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Wisconsin Walleye War
The Wisconsin Walleye War became the name for late 20th-century events in Wisconsin in protest of Ojibwe (Chippewa) hunting and fishing rights. In a 1975 case, the tribes challenged state efforts to regulate their hunting and fishing off the reservations, based on their rights in the treaties of St. Peters (1837) and La Pointe (1842). On August 21, 1987, U.S. District Court judge Barbara Crabb ruled that six Ojibwe tribal governments had the right under these treaties for hunting and fishing throughout their former territory.
Protests erupted in Wisconsin among sports fishermen and resort owners who were opposed to tribal members spearfishing walleye during spawning season. Protests continued into 1991 against the Ojibwe walleye harvests. Tribal supporters successfully petitioned federal courts to issue an injunction against the protesters, curbing the protest events at boat landings.
The events were chronicled in a Mother Jones 1991 article, books published in 1994 and 2002, and the documentary film Lighting the Seventh Fire (1995).
During the 1970s, American Indian activism increased on a number of fronts, in terms of land claims, treaty rights, and tribal sovereignty to exercise traditional practices. This particular conflict started in 1973, when two members of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of the Ojibwe Nation crossed a reservation boundary that divided Chief Lake, cut a hole in the ice, and harvested fish with spears, contrary to Wisconsin state laws. In a class taught by attorney Larry Leventhal, the members had learned their band held by treaty an unresolved claim to off-reservation hunting and fishing rights in the northern part of the state. The members were arrested and a Sawyer County judge convicted them under state law of poaching, as they were fishing out of season.
The Lac Courte Oreilles band joined the legal fight on behalf of the two tribal members, contending that they had the right to fish off the reservation without restrictions because of mid-19th-century treaties made by the bands with the U.S. government; at the time, the bands ceded hundreds of thousands of acres of land to the U.S. The case was heard in U.S. District Court as it related to treaty rights. This court upheld the band's treaty rights to traditional hunting and fishing throughout its former territories, without regulation by the state. The state appealed, and the Seventh Court of Appeals' decision also upheld the rights of the Ojibwe. The state appealed again, but the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the state's argument to reverse the lower court decision. After the highest court refused to reverse, five other Ojibwe bands joined the Lac Courte Oreilles' legal action. The Seventh Circuit sent the case back to U.S. District Court with instructions for the court to determine the scope of the treaty rights and to resolve conflicts related to regulation of off-reservation resources.
On August 21, 1987, the U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that six Ojibwe tribal governments had the right under these federal treaties for hunting and fishing throughout their former territories. In settling questions about regulation of off-reservation hunting and fishing, Judge Crabb ruled the state could intervene to protect natural resources, but that tribes had the right first to establish their own regulatory system. This could prevail if they showed the court their system was as protective of the resource as was the state's system. After detailed scientific testimony, Crabb approved a natural resource code adopted by the six tribal governments, which allowed members to harvest walleye and other fish using traditional methods during the spawning season, when lakes are closed to state-licensed anglers.
By late April 1988 of the spring spearfishing season, residents and visitors of Park Falls, Wisconsin, rallied at Butternut Lake. A band of fishers were led by Tom Maulson, a former judge and council member of the Lac du Flambeau Band. The crowd pressed against the fishers, the tribal wardens, and the few state game wardens, pushing them toward the water. Local police declined to render aid, and the standoff lasted until a convoy of officers was brought from Superior, almost 100 miles (160 km) distant. They made their way through the crowd to rescue the fishers and game wardens.
With the opening of the 1989 fishing season, the Ojibwe and other interested groups wondered what would take place. Governor Tommy Thompson, a Republican, mobilized the state's Division of Emergency Government to form a Treaty Rights Task Force. He ordered them to find a way to keep the peace. Dressed in riot gear, police stood shoulder to shoulder, often three deep, with sticks and shields ready to stop the crowd if they pressed past snow fences hastily erected for crowd control.
