Looks to me like we losing most of the state mostly where all the big waters are

Yeah, the MN DNR has allowed the Bands to come in and help them ruin the fishery. It's a major conflict of interest to have the tribe that is trying to take your land be the ones that are obviously calling the shots on the management of the lake.

Simple plan: Ruin the tourist fishing trade on the lake and buy up the key properties as the businesses go bankrupt. Own over 50% of the lake and claim it as tribal waters, like Lower Red.

http://www.citizensalliance.org/Acrobat%20Files/May01DCFactSheet.pdf

http://www.cura.umn.edu/sites/cura.advantagelabs.com/files/publications/34-2-Smith.pdf

Geez Us ! Awful!

To Fishermen and Friends of the Mille Lacs Lake communities:

Today I wrote a direct letter to Senator Dave Brown and Representative Sondra Erickson regarding the above letter and so-called 'Buy Back' initiative documented in this open forum and thread.Here are my questions to them and the first reply that I have received from Senator Dave Brown:

My questions were:

1.   What do you see as the impact of this action and tribal development?

2.   Is there any legal or legislative action that can be considered ortaken to prevent private property owners and business owners from being 'pressured' or isolated in such a manner to sell out on the south shores of Mille Lacs lake?

3.   For the important business communities of Isle and Wahkon, Minnesota,what can be done to protect and save them from a 'take over'?

4.   What actions or plans do you recommend for Mille Lacs Lake property

owners and your constituents, please?

Here is Senator Brown's reply:

Mike,

Thank you for your email. The program to which you refer is run by the U.S. Department of the Interior and has the strong blessing of President Obama. They have committed more than $1 billion in federal monies to this program and currently 3 tribes are taking advantage of it. Are you aware of the Mille Lacs band saying they are participating? I'm guessing most tribes will be. The state of Minnesota has little control over federal programs, but I will find out what, if anything, can be done at the state level. It appears to be a voluntary program where nobody is forced to sell if they don't want to. Please let me know of any specific information that you know of that is certain to happen in the Mille Lacs area.

Dave

Senator Dave Brown

District 15: Honored to serveBenton, Kanabec,

Mille Lacs, Sherburne,Morrison and Wright Counties

109 State Office Building

100 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

St. Paul, MN 55155

Office: (651) 296-8075

Email: Sen.David.Brown@senate.mn

wallyhntr1 wrote:

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Well the names of the 13 lakes Natives plan to start spearing on is out... How long before they decide to bring in the miles of gill nets & destroy those lakes too, creating the exact same disaster mille lacs is in, forcing all other Americans to step in & pay for the aftermath.... Gotta love the ' lather, rinse, repeat ' cycle we are in with our resources, all to cater to one American race....

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 This is NOT an American race. They are a soveriegn nation. Like Mexico or Canada. Maybe while we're at it, we can give California back to the Mexicans.

wallyhntr1 wrote:

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Mike- The answer you were given from the Senator, matches the reply I received from Obama when he replied to my letter last year... Obama said " I'm doing everything in my power to empower Native America".... The 1 Billion the senator mentioned, is well south of the several Billion in American money Obama said he would put forth, in his response to me...

Nice letter Mike! Unfortunately we have someone in office pouring American funds towards/fueling unequal rights.

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Thanks wallyhntr1 !!!  Geez uz.

This is the most ludicrous use of federal government funds I have ever seen...and here it is in our own 'front yard' -- the shores and small towns of south Mille Lacs Lake. I am still in SHOCK.

Both Senator Brown and Rep Erickson have promised me to look into this further ~~ but I am still in serious shock  after learning how screwed up the situation really is.

Rep. Sondra Ericson works very hard for our rights in her legislative capacity and she has some ideas. If I get something good, I will place it on our forum. 

Mike 

This letter is from the Mille Lacs Band's chief Melanie Benjamin:

http://millelacsband.com/2015/03/melanies-march-letter-2/

On March 20, the Band will celebrate Treaty Day, when the Supreme Court affirmed the Band’s rights under our 1837 Treaty. It is with some irony that I need to report about a difficult issue we are now having with the State of Minnesota. For the past few years, state officials have on occasion taken the position that the reservation boundary of the Band no longer exists. On February 24, I plan to get a resolution through the Tribal Executive Committee of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. The resolution will address recent statements made by Solicitor General Alan Gilbert, of the State Attorney General, in writing to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which not only threaten the existence of the Mille Lacs Reservation, but could also be viewed as threatening the reservations of several of the Bands of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Mr. Gilbert implied that the intention of the Nelson Act of 1889 was to have only two Chippewa reservations in Minnesota, Red Lake and White Earth. We are very concerned about this matter, and Speaker Beaulieu and I have talked with Governor Dayton directly about this. On February 24, the TEC will hopefully pass a resolution supporting the existence of all the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe reservations, and noting that case law has stated that the Nelson Act had no impact on the boundaries of Chippewa Reservations.  We also plan on getting a similar resolution through the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council in early March.

