Since 1994, Lake Superior Magazine has given out its annual Achievement Award to individuals and groups who have contributed significantly to Lake Superior and its peoples. This year, we honor the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission for its long commitment to cultural and environmental preservation, to promotion of understanding and generous sharing of information of not just the Big Lake region, but the Great Lakes basin.
CO Rasmussen/GLIFWC
In 1998, legal briefs were being prepared for the U.S. Supreme Court in the offices of the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission in Odanah, Wisconsin.
The attorneys and experts had their input, encouraging the justices to recognize the rights reserved by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, specifically in an 1837 treaty that guaranteed band members the right to hunt, fish and gather natural resources off-reservation. The decision on the case could affect the Mille Lacs Band and other tribal signatories of treaties spanning the 1800s that ceded Anishinaabe territory for U.S. settlement, but retained usage rights over the lands and waters.
Preparation for the case included something unusual for most court materials.
“In fact, legal briefs submitted to the court were smudged with sage at GLIFWC’s central office in Odanah, Wisconsin,” wrote Charlie Otto Rasmussen, editor of GLIFWC’s quarterly publication Mazina’igan. Charlie’s story acknowledge this 25th year since the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the tribe in a March 24, 1999, ruling in the case of Minnesota v. Mille Lacs. The legal arguments – and the prayers – prevailed.
This story illustrates well the multi-pronged mission and accomplishments of the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission – an agency that represents 11 Ojibwe nations in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan who retain off-reservation treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather in treaty-ceded lands through the 1836, 1837, 1842 and 1854 treaties with the U.S. government.
The commission has become so much a part of the broader Lake Superior (and Great Lakes) neighborhood that it is known mostly by its acronym, GLIFWC, pronounced “glif-wick.”
Formed in 1984, the preamble to its constitution outlines its wide coverage: “We, the Indian Tribes of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, recognize that our fish, wildlife and other renewable resources are important natural resources and of vital concern to the Indian tribes of the Great Lakes region and the conservation of this resource is dependent upon effective and progressive management. And it is further recognized that the tribes have regulatory authority and a resultant duty to protect the resource that is of great importance to us. We further believe that by unity of action we can best accomplish these things, not only for the benefit of our people, but for all of the people of the Great Lakes.”
Smudging of legal briefs should not surprise anyone familiar with GLIFWC and its services and mission.
“We infuse Ojibwe culture into all of our work,” says Executive Administrator Jason Schlender. Jason, a Lac Courte Oreilles tribal member, came to his position in June 2023 after working in a variety of administrative positions across the region, including as tribal administrator for the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin and as vice chair of the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Governing Board. He has been loosely affiliated with GLIFWC since 1986, moving onto an internship and serve as chair of the Voigt Intertribal Task Force.
CO Rasmussen/GLIFWC
GLIFWC and other partners invited by the Wisconsin DNR assist with elk trapping efforts in the northern elk range.
That the group’s work benefits tribal and non-tribal residents of the region is shown in how frequently GLIFWC’s monitoring work around Lake Superior and its research results are cited by other governmental, university and private organizations.
The commission’s 75+ staff members represent expertise in science and environment, treaties and law, Ojibwe culture, law enforcement and communications and education. Its powers are delegated by its member tribes.
“We provide a number of different services,” Jason says, listing “administrative functions, a biological services (one of our larger divisions) covering wildlife, inland fisheries, the Great Lakes fishery. We have a division of intergovernmental affairs which provide policy analysis, not only internally, but also aiding the 11 member tribes in navigating different legislative initiatives.”
CO Rasmussen/GLIFWC
GLIFWC’s Wildlife Section includes plant management and invasive species controls.
It creates useful fish-consumption maps via its annual assessments of the mercury and PFAS content in inland lakes. It started its mercury monitoring in 1989. It tracks the herd health and the spread of chronic wasting disease among the deer population.
“We do partner with GLIFWC,” notes Deanna Erickson, reserve director of the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve based in Superior.
“We have a collaborative project called Ganawenindiwag – ‘They take care of each other,’ meaning people and plants – that was published recently and has been garnering a lot of excitement. We also have collaborated in our teacher mentoring education program, Rivers2Lake.”
Respect for the commission’s environmental research extends well beyond the Great Lakes. And its mission encompasses the air, water and wild as well as human residents.
