Judge Signs Consent Decree on Tribal Hunting, Fishing Rights
Five Tribes Gather October 25 To Agree To Standardize Practices

A decree to standardize hunting and gathering rights among Native American tribes in northern Michigan was signed by U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen Monday, November 5, and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is now working to draft a plan to put the regulations in place, the Tribe reported November 8.

Once this plan is made, the tribe is expected to announce a date when its members will be required to follow the new regulations.

The agreement among five Native American tribes and the state and federal governments defines and standardizes Indian hunting and gathering rights in Michigan, in keeping with conservation goals of the Department of Natural Resources. Tribal members will continue to have subsistence fishing, hunting, and gathering rights on undeveloped, public lands. Many, but not all, rules will be similar to the state's. Under the agreement, commercial fishing, gill nets, and snagging will be prohibited on inland lakes. The settlement grants a four-month-longer firearm hunting season and increased hunting area for the tribes, the Sault Tribe reported, although tribal members still need permission to hunt on private land.

The decree applies to treatyceded lands established by the 1836 Treaty of Washington. The treaty lands include roughly the eastern half of the Upper Peninsula, the northwest third of the Lower Peninsula, and north of the Thunder Bay River near Alpena. The consent decree details the specific treaty rights of tribal members by establishing the same fishing, hunting, and gathering regulations for all Native American people using Michigan lands and inland waters.

The decree does not apply to the Great Lakes, where fishing rights were clarified in 2000.

The agreement is the result of a four-year lawsuit against the state of Michigan filed by the federal government and Indian tribes.

Those involved in addition to the Sault Tribe are the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, the Bay Mills Indian Community, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. Representatives of these tribes met October 25 in Petoskey to sign the agreement, before its approval by the judge.

Members of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan's largest tribe with 29,000 members, voted by mail ballot to approve the decree, 3,476 votes to 678, the tribe announced October 18.