Community Events and Food Sovereignty
To help build harvesting-related skills in our community and promote safety, the NRD hosted fishing, boating, and harvesting workshops where experienced teachers shared what they know with community members who were eager to learn. The Family Ice Fishing Day began with ice safety skills and included auguring, setting up poles, getting fish off the lines, and other fishing-related activities. In June, more than 184 kids and their families attended the Kids Fishing Derby. Despite the rainy weather attendees enjoyed fishing. Gill net tying workshops in January and February and fish processing workshop in March helped others learn to process a fish from catch to fillet. In April we provided incentives to spearers, including headlamps and spears and a video about a previous event was included in Marquette’s Fresh Coast Film Festival (https://vimeo.com/813689474). Our annual Waawaashkeshi Camp in November had record attendance and everyone received a gift certificate and a venison cookbook. Twenty-seven participants, including staff, commercial and subsistence fisherman, and community members participated in one of the two boat safety courses hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. At most events and workshops, attendees were gifted supplies and equipment to help them practice their newly acquired skills. With help from a NOAA grant, the NRD purchased more than 507 pounds of Lake Trout, Whitefish, and Salmon and distributed it to more than 85 community members. These local fillets purchased from KBIC-licensed commercial fishermen were gifted to KBIC members free-of-charge to promote the consumption of fresh and local foods.
Based on advice from Dr. Lauren Stigers (Jescovich) we added frozen storage and vacuum-sealed fish to our HAACP plan to prevent food safety problems in our food production processes. For added safety, temperature monitors were purchased for the freezers in the teaching facility that regularly hold food. Other investments focused on community-use and included an animal processing lift for use by Tribal programs and community members who wish to process larger animals. It will also assist NRD in salvaging meat from roadkill animals (e.g., moose). The new ice hopper at the fish processing facility was installed in October and is available for use by KBIC-licensed commercial and subsistence fisherman. At Buck’s Marina the icehouse and fish processing building are ongoing and will be completed in mid-2025. In partnership with WUPPDR, we completed a Community Food Systems Assessment in December (available on our Resource page) and continued working on the Shared Kitchen Feasibility Study. Once again, the community garden was place for developing gardening skills and growing food and medicine. Forty-seven plots were tended to by 103 people, including one plot diligently tended to by the NRD Youth Workers. Youth also cared for the Asemaa and will have the responsibility for processing the leaves after the harvest in the fall.
Water Quality Standards and Abandoned Structures
On April 8th, 2024, after a 20-year process which included obtaining Treatment in a Similar Manner as a State, the KBIC received approval from the EPA that our water quality standards (WQS) were approved under Section 303 of the Clean Water Act. The WQS establish the designated uses, water quality criteria, and antidegradation requirements for KBIC’s Reservation waters. The KBIC WQS provide the basis for all water management decisions and activities that affect waters of the reservation including but not limited to, point-source permitting and the physical alteration of water bodies, including wetlands. In addition, they recognize, protect, and provide for the sacred relationship that exists between the Ojibwa people of KBIC, their waters, and all life.
In 2024, the NRD’s Environmental Response Program received funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to address seven brownfields sites on the reservation; six abandoned structures and Assinins. Based on results from a 2022 community survey, the Assinins brownfield site was prioritized for cleanup. The improper demolition of the building, originally a Catholic orphanage and later repurposed as Tribal offices, led to soil and groundwater contamination. In the summer of 2024, ground-penetrating radar and magnetometers were used to identify the building’s foundation, locate utilities, and search for an unknown underground storage tank. Soil and groundwater samples were collected to assess exposure risks and ensure an adequate cleanup. Two public meetings were an opportunity to engage the community and provide updates on the abandoned structures and the Assinins cleanup timeline. The second meeting focused on envisioning the site’s future redevelopment. Cleanup activities for the Assinins site are scheduled to begin in the spring of 2025. Following remediation, other tribal departments will seek funding and use community input from the visioning roadmap to guide the redevelopment and future use of the site.