1837 – With faulty maps and other misunderstandings of the geography
involved, the Mille Lacs Band signs a treaty ceding its homeland to the U.S. government. The Treaty of 1837 protects the rights of the Mille Lacs Ojibwe to hunt, fish and gather on the ceded lands, but allows the land to be settled by non-Indians.

1855 – The Mille Lacs Band signs a treaty that sets aside 61,000 acres as its reservation on and around the south end of Mille Lacs Lake, including the southern part of the lake and southern islands. The Treaty of 1855 also opens up land just north of the new Mille Lacs Reservation to the advancing timber crews.

1858 – Minnesota joins the union.

1862 – During the Dakota War, Mille Lacs Band warriors defend non-Indians from aggression by neighboring Ojibwe bands.

1864 – In recognition of its good conduct during the Dakota War, the Mille Lacs Band receives a guarantee in a treaty with the U.S. government that Band members will not be forced to leave the Mille Lacs Reservation.

1879 – Despite the Treaty of 1864, the U.S. Interior Department proclaims the Mille Lacs Reservation available for purchase by timber companies and others. Congress later reverses the proclamation, but not in time to prevent non-Indians from squatting on the reservation and stripping large areas of pine trees.

1880s – The U.S. government adopts a policy of assimilation, declaring that Indians must conform to the lifestyles of non-Indians.

1884 – The Band’s leaders receive assurances that the presence of
non-Indians on Mille Lacs Band land would be investigated and resolved.

1889 – Congress passes the Nelson Act, which seeks to move Ojibwe
populations to allotments of land on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota, but also allows them to take allotments on their own reservations.

1999 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Mille Lacs Band retains the right to hunt, fish and gather on lands it ceded to the federal government through the Treaty of 1837 under tribal regulations. This decision ends the Band’s nine-year legal battle to have its 1837 treaty rights recognized.

2000 – Sandra Blake is elected District I Representative, a position she held from 2000-2004 and resumed in 2008 to the present.

2000 – Melanie Benjamin is elected Chief Executive, a position she held from 2000-2008 and resumed in 2012.

2001-2002 – The Band opens assisted living units in all three reservation districts.

2002 – The Band purchases Eddy’s Lake Mille Lacs Resort, a popular resort dating back to 1960.

2004 – The Band opens a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility, partnering with the Garrison Kathio West Mille Lacs Lake Sanitary District to provide treatment services to residents and businesses of the West Mille Lacs Lake region.

March 2004 – The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals finds that Mille Lacs County’s lawsuit against the Mille Lacs Band failed to show that the Band’s reservation boundaries have harmed the county. The court’s dismissal of the lawsuit affirms that the county was “unable to point to any definite controversy that exists from the Band’s purported expansion of tribal jurisdiction over the disputed portion of the reservation.”

November 2004 – The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Mille Lacs County’s lawsuit challenging the existence of the 61,000-acre Mille Lacs Reservation boundaries. The case had previously been dismissed by a U.S. District Court chief judge and the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The nearly three-year legal battle cost the county approximately $1.3 million.

So, the plan is simple. Ruin the lake by netting all the spawning walleyes, thereby financially destroying the enemies' ability to fight in court. Use the 1837 treaty ruling by the Supreme Court to legally regain jurisdiction of the entire south end of Mille Lacs Lake. 

It's already done pretty much all under the radar. They are already claiming jurisdiction and our government is letting them, with Obama pledging $3.4 Billion in taxpayer's money. The Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (formerly called the Cobell Land Consolidation Program)  is part of the $3.4 billion Indian Trust Settlement resulting from the Cobell v. Salazarclass action lawsuit. As part of the Settlement, $1.9 billion is earmarked for the Buy-Back Program in an effort to address the growing problem of fractionated ownership through the consolidation of undivided interests.

