Interlochen Public Radio’s Points North just won a national Edward R. Murrow Award for its episode on Albert “Big Abe” LeBlanc, the Bay Mills fisherman whose challenge to Michigan’s fishing restrictions led to the vindication of Great Lakes treaty fishing rights. The episode was produced by Ellie Katz and edited by Morgan Springer.
The episode describes how LeBlanc deliberately called the DNR before setting his net in 1971, challenged the subsequent prosecution, and took the case to the Michigan Supreme Court. The podcast includes his children, Bay Mills President Whitney Gravelle, and longtime Tribal attorney Candy Tierney.
Big Abe LeBlanc in front of the truck he used to deliver fresh fish to customers. (Photo shared by Whitney Gravelle)
Today on Stateside, we talked to a reporter about how Michigan became a battleground in the development of large scale data centers.
Then, we heard about how researchers from Michigan State University have teamed up with tribal nations in the Great Lakes to find out what trees can tell us about historical land management techniques used by Anishinaabe people.
And a historic preservation officer from the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians discussed how dendrochronology findings affect her work, and shared information about proposed changes from the Trump administration could affect tribal input on historic preservation projects.
GUEST ON TODAY’S SHOW:
Dustin Walsh, Crain’s Detroit Business senior reporter
Patrick Shea, reporter
Mae Wright, tribal historic preservation officer and NAGPRA representative for the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians
The Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan (ITCMI) released its FY2025 Annual Report on August 10, 2026, and it reported that the federal government revoked more than $23 million in EPA grant funding, creating “substantial obstacles” for Tribal communities and programs across Michigan.
$20 million of the lost funding was part of an EPA Community Change Grant awarded to ITCMI in partnership with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians for “Making Michigan Tribal Homes & Buildings Efficient, Healthy, and Resilient.” The project planned to work with six Michigan Tribes to retrofit and electrify at least 300 Tribal homes and convert twelve Tribal government buildings into community resilience hubs. Funding would also have supported roof and electrical repairs, insulation and ventilation improvements, electric appliances, indoor-air-quality equipment, and Tribal staff responsible for overseeing the work.
Another $3 million of the lost funding was part of an EPA Community Change Grant awarded to ITCMI in partnership with the Bay Mills Indian Community for “Michigan Tribal and State Manoomin/Mnoomin/Mnomen Stewardship.” Developed with Michigan’s twelve federally recognized Tribes, ITCMI, the State of Michigan EGLE, and the University of Michigan Water Center, the project would have supported implementation of the Tribal-State Manoomin Stewardship Plan. It specifically contemplated participation by Tribal elders, traditional ricers, and knowledge keepers in the Michigan Wild Rice Initiative and supported their participation in stewardship and decision-making.
Together, these two awards account for $23 million, although ITCMI’s reference to more than $23 million in its Annual Report indicates that its total revoked EPA funding may extend beyond these two grants.
ITCMI Lawsuit Update
ITCMI is now one of the plaintiffs challenging EPA’s termination of the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant program in Appalachian Voices v. EPA. In court filings, ITCMI warned that the experience could deepen distrust of the federal government and make Tribes more hesitant to partner with ITCMI in future federally funded projects.
The litigation remains active. A federal district court dismissed the case in August 2025, but on July 21, 2026, the D.C. Circuit vacated that dismissal and returned the case to the district court. The case therefore continues while Michigan Tribal communities remain without funding that had been awarded for housing and manoomin stewardship.
Citizens of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan’s largest federally recognized Tribe with more than 50,000 citizens, will vote on a proposed new Constitution that would significantly restructure its Tribal government.
The Tribe’s current Constitution, adopted in 1975, vests governing authority in a Board of Directors and provides for a Chairperson to be elected by the voters of the Tribe who then serves as a member of the Board. The proposed Constitution would establish three co-equal branches, including a 12-member Tribal Council, an executive branch led by an independently elected Tribal Ogemaa, and a constitutionally established judiciary consisting of a Trial Court called the Court of Gweyakwaadziwin (Honesty) and a Supreme Court called the Court of Nbwaakawin (Wisdom). It also expressly provides that the Tribal citizens are the source of governmental authority and that powers not granted to the government are reserved to the citizenship.
The proposal also includes a detailed Bill of Rights protecting, among other things, religious and cultural beliefs; speech and press; privacy against unreasonable searches and seizures; criminal process rights; equal protection, application, and opportunity under the law; whistleblower protection; the right to own, bear, and use arms; and property rights. It also expressly addresses sovereign immunity and waivers of immunity, suits against elected officials and employees acting in their official capacity or within the scope of their authority, and the right of citizens to bring Tribal Court actions to enforce constitutional rights.
Anishinaabe language and law are reflected throughout the proposed Constitution. The Preamble invokes Anishinaabe Bimaadziwin (the Anishinaabe way of life) and the Seven Grandfather Teachings, and Tribal courts would have jurisdiction over matters arising under Tribal customs as well as the Tribe’s Constitution, treaties, and laws.
The proposal also constitutionalizes the Mackinac Band as a seventh historical band for citizenship purposes, resolving a longstanding difference between the existing Constitution which does not include the Mackinac Band, and the Tribe’s Membership Ordinance, which does.
A new American Indian Law Workshop led by Matthew Fletcher, ’97, the Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor of Law, provides students with the opportunity to engage with a wide range of scholars and examine more granular, niche issues relating to American Indian law.
Turtle Talk 
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