Releasing Lake Trout, Brook Trout, Coasters, and Walleye
Collaborating with the field fisheries team to identify local waters in need of stocking, the KBIC fish hatchery released more than 600,000 fish, including 32,290 Lake Trout (~6”), 50,733 Brook Trout (~1.5” – 12”), 7,563 Coaster Brook Trout (5.8”), 530,366 Walleye (0.25” – 2”). Our 18-month process began in 2022 with spawning. In the fall, we used our brood stock, to spawn Brook Trout on-site at the fish hatchery. Around the same time the field fisheries crew spawned Lake Trout in the field, bringing us fertilized eggs that had been treated with iodine to prevent any cross-contamination. Walleye fry arrived in early May to be reared on-site. Fin-clipping in the spring is the last step for getting our fish ready for stocking and which fin is clipped in unique to each hatchery and can inform fisherman about who is responsible for rearing the fish they catch. Since water temperature determines the timing for fish stocking, the unusually warm spring meant earlier than usual stocking. In 2024, Lake Trout were stocked at 4 locations including Baraga Marina and Marquette. Walleye were stocked at 6 locations including Huron Bay, King Lake, and Parent Lake. Brook Trout were stocked at 19 locations including Tioga Creek, Clear Creek, and Lake Plumbago.
Infrastructure investments at the hatchery are focused on improving water and energy efficiency and development that will help with future facility expansions. Staff received a bio-filter that will increase the efficiency of recirculating water usage in the production building and decrease the amount of water pumped up from the aquifer. A Walleye egg incubation building was constructed at the hatchery location. Not active for another 3-5 years, the Walleye incubation building will make us able to do field spawning for Walleye and rear them from egg until we release them to our waters. Two wells were losing efficiency and rehabilitation efforts were completed on the existing wells, which led to increased water availability. A new 10-inch well was drilled, which will help with future facility expansions and relieve pressure on existing wells on the property.
Lake Superior Commercial Fishery and Aquatic Invasive Species
Supporting and managing a robust Lake Superior commercial fishery is the primary objective of both the hatchery and the fisheries teams and the work of both are critical to 7-generations management. The fisheries team engages with KBIC-licensed commercial fisherman to report on fishing effort and expenditure and distribute quota tags. In coordination with other agencies, fisheries conducts Spring, Summer, and Fall Lake Trout surveys to help establish quotas for sustainable fish harvesting limits in Lake Superior, and to assess KBIC Hatchery Lake Trout survival and condition. In the Keweenaw Bay Region (Michigan Lake Trout Management Zone 4) the annual Tribal lean Lake Trout harvest is approximately 25,000 animals. In February and March, the unseasonably warm and calm conditions meant an uptick in fishing with 1,100 (>20%) of Walleye quota tags distributed by March. We also assisted GLIFWC and USGS in deploying radio telemetry units to detect and track inshore moving and spawning phase Lake Trout and Lake Whitefish in the fall. In the Spring, intensive Walleye spear-harvesting monitoring and assessments to gauge KBIC walleye stocking success occurred at several inland lakes and Lake Superior nearshore region.
To complement our Lake Trout, and other commercial/subsistence species, Fisheries continues to prioritize Sea Lamprey research and control. We have become a primary partner, along with USFWS, USGS, and GLFC, in conducting work linked to the Supplemental Sea Lamprey Control Initiative (SupCon), with several local rivers receiving experimental trapping and control techniques, in the hopes new strategies may eventually lessen reliance on use of lampricides as a primary population control means, etc. In Fall 2024 fisheries assessed five rivers for Sea Lamprey – the Cranberry, Potato, and Traverse Rivers which are a part of an ongoing population assessment and the Mineral and Pike Rivers were assessed because of a request from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Stream level and temperature are collected to properly time surveys and drift nets are deployed to capture live Lamprey. In 2024, trapping and assessment efforts led to the removal of >450 sea lamprey (adults and juvenile “transformers”), potentially sparing >5 tons of Lake Superior fish from Sea Lamprey induced mortality.
