Dakota Indians net Cedar Lake

In the first major test of tribal fishing rights in the Twin Cities, Dakota tribe members challenged state law by placing fish nets in Cedar Lake in Minneapolis on Friday -- the eve of Minnesota's walleye fishing opener.

Organizers say that an 1805 treaty with the federal government gives them off-reservation hunting and fishing rights that have been denied and that they want to be charged so they can take the case to court.

"We're just asking the U.S. to honor its treaties with the Dakota people of Minnesota," said Chris Mato Nunpa, 70, a Dakota and retired professor from St. Paul and Granite Falls.

"Our conservation officers will be out there to safely and respectfully enforce current state fishing laws," said Major Rod Smith, state Department of Natural Resources enforcement operations manager. He said it's unlikely violators will be issued citations.

"We will gather information about those breaking the laws and refer that to the local county attorney for prosecution," he said.

The netting comes a year after Chippewa band members in northern Minnesota did the same thing at Lake Bemidji, where they said an 1855 treaty gives them off-reservation hunting, fishing and gathering rights in a vast swath of that region. The DNR confiscated nets and forwarded evidence to the Beltrami County attorney, but charges have yet to be filed, apparently because of concerns over a lengthy and expensive court case. County Attorney Tim Faver didn't return phone calls. The state Attorney General's office has said gross misdemeanors should be charged locally.

Now the Leech Lake and White Earth bands have formed a commission to negotiate treaty issues with the state and federal governments in hopes of avoiding such a court battle. They also have written a conservation code for the lands in question, hoping some day to co-manage them with the state.

"We want our tribal members to be able to hunt, fish and gather as allowed under the treaty," said Mike Swan, White Earth director of natural resources. "We're trying to avoid a long, drawn-out legal fight, like at Lake Mille Lacs, which took 12 years."

In that contentious case, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999 affirmed in a 5-4 decision the Chippewa's claim to off-reservation hunting and fishing rights under an 1837 treaty. Friction from that decision remains today, especially in the Lake Mille Lacs area, where bands net walleyes each spring.

Swan said tribal leaders at White Earth and Leech Lake have asked its members to not challenge state laws again this spring to give the newly formed tribal rights commission time to try to negotiate with the state and federal governments.

Friday's netting will bring the issue directly to the Twin Cities. Organizers gathered Thursday afternoon at Coldwater Spring, a sacred American Indian site near Minnehaha Falls in south Minneapolis, to explain their actions. Mato Nunpa said the 1805 treaty, which covered 155,000 acres in the Twin Cities ceded by the Dakota, assured the bands their right to use the lands. Organizers are calling the event "The Great Oyate Fish-in." Oyate means "people" or "nation" in Dakota.

"We think we have the right to hunt, fish and trap as we formally did," Mato Nunpa said. "These aren't special rights. These treaties are the supreme law of the land."

He's expecting a dozen or so Dakota to fish with gill nets in Cedar Lake around 8 a.m. on Friday.

"We're going to be peaceful," he said. "We're instructing our young men to be nonviolent, no matter how provocative the actions and statements of law enforcement are."

If, as in Bemidji, violators aren't eventually charged, Mato Nunpa said that the Dakota will consider the inaction precedent-setting.

"We will establish a day every year to go fishing and establish a time to hunt at places like Fort Snelling State Park," he said.

He also said the Dakota were never properly compensated for the land that now includes the Twin Cities. "I would say Minneapolis and St. Paul aren't paid for," he said. "We'd like to get land reparations into court, too."

Doug Smith • 612-673-7667