Looking at new laws going into effect in 2022 one stood out—Free State Park permits for Indians.

This law came out of the Legislature’s 2021 Special Session and the SF 20, Environment and Natural Resources omnibus bill. It was signed into law by Gov. Walz on June 29, 2021.

SF20 was controversial in part because of the electric car mandate. But a lot of other laws were missed by the public. One was the Free State Park Permit for Indians. The new law reads:

“As of Jan. 1, 2022, any member of the 11 federally recognized tribes in Minnesota is eligible for an annual state park permit for no charge. The permit is valid only when displayed on a vehicle owned and occupied by the person to whom the permit is issued. Additionally, […]

An article by Star Tribune reporter Jim Williams explains how tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan acquired special permission to open up the hunting of Tundra swans. “ Tundra swans can be hunted by some American Indian tribes in Minnesota.” They are legal game in eight states, but the nearly identical-looking Trumpeter swans are strictly protected everywhere. Which pretty much eliminates the hunting of Tundra swans.

Tribes sought permission from the federal Fish and wildlife service to allow 10 trumpeter swans to be harvested in a no-limit season on Tundra swans. Permission was granted because swans are “part of the Chippewa’s hunting tradition.”

Only Indians are allowed to hunt these swans. European settlers also hunted Trumpeter swans for food, so this discrimination against non-tribal hunters must be based on […]

Recent reporting by Tim Spielman pulled the curtain back on the White Earth and Leech Lake Bands’ abrupt “teal hunting ban.” Streams of Thought, Tim Spielman, Editor, Outdoor News Minnesota, September 10, 2021. It came just days before the launch of a new experimental teal hunting season.

It’s a pretty big deal, being the first new season in nearly 50 years. The September 4 to 8 season allows hunting teal that would have migrated south by the regular season’s open on September 25.

Following USFWS guidelines, the new season can continue after a three-year trial if the DNR can show hunters shooting only teal and not going after other species. To make certain this happens, the DNR is going all-out with surveillance and surveys. So far, the hunt is considered positive with […]

The only detail concerning non-tribal hunters is “none”

Javier Serna, Assistant Editor, Outdoor News Minnesota, recently did a great job revealing these details.

How is it that Grand Portage and Bois Forte bands of Ojibwe, and the Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa can hunt Moose whenever they want and decide how many they kill when Moose hunting by Minnesotans has been shut down for years?

The Moose have been in decline for years—but no problem—”since we only take a few.” The number doesn’t really matter because of tribal “culture” and “sustenance” reasons. Which obviously trump any sense of stewardship.

Furthermore, don’t ask the tribes any questions because we are not answering your calls.

The DNR will get started on updating the State’s moose-management plan (most recently updated in 2011) as soon as they figure […]

Regs are out of sync for Mille Lacs walleye population/forage balance

Mille Lac’s Steve Johnson recently challenged the DNR’s “very strict regulations on the harvest of walleyes from Mille Lacs Lake.” No walleye for you, Mille Lacs Messenger, July 20, 2021.

Johnson, a local businessman, community leader, and member of the Mille Lacs Fishery Advisory Committee says there are plenty of walleye in Mille Lacs. There is no walleye population crisis. Nothing justifies non-tribal anglers being handed a “poorly negotiated low quota that once again takes the opportunity of fishing away from all of us.”

Johnson believes the boom and bust harvest cycles of the past are replaced now with forage issues caused by changes in the lake. But the DNR is playing it safe with quota management, even with up to a […]

Eric Jacobson’s recent opinion piece in the Mille Lacs Messenger is to the point and worth reading. Mille Lacs post mortality walleyes, Mille Lacs Messenger, July 16, 2021. (See Below)

Jacobson questions the use of post-release hooking mortality in setting treaty harvest limits under a (negotiated) allocation. “Nowhere else in the state does the DNR keep track…of fish that die after release.” (And as far as PERM has found, anywhere else in the country. Such a narrow application implies something other than conservation science.) It’s the “biggest reason the season has been shut down every year now since … August of 2015.”

Jacobson sees the allocation as a “finite number. Once …reached, the lake is shut down.” But the hooking mortality number “is a calculated guess.” (Actually, it’s a pyramid of estimates, […]

Here are the WINNERS of PERM’s Spring 2021 Legal Fund Raffle

Eric Jacobson does a great job of challenging the DNR’s inexplicable self-defeating tactic of preserving (rather than conserving) the Mille Lacs 2013 year class of walleyes. How good does the fishing have to be? Mille Lacs Messenger, July 2, 2021.

Jacobson points out that while walleye fishing on Mille Lacs lake has been “nothing short of phenomenal,” the DNR continues to jigger slot limits to always exclude the 2013 year class of walleyes. That same slot limit exclusion also denies most anglers their preferred size walleye to eat, generally anywhere from 15-17 inches.

He points out that intentionally protecting that class of fish creates a giant eating machine that will cannibalize small walleyes whenever there is a shortage of forage. It also restores the cycle of failed class years Mille Lacs has […]