Lake Superior

LCO Tells Tribal Members Not to Pay County Property Taxes

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

This is an interesting development. I assume that Sawyer County will sue, along with the State of Wisconsin, to compel the payment of these taxes. And perhaps the Seventh Circuit will reach a different conclusion from the Sixth Circuit in KBIC v. Michigan. I wonder, however, if the Keweenaw Bay case’s expert reports were tribe-specific. Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, this interesting development may be a bad thing for Keweenaw Bay, who had to work to make sure the Supreme Court did not grant cert in their case. This development, for all practical purposes, appears to reopen that case.

From Indianz:

The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is telling tribal members not to pay property taxes in Sawyer County, Wisconsin.

Continue reading →

Lake Superior Tribes Studying Chemicals in Lake

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From 91.3 FM:

News From 91.3 KUWS
Tribes studying chemicals in fish, and what it might do to people

Story posted Monday at 5:13 p.m.

11/12/2007

  

Chequamegon Bay tribes are investigating the effects of fish contaminants in the greatest of the Great Lakes. Danielle Kaeding reports from Superior.

Lake Superior is facing threats on all sides: from development on it shores to invasive species to the air we breathe. Matt Hudson of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission says most chemicals in Lake Superior come from the atmosphere. “There’s residual sources of some of these chemicals–like toxifine was used in the southern United States on cotton crops. When you get the right weather pattern, some of that toxifine that’s still in that soil down there can get up into the atmosphere and carried in conveyor belt fashion up to the Great Lakes Region and dumped in rainstorms over the Great Lakes.” Hudson says the Bad River, Fond du Lac and Red Cliff bands sought out GLIFWC’s help. They hope to sort out which chemicals are in fish and what that means when people eat the fish. “Tribal members came to GLIFWC and said, ‘We’re concerned about mercury in fish.’ This was focused more on walleye on inland lakes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan. So, GLIFWC started a contaminant monitoring program. We