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Wisconsin Walleye War
The Wisconsin Walleye War became the name for late 20th-century events in Wisconsin in protest of Ojibwe (Chippewa) hunting and fishing rights. In a 1975 case, the tribes challenged state efforts to regulate their hunting and fishing off the reservations, based on their rights in the treaties of St. Peters (1837) and La Pointe (1842). On August 21, 1987, U.S. District Court judge Barbara Crabb ruled that six Ojibwe tribal governments had the right under these treaties for hunting and fishing throughout their former territory.
Protests erupted in Wisconsin among sports fishermen and resort owners who were opposed to tribal members spearfishing walleye during spawning season. Protests continued into 1991 against the Ojibwe walleye harvests. Tribal supporters successfully petitioned federal courts to issue an injunction against the protesters, curbing the protest events at boat landings.
The events were chronicled in a Mother Jones 1991 article, books published in 1994 and 2002, and the documentary film Lighting the Seventh Fire (1995).
During the 1970s, American Indian activism increased on a number of fronts, in terms of land claims, treaty rights, and tribal sovereignty to exercise traditional practices. This particular conflict started in 1973, when two members of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of the Ojibwe Nation crossed a reservation boundary that divided Chief Lake, cut a hole in the ice, and harvested fish with spears, contrary to Wisconsin state laws. In a class taught by attorney Larry Leventhal, the members had learned their band held by treaty an unresolved claim to off-reservation hunting and fishing rights in the northern part of the state. The members were arrested and a Sawyer County judge convicted them under state law of poaching, as they were fishing out of season.
The Lac Courte Oreilles band joined the legal fight on behalf of the two tribal members, contending that they had the right to fish off the reservation without restrictions because of mid-19th-century treaties made by the bands with the U.S. government; at the time, the bands ceded hundreds of thousands of acres of land to the U.S. The case was heard in U.S. District Court as it related to treaty rights. This court upheld the band's treaty rights to traditional hunting and fishing throughout its former territories, without regulation by the state. The state appealed, and the Seventh Court of Appeals' decision also upheld the rights of the Ojibwe. The state appealed again, but the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the state's argument to reverse the lower court decision. After the highest court refused to reverse, five other Ojibwe bands joined the Lac Courte Oreilles' legal action. The Seventh Circuit sent the case back to U.S. District Court with instructions for the court to determine the scope of the treaty rights and to resolve conflicts related to regulation of off-reservation resources.
On August 21, 1987, the U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that six Ojibwe tribal governments had the right under these federal treaties for hunting and fishing throughout their former territories. In settling questions about regulation of off-reservation hunting and fishing, Judge Crabb ruled the state could intervene to protect natural resources, but that tribes had the right first to establish their own regulatory system. This could prevail if they showed the court their system was as protective of the resource as was the state's system. After detailed scientific testimony, Crabb approved a natural resource code adopted by the six tribal governments, which allowed members to harvest walleye and other fish using traditional methods during the spawning season, when lakes are closed to state-licensed anglers.
By late April 1988 of the spring spearfishing season, residents and visitors of Park Falls, Wisconsin, rallied at Butternut Lake. A band of fishers were led by Tom Maulson, a former judge and council member of the Lac du Flambeau Band. The crowd pressed against the fishers, the tribal wardens, and the few state game wardens, pushing them toward the water. Local police declined to render aid, and the standoff lasted until a convoy of officers was brought from Superior, almost 100 miles (160 km) distant. They made their way through the crowd to rescue the fishers and game wardens.
With the opening of the 1989 fishing season, the Ojibwe and other interested groups wondered what would take place. Governor Tommy Thompson, a Republican, mobilized the state's Division of Emergency Government to form a Treaty Rights Task Force. He ordered them to find a way to keep the peace. Dressed in riot gear, police stood shoulder to shoulder, often three deep, with sticks and shields ready to stop the crowd if they pressed past snow fences hastily erected for crowd control.