So, what is going to happen? Use your imagination.

 http://millelacsband.com/mille-lacs-band-ojibwe/culture-traditions/educational-materials/comic-books/teachers-guide-dreams-of-looking-up/

Sorry, Jeff, but you are a little confused as to who was killing who, here. We weren't at war with the Chippewa. The Sioux were. Why? Because the Ojibwe wanted their land. The "white men" were already there on Mille Lacs since the year 1000:

VINELAND, a village and port of Mille Lacs near its outlet, in Kathio, was named for the early Norse settlement on the northeast coast of North America in the year 1000, visited by numerous later voyages, which was called in the Icelandic language Vinland, meaning Wineland, from grapes found there. Its post office was called Vineland from 1891 to 1921 and Wigwam Bay from 1921 to 1929, at which time it was discontinued. - See more at: http://www.lakesnwoods.com/Vineland.htm#sthash.YHxKMmQD.dpuf

The Chippewa were allies with us in the Indian Wars with the Sioux, who didn't like the encroaching Ojibwe and (with horses and guns supplied by french traders) were driven from Mille Lacs in 1750 By the Ojibwe 

1640 – The first written record of contact between Europeans (French fur traders) and Ojibwe occurs at what is now known as Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan.

1659 – Daniel Duluth negotiates an agreement of peace between the Ojibwe living near the south shore of Lake Superior and the Dakota people who lived near Mille Lacs Lake. Under the terms of the agreement, the two nations agree to share hunting territory in the area that would eventually become western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. This agreement encourages the Ojibwe to continue their western migration.

1727-1745 – Competition for trade with the French leads to conflicts and
warfare between the Ojibwe and the Dakota.

1745-1750 – The Ojibwe arrive in the area around Mille Lacs Lake and
force the remaining Dakota, who have already begun migrating west and south, out of the area. The Ojibwe establish their permanent homeland on and around the shores of Mille Lacs Lake.

By the way, I'm scandinavian. My people were here LONG before the Ojibwe. And we didn't kill anybody.

Regardless of that, nobody gets the right in this day and age to rape a resource.

You're sounding like you think we're an invasion occupation, comparing us to the Russians. The Chippewa are comparing us to occupational Nazis.

We were born here. This is our home.

I would never bash the Ojibwe, I've got many friends that are tribal members and value their friendship. Only thing is, they don't net. The ones that fish, do so with hook and line like everybody else. Some are anti-netting as I am, although not quite as vocal on the subject. There are many tribal members that think the netting issue here on Mille Lacs is putting relations with the non-native population at an all-time low. I have to agree.

By "WE" I mean the non natives and by "here", I'm talking about Mille Lacs Lake and the immediate area surrounding the lake.

During the late 1700s and the early 1800s The Mille Lacs Band and 7 other bands occupied this area of the United States Territory, which would eventually become what we now call Minnesota and Wisconsin. In the early 1800s, the U.S. was buying land for expansion from the retreating Dakota Sioux and Chief Hole-in-the-Day and his followers in the Ojibwe Nation wanted to sell us some of theirs. The only stipulation besides the amount of money and goods agreed upon was that they be allowed to continue to hunt and fish and use the land as they were used to. 

By the way, Jeff, The Chippewa ARE Ojibwe. Just another name, like Annishinabe, which is yet another name for their Nation. And, yes, the more educated you become, the easier it is to understand everyone's point of view on what's happening with this subject.

7outof10 wrote:

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so from what your saying fishnpole the ojibwe are not the problem at all when it comes to spring neting.  looks like i have misunderstood this for some years now. where would someone find a list of the bands that do net on the lake

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 I don't know how you came to the conclusion the Ojibwe that are netting aren't a big part of this problem on the lake. You're not seeing what we're seeing here on this lake. Most of the Mille Lacs Band could care less about netting. After the 1989 Wisconsin decision was handed down, there was a big court victory for the Chippewa Nation, of which the Mille Lacs Band is part of. Since the rest of the bands were getting a victory, the Mille Lacs Band grasped at the chance to regain THEIR old reservation in the 1999 Mille Lacs 1837 Treaty decision.

It was a bold costly move, but it worked.

The next challenge was going to be harder.  That's taking the best inland walleye fishery in the North American continent and reduce it to what you see now, but the Wisconsin bands came over and helped reduce the walleye capital of Minnesota to bordering on catch and release.

Can you blame the entire race for wanting their land back?

This is who I blame. I blame ones that could stop it, sit by and let them ruin a HUGE WALLEYE FISHERY so they can make a bunch of money in political "contributions". I blame the MN DNR for allowing it to happen, when the Supreme Court decision purposely states that the DNR can supersede tribal management in the interest of conservation.

It was high time in 2010

Here in 2015 it's become embarrassing. I wouldn't even show my face if I was a MN DNR right now. There's no excuse for it.