Before the French arrived in America, the Chippewa lived primarily on both the north and south sides of Lake Huron Their decision to migrate west to the Sault Ste Marie area, where they were located when the French arrived, was evidently dictated by pressure brought upon the Chippewa by Iroquois Confederation raiders whose [...]
Tribal Activists Seek Citations for Another Mille Lacs-Style Lawsuit Brainerd, September 1, 2015, Tribal activists from the White Earth and Fond duLac Bands last Thursday tried using the illegal harvesting of wild rice to assert off-reservation harvest rights. They claim such rights were preserved for Native peoples in the 1855 Treaty between the [...]
After six years of failed treaty management on Mille Lacs— IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE by Dick Sternberg on behalf of PERM Following the "bite of a lifetime" in 2002, Mille Lacs anglers experienced the direct opposite in 2003—the worst fishing ever. After it became apparent in early season that the walleye kill [...]
By Dick Sternberg (on behalf of Mille Lacs Lake landowners) Agency misrepresents its own data at Natural Resources Committee Hearing In the recent hearing on Mille Lacs Lake management, I presented my report, “The Mille Lacs Lake Fish Management Plan: Threat to Minnesota’s Premier Walleye Fishery,” to a joint session of the House Natural [...]
Anglers have long suspected that the DNR was giving away too much of the walleye quota—now we know just how much.Since the advent of “treaty management” in 1997, The Mille Lacs walleye harvest has been subject to a court-approved allocation system that puts a 24 percent cap on the poundage of catchable size walleye [...]
Background For decades, Mille Lacs Lake was managed in much the same way as other large Minnesota lakes. The fish population was monitored by test-netting and fishing success with an annual creel survey. Together, these surveys provided the DNR the information it needed to detect changes in fish populations and make appropriate management decisions. [...]
By Mark Rotz and Dick Sternberg PERM members deserve a big pat on the back for their role in restoring a degree of common sense to Mille Lacs Lake fisheries management. PERM is the only organization that waged an active campaign to change the management plan that was causing so much strife for anglers [...]
The New Mille Lacs Plan: A Closer Look By Dick Sternberg on behalf of PERM Most Mille Lacs anglers and business interests view the new management plan as a step in the right direction. The new regulations will allow fishermen to keep a larger percentage of the walleyes they catch, thereby reducing the [...]