GLIFWC works to preserve Anishinaabe “traditional ecological knowledge … respecting the idiosyncrasies of our relatives,” says Jason.
“The climate change team here at GLIFWC has been strengthening over the last decade has been sought out to share their expertise and collaborate with organizations and other tribes across our nation,” says Jason. “Our biological services director went to Scotland to work with a group working on the rehabilitation of the marten … and facilitated on a collaboration with like-minded people, sharing resources and research and knowledge.”
Other GLIFWC services, Jason adds, include public information “crucial to educate many people; used to disseminate information,” outreach, planning and development, language revitalization and promote food sovereignty.
CO Rasmussen/GLIFWC
Monitoring the health of Namé or Lake Sturgeon is another program within GLIFWC.
GLIFWC’s education and information branches provide good partnering, Deanna agrees. “We work with GLIFWC’s public information office there to incorporate GLIFWC’s educational materials into classrooms, especially the Mazina’igan. We also collaborate through the Manoomin Restoration Partnership, the broad group that works together to restore manoomin (wild rice) in the St. Louis River estuary. There’s a variety of other connection points as well.”
The newspaper is also one of the commission’s many tools for promoting and preserving the Ojibwe cultural history and language. Among those tools is the online, downloadable “Ogichidaa Storytellers” with videos and teacher guides for use in classrooms in grades 6 through 12. It’s closing page quotes Lee Obizaan Staples of the St. Croix Ojibwe, expressing the importance of keeping the traditions and cultural knowledge: “This is our way of life. If we follow this path, we will be strong again.”
On tribally controlled lands and waters, GLIFWC also provides law enforcement functions intended to protect tribal members exercising their harvesting rights under the treaties and to enforce regulations on that harvesting adopted by the tribal nations.
In the 1980s, the court’s Lac Courte Oreilles Voigt decision affirmed treaty rights for gathering, hunting and fishing, then used by tribal members and which generated hostility among some non-tribal residents, including physical conflicts at the docks and on the lakes.
CO Rasmussen/GLIFWC
GLIFWC workers monitor sea lamprey at the Bad River Falls on the Bad River Reservation.
“There isn’t the mass protest or the display at the boat landings that there was in the late 1980s,” Jason says. “We’re always concerned about the uptick over the last five or six years of more isolated incidents, including discharge of firearms ... honking horns or shining lights on some of our harvesters which disrupts their treaty harvest.” Those types of occurrences on ceded territorial lands involve GLIFWC’s law enforcement officers.
Combating a lack of understanding about treaty rights and the use of them is another goal of GLIFWC, from countering the trolling of hatred and misinformation found on social media about the topic to engaging the community and school children in educational programs.
“I’ve been invited to present at different public schools,” Jason says, but laments that he often has about 30 minutes to deliver a wealth of information about the history, culture and treaty rights. “I wish I had more opportunities and provided more time to have a genuine conversation.”
He sees movement forward, though, to unite and inform as many people as possible. “I commend the many people for the progress we’ve made since the 1980s ... but there still is a lot of work to be done, areas of education, engagement, and understanding.”
For the multitude of areas GLIFWC covers, Jason praises his staff and the supporting tribes.
“We do a great job,” he says. “I’m really proud of our staff. We engage not only our tribal communities, but our neighboring communities as well. If there’s anybody out there that doesn’t understand treaty rights and understand the intricacies of tribal sovereignty…we’re here as a resource to educate and bridge gaps.”
CO Rasmussen/GLIFWC
GLIFWC’s Wildlife Section includes plant management and invasive species controls.
Member Tribes of GLIFWC
Misi-zaaga’iganiing (Mille Lacs)
Bikoganoogan (St. Croix)
Mashkiigong-ziibiing (Bad River)
Waaswaaganing (Lac du Flambeau)
Zaka’aaganing (Mole Lake/Sokaogon)
Odaawaa-zaaga’iganiing (Lac Courte Oreilles)
Nagaajiwanaang (Fond du Lac)
Gaa-miskwaabikaang (Red Cliff)
Ginoozhekaaning (Bay Mills)
Gete-gitigaaning (Lac Vieux Desert)
Gakiiwe ‘onaning (Keweenaw Bay)
Find more about the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, download its materials or sign up to receive the newspaper Mazina’igan at glifwc.org