Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin (USA) Resolution: Rights of the Menominee River

Summary

In January 2020, the legislature of the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin adopted a resolution recognizing the rights of the Menominee River. Through this Tribal Law, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin declares: “1. The Menominee River possesses inherent and legal rights including the right to naturally exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve; the right to restoration, recovery, and preservation; the right to abundant, pure, clean, unpolluted water; the right to natural groundwater recharge and surface water recharge; the right to a healthy natural environment and natural biodiversity; the right to natural water flow; the right to carry out its natural ecosystem functions; and the right to be free of activities or practices, as well as obstructions, that interfere with or infringe upon these rights; and 2. The Tribe is dedicated to recognizing and protecting the inherent and legal rights of the Menominee River and assisting our neighboring Tribes, as well as other governments, to recognize and protect the legal rights of the Menominee River.”

As a result of the Tribe’s ties and long occupation of the Menominee River area, the location of the Menominee River is historically and culturally significant to the Menominee people. At one time, the Tribe occupied a land base estimated at 10 million acres including lands now known as Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Through a series of seven treaties entered into with the United States, the Tribe’s land has been reduced to approximately 235,000 acres, comprising its present day Reservation. The Tribe’s sacred place of origin exists at the mouth of the Menominee River, 60 miles east of its present Reservation, as well as numerous Menominee sacred sites and burial mounds along the River, raised agricultural fields, and villages which constitute a cultural landscape of historic significance.

The Menominee River faces significant threats from climate change and pollution, such as the proposed open-pit mine known as the “Back Forty Project” which is poised to cause harmful impacts to water, humans, wildlife, animals, environment, and cultural properties as demonstrated with other mines of similar nature.

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