areas determined suitable by tribal and state forest managers.

The entire Inland Consent Decree can be viewed at www.michigan.gov/dnr.