With smoke from ceremonial pipes swirling upward, representatives of the federal government and four American Indian tribes sealed an agreement Monday guaranteeing tribal members access to national forests to gather plants.
The agreement covers the Huron-Manistee National Forests in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula and the Hiawatha National Forest in the Upper Peninsula.
Reaching the deal with the U.S. Forest Service were the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
They are among tribes affected by an 1836 treaty that ceded a huge swath of western and northern Michigan to the United States with the understanding that tribal citizens would retain access for hunting, fishing and gathering.
Differing interpretations of the access provisions have sparked clashes and court battles between tribal members and non-Indians, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s.
"Over the years as Indian people, we've been denied our rights to practice our religion, practice our culture," Aaron Payment, chairman of the Sault tribe, said during the ceremony Monday. "This is one step toward recognizing our rights."
Frank Ettawageshik, chairman of the Little Traverse bands, described the agreement as "an exercise of sovereignty."
Forest Service officials and tribal leaders said the agreement is similar to one reached in the late 1990s between the federal agency and tribes in northern Wisconsin and Michigan's western Upper Peninsula.
"Lessons have been learned" from past disagreements, said Richard Glodowski, head law enforcement agent for the Forest Service's Milwaukee office. "There is a better way to deal with this."
The pact deals with activities such as logging, cutting firewood, taking plants for medicinal or ceremonial uses, and collecting maple sap, ginseng and conifer boughs. It enables tribal members in some cases to obtain waivers from fees and length-of-stay requirements at national forest campgrounds.
It doesn't grant tribal members new rights or privileges but clarifies in writing what they can do. It recognizes the tribes' authority to regulate plant gathering activities by their members but promises their rules will closely resemble those of the Forest Service.
Both sides agreed to cooperate on resolving disagreements and protecting natural resources in the forests.
Jimmie Mitchell, natural resources director for the Little River Band, said tribal members have tended to gather plants secretly.
"We've always been wary because we don't want to be encroaching on some else's law," he said. "This opens it up so we don't have to do these things in fear."Associated Press via mLive