Habitat Suitability and Phytoremediation at Sand Point
Our two-year Habitat Suitability Project concluded in 2024, accomplishing the objectives of identifying, modeling, and categorizing important wildlife habitats of the L’Anse Indian Reservation. Completion of this project has increased overall understanding of the land cover and natural communities and their ecological values within the Reservation and surrounding area. Results from this project will support future stewardship and conservation actions and needs within the wildlife section and across the NRD. Focusing on 6 species, including Makwa (Black Bear), Ma’iingan (Gray Wolf), Amik (North American Beaver), Waawaashkeshi (White-tailed Deer), Gidagaa-bizhiw (Bobcat), and Waabizheshi (American Marten), 53 game cameras were deployed across the Reservation in 2023 and 2024 and a landscape wide geospatial analysis was verified with field checks. Final project deliverables include habitat suitability models that will be used to identify priority areas for conservation, restoration, or re-connection which will support work within the NRD and with partner agencies and local landowners.
After several years of seeking funding, the Phytoremediation and Stabilization project in collaboration with USFS and MTU began this year at Sand Point (https://research.fs.usda.gov/nrs/news/featured/healing-land-using-trees-combat-toxic-sands). With funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and GLRI, the project will plant willows and poplars at Sand Point. Poplar and Willow trees are used because of their ability to take-up heavy metals, which are present I in the stamp sands at Sand Point. KBIC staff, USFS staff, and students from MTU all assisted with the work, making it possible to have it all completed within only 3 days in June. Additionally, fencing to protect the study area and informational signs were installed. NRD staff are assisting with project oversight and are working closely with USFS researchers and two MTU graduate students to investigate the efficacy of using phytoremediation to address stamp sand contamination. Data sharing and ownership agreements were established with MTU and USFS in advance of the project to protect KBIC knowledge. This project received a USFS Chief’s Honor Award for 2024 under Category 7: Conserving Healthy and Resilient Public Lands and Communities.
Beach Cleanups and Mining
Since 2003, the Alliance for the Great Lakes has supported thousands of beach cleanups across all five Great Lakes, including Lake Superior. NRD staff support these regional efforts in our Community, too. At 8 locations from Assinins to Second Sands, the weekly beach cleanups, cover about 7 miles of Ojibwe Gichigami shoreline. NRD Youth Workers take the lead along-side Great Lakes staff by walking our shoreline, picking up trash, and helping us keep our ecosystems clean. This year cleanups began on May 6 and continued through September with one special event on October 12. One section of beach was adopted by two community members who took on cleanup responsibilities for the summer. In July, leading up to the Powwow, we hosted Lake Superior Day, a celebration of our greatest lake. Nearly 50 people gathered for a water ceremony before heading out to clean about 8 miles of beaches. We collected about 400 pounds of trash including lots of cigarette butts, clothing, plastic containers, and beverage cans/bottles. Throughout the season we believe we collected nearly 700 pounds of trash.
Mining-related projects within the ceded territory include Tilden Mine (Cleveland Cliffs), Eagle Mine (Lundin), the proposed Copperwood Mine and the not-yet-proposed White Pine Mine (Highland Copper), and the multiple exploration sites west of Eagle Mine owned by Talon Metals. Since 2022 Cleveland Cliffs has been applying to expand their mine tailings disposal area and is reapplying. KBIC and other Tribal staff visited Tilden Mine for a mine tour and meeting to learn more about the proposed expansion and will submit comments in early 2025. Eagle Mine has proposed to use mine tailings in the mine backfill process which would decrease the amount of mine waste stored on the surface. Revised air and mine permit applications have been submitted and will be reviewed by NRD in early 2025. Highland Copper presented to Tribal Council about its Copperwood project and focused on securing grants and other investments to support the project. KBIC commented on the permit to install application expressing concerns about the magnitude of emissions that would result from the project and the company’s poor performance history. Talon Metals conducted exploratory drilling at Roland Lake and Boulderdash, two of the nearby exploration sites and on October 24th announced a nickel and copper intrusion was found at Boulderdash. Exploration work in 2025 is expected to focus on determining the extent of this deposit.