Last Sunday the Star Tribune carried an article by Tony Kennedy, Mille Lacs among the issues Brad Parsons will take on as Minnesota’s new fisheries chief.

Kennedy covered a lot of Parson’s background and experience with Mille Lacs. He noted Parson’s recognition that Mille Lacs remains a “hot button” issue, “with politics and complicated by biological changes and fishing pressures that are adverse to walleyes.”

A positive sign was Parson’s interest in expanding “the DNR’s informal outreach to people who care about Mille Lacs.” That is, beyond the “state-appointed Mille Lacs Fisheries Advisory Committee.” Kennedy did not mention Parson’s long-standing membership on that Committee.

Parsons said the DNR will create a comprehensive lake management plan for Mille Lacs. Hopefully that effort will include MLFAC’s input, as it was brought up at […]

October 1, 2018

The Honorable Donald Trump
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Request for Presidential Order Terminating the 1837 Hunting and Fishing Privilege of the Chippewa

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to you as President of PERM (Proper Economic Resource Management), a Minnesota nonprofit that supported the landowners who intervened in the lawsuit filed by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe against the State of Minnesota. In 1998, this lawsuit reached the United States Supreme Court, where an activist Court erroneously and improperly overruled the 1850 Presidential Order of Zachary Taylor that had revoked the temporary 1837 hunting and fishing privileges, which were defined as being “during the pleasure of the President of the United States.”

The four conservative Justices, writing in […]

1855 Ceded Territory potential lawsuit – UPDATE

Judge hears arguments in Gull Lake netting case

PAY ATTENTION MINNESOTA!

Jennifer Kraus’ report today (Sept 6) in the Brainerd Dispatch Judge hears arguments in Gull Lake netting case provides important details of a case that potentially has more far-reaching consequences than the Mille Lacs 1837 Treaty case, for several reasons.

High Stakes

The case applies to the entire 1855 ceded territory area (900,000 acres or 1,400+ square miles) including the Brainerd lakes area along with most of northern Minnesota’s large lakes. It also includes a small portion of Mille Lacs Lake, which means the entire lake if the usual “contiguous waters” principle is applied. See map.

This is not a routine case. It has dragged on now over three years […]

This will be the first Mille Lacs Fishery Advisory Committee meeting under Brad Parsons, DNR’s new fisheries chief.

Remember, there is a 15-minute period at the end of the meeting reserved for public comments and questions.

PERM invites everyone concerned about the Mille Lacs situation to attend.

Douglas Meyenburg

The Mille Lacs Fisheries Advisory Committee will meet from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 27, at Appeldoorn’s Sunset Bay Resort, 45401 Mille Lacs Parkway in Isle. The agenda will cover a mid-season update, a report on the Mille Lacs Band’s ongoing acoustic telemetry study, and discussion around lake management planning. Members of the public are welcome to attend and observe these meetings, and 15 minutes during the middle of each meeting is reserved for public comments and questions. […]

Crow Wing County Court Administration staff reported nothing new since the January 17, 2018 plea hearing (when the only remaining defendant, James Northrup, failed to even show up.) Joe Fellegy commented that “there are questions and uncertainties. James Northrup is a Fond du Lac Band member. Fond du Lac is outside the 1855 ceded territory. Then there’s ‘criminal’ vs ‘civil’ offenses.” Fellegy adds that we “don’t know just how this will play out. And don’t know what the various parties (locals, state, tribal attorneys) have in mind. )

After continued delays, a Court staffer said a trial date has been set for September 5, at 9 although “that could change.”

See overview of potential l855 Treaty lawsuit here.

Going to Game Fair on Saturday, August 18th? Be sure to attend the “Outdoor Issues Forum” starting at 1 pm. Topics “may” include those listed below.

It’s a great chance to find out where candidates for Governor stand on outdoor issues. Hoping they will answer some meaningful questions about Mille Lacs, so whoever gets elected can be held accountable.

Doug Meyenburg
President, PERM

Governor Candidates to Discuss Outdoor Issues at August 18 Game Fair

www.moha-mn.org Outdoor News, Vol. 51, No. 30

The Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance (MOHA) and the weekly publication Outdoor News are jointly sponsoring an Outdoor Issues Forum at the 2018 Game Fair. All 11 candidates for Minnesota Governor have been invited to participate. The Forum will begin at 1:00 pm on Saturday, August 18, 2018 at the Game Fair hosted […]

Response to ‘Co-management for peace and friendship’

Mille Lacs Messenger Mailbag
Letter of the Week August 1, 2018

Messenger Editor Vivian LaMoore’s long July 25 editorial — “Co-management for peace and friendship” — is misleading and dodges historical facts. Her summary of nine years of legal happenings after Mille Lacs Band government sued Minnesota in 1990 blasts Bud Grant, Howard Hanson (who recently passed away) and PERM for helping defeat a 1993 out-of-court settlement effort.

That secretly-negotiated settlement was a deal struck by DNR Commissioner Rod Sando and Mille Lacs Band government. It had to be approved by the Minnesota Legislature, signed by the governor and later approved by a federal court. Editor LaMoore failed to list the many DFL and Republican legislators who wisely defeated that 49-page settlement bill. She […]

Howard Hanson (l) and former Minnesota Vikings coach Bud Grant often collaborated in the fight for state anglers’ rights regarding Mille Lacs.

By Javier Serna, Assistant Editor Outdoor News July 13, 2018

Hopkins, Minn. — Howard Hanson, 84, who fought for state fishing rights on Lake Mille Lacs, died June 25.

Hanson, of Hopkins, was a founding member of Proper Economic Resources Management, which came together in 1994, according to PERM president Douglas Meyenburg.

“He was a charter board member and was on the board up until the day he died,” Meyenburg said.

Hanson and others fought a deal between the state of Minnesota and Indian bands that would have established an exclusive fishing zone for the bands, Meyenburg said. When that […]