Treaty Timeline

Gill net invented. Inland Shores Fishery evolves.

European contact: French fur trappers and Jesuits. Fishery trade with Europeans begins. Territory wars among Europeans.

U.S. Independence from Great Britain.

First U.S. Indian treaty.

First Michigan area treaty among Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatami.

Treaty of Sault Ste. Marie ceded land at the little rapids of St. Marys River to build Fort Brady; perpetual right to fish was reserved.

Indian Removal Act legislated.

Ottawa-Chippewa Treaty: fishing, hunting and land bases retained.

Ottawa-Chippewa Treaty re-signed: land base lost; fishing and hunting retained.

Ottawa-Chippewa obtain land for allotments and permanent homes.

Treaty with Sault Ste. Marie Bands: U.S. government to own rights to Sault Rapids and Soo Locks area.

Bay Mills Reservation established by Congress.

U.S. citizenship given to Indians.

People v. Chosa: State Supreme Court declares Indians have no special fishing and hunting rights under the 1842 and 1854 treaties; state regulations apply.

Invasion of the sea lamprey; trout population decimated. Exotic species alewives and smelt gain a foothold in the lakes, competing for food.

Great Lakes Fishery Commission established, an international agency for Great Lakes issues.

Limited entry regulation by Michigan DNR. Michigan DNR introduces of Pacific coho salmon and chinook salmon. Order puts 250 commercial fishermen out of business. Zone management favors recreation fishing. Gill net banned.

People v. Jondreau: Michigan Supreme Court reversed on state law concerning Indian fishing; rights to fish under 1854 treaty recognized.

People v. LeBlanc: Big Abe LeBlanc sets net to challenge lack of treaty rights; State Supreme Court rules in 1976 that Ottawa and Chippewa bands party to the 1836 treaty retained treaty-based fishing rights in the Michigan waters of the Great Lakes that could be limited by the state only if the state could demonstrate that Indian fishing endangered the fishery.

Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indian gains federal recognition.

BIA Michigan Agency re-established.

U.S. v. Michigan (Fox Decision): U.S. District Court Judge Noel Fox decides in favor of Indian treaty Great Lakes fishing rights under the 1836 treaty.

6th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the Fox decision and U.S. Supreme Court declines review.

Chippewa Ottawa Treaty Fishery Resource Authority (COTFMA) established.

7th Circuit Court issues decision in the Lac Courte Oreilles Band v. Voight affirming rights to hunt and fish under 1837 and 1842 treaties.

Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians gains federally recognition.

Entry of Consent Order signed, setting up fish allocations and zones in tribal treaty waters until May 2000.

Trial Court establishes species for treaty harvest methods that can be used and utilization of them by treaties of 1837 and 1842.

Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians gain federal recognition.

Tribal commercial fishers become subject to U.S. maritime laws and U.S. Coast Guard inspection.

U.S. Supreme Court upholds treaty rights’ continued legal existence in Mille Lacs Band v. Minnesota, from state claim that no right to hunt, fish or gather in an Indian treaty survives admission of the state into the Union. Commercial fishers become subject to federal seafood safety regulations and federal inspection (HACCP). Little River Band joins COTFMA.

Consent Order expires. Parties negotiate replacement allocation agreement.

Tribes, state and federal governments sign 20-year Consent Agreement under U.S. District Court Judge Richard Enslen. Fishery is allocated between treaty and non-treaty fishers. COTFMA becomes Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority (CORA). Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians joins CORA.

After four years of negotiations, the Inland Consent Decree is signed into effect by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Enslen, in which the state of Michigan recognizes the rights of CORA tribal members under the 1836 Treaty for subsistence hunting, fishing and plant gathering activities on 13.8 million acres of public land and inland waters defined in the treaty-ceded territory.