Ojibwe tribes in the Great Lakes region are raising concerns about Trump administration plans to remove a rule that limits road building in national forest land, as Chuck Quirmbach reports.

The Roadless Rule is a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) policy that for 25 years has curtailed building or reconstructing roads in the national forests.

There have also been limits on commercial timber harvesting in roadless areas that have been inventoried.

Last summer, the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA), which includes USFS, proposed rescinding the Roadless Rule.

The department said that would give more decision-making authority to regional forest managers and improve access for fighting fires.

But the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission – which serves eleven Ojibwe tribes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan with treaty-protected hunting, fishing, and gathering rights – backs the Roadless Rule.

Commission spokesperson Jenny Van Sickle says agency scientists looked at how the rule has protected five national forests in what is called the Ceded Territory. She says the federal government has a responsibility to enforce treaty rights there.

“That’s wild rice. That’s tapping maples for sap to make sugar. These are real activities, they’re not theoretical. These are federal responsibilities that remain in place. So, to try to kick that to regional foresters doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Van Sickle says there are already many roads in the national forests. She says if the Roadless Rule needs amending, the tribes are willing to talk.

“If the rule needs work, we want to be at those tables. We want to talk about those problems. We want to get to those solutions. We can do that together. We’ve worked very closely and formally with the Forest Service for nearly 30 years.”

A USDA spokesperson says the agency remains committed to a consultation process with the tribes and, if the Roadless Rule ends, land use decisions would still need to comply with specific forest or grassland management plans and other applicable laws – all developed with public involvement.

(Courtesy OETA)

Tribal leaders responded to Gov. Kevin Stitt (Cherokee/R-OK)’s final State of the State address, which he delivered Monday.

Tribal leaders say Gov. Stitt misrepresents tribes.

Tribes and the governor have had a rocky relationship, including disagreements over jurisdiction, gaming, and other issues.

In his speech, Stitt said all laws should apply equally to all Oklahomans.

“Many of us in this room have decried the [diversity, equity, and inclusion] DEI programs of the Biden administration, yet standby quietly when some say an Indian should be subject to a different set of laws.”

Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton in a statement said tribes and tribal members have sovereign rights, which are not based on race but treaties and other agreements between tribal nations and the U.S.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a statement that the governor effectively called for the termination of tribal government, calling it rhetoric cloaked in references to DEI and race.

Chief Hoskin said fortunately, Stitt spoke to a bipartisan chamber. Both leaders say they look forward to working with the legislature and other elected officials.

A number of tribal leaders attended the address.

The Interior Department has added the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina to the official list of federally recognized tribes, formalizing the tribe’s government-to-government relationship with the U.S.

The agency published the updated list in the Federal Register following President Donald Trump’s signing of legislation in December granting federal recognition status to the Lumbee Tribe.

The list consists of 575 American Indian and Alaska Native tribal entities.

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