Lac du Flambeau tribe won't lower payments for residents to access reservation properties
Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe tribal officials told Town of Lac du Flambeau officials in a June 13 letter they will not accept lower payments for the use of roads on their reservation to access some 65 homes of non-tribal owners.
Town officials had informed the tribe a week earlier they would be reverting to lower payments for the use of four roads to access the properties that sit on the reservation.
On Jan. 31, 2023, tribal officials barricaded four roads on the reservation, cutting off the only road access to the homes. Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe President John Johnson said the move was made because the road leases had expired more than 10 years earlier, and the title companies that represent the homes and the town had not negotiated “in good faith” to renew them.
On May 12, 2023, the tribal council agreed to allow use of the roads in exchange for increasing monthly payments to the tribe from the town. What started as $20,000 in June last year increased to $46,000 in June this year.
“In a discussion at our May 31, 2024, meeting, it was decided by the board that after this payment the town will be reverting back to the original resolution amount of $20,000 per month for the permits,” the town wrote to the tribe June 5. “We are still making a payment to demonstrate a good faith effort and continue to look forward to opening up lines of communication with you.”
In response, tribal officials wrote that their original May 2023, resolution “remains in full force and effect.”
Tribal officials also wrote that they have not received an appropriate response to their Dec. 1, 2023, letter spelling out past damages related to the four roads. That letter spelled out nearly $10 million in past damages, including legal fees.
“Unfortunately, the tribe has encountered many such responses over the past 248 years from external entities seeking to encroach upon the tribes territorial jurisdiction and sovereignty,” the letter said.
It also included a form to request a discussion at an upcoming tribal council meeting.
Several homeowners have sued the tribe in federal court to force the tribe to keep the roads open without payment citing safety concerns, but federal judges have sided with the tribe citing tribal sovereignty as owner of the reservation land.
The issue has garnered national media attention and calls from Gov. Tony Evers and Senators Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson to end the dispute.
The Dawes Allotment Act of 1887 allowed non-tribal residents to acquire land on tribal reservations, but Congress reversed course in 1934 with the Indian Reorganization Act, which conserved tribal lands. The reservation homeowners contend when they bought property, they knew it was on tribal land, but did not realize the clock was ticking on road leases or that access would be an issue.
More: Lac du Flambeau leader disappointed by Evers, Baldwin call for mediation in roads dispute
More: Some residents on Lac du Flambeau Reservation implore feds to resolve roads dispute
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Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@gannett.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lac du Flambeau tribe won't cut cost of access to non-tribal homes
