Summary
In April 2024, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in northern Michigan passed a resolution in defense of the tribe’s first family: its natural resources.
“Anishinaabe izhitwaawin, ways of thinking and being, includes a decentralized view of human beings who are not on top of an evolutionary hierarchy, but rather dependent upon the older wiser More Than Human Relatives that our first ancestral family created before the human beings,” the resolution reads.
Further, the tribe says it “recognize[s] that to protect our more than human relatives and our people, we must secure highest protection through the recognition of legal rights, and call upon the bands of the Anishinaabeg Nation, and other relevant federations, commissions, and government entities, to secure and protect the legal rights of More Than Human Relatives and our peoples.”
This action builds on groundwork the tribe has already done. In February 2024 the tribe updated its code to protect Giizhik trees, sacred beings in Anishinaabe culture, from overharvest. Under the new law, tribal members must obtain a permit before collecting Giizhik bark from tribal or public land. Legal harvesting under the updated code is designed to protect and honor Giizhik trees and to maintain good harvesting relationships in future generations, according to the tribe.
“From extractive mining and forestry practices to the harmful use of pesticides and chemicals on the land to the destruction of our sacred rapids for the shipping industry that caused the introduction of invasive species into the Great Lakes, our people have witnessed generations of injury to our More Than Human Relatives,” Sault Tribe Chair Austin Lowes said in a statement. “This resolution reaffirms our commitment to our shared dependence with them and to honoring our ancestors by always making decisions with the next seven generations of both human and nonhuman beings in mind.”
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2026. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/sault-tribe-resolution-recognizing-rights-of-nature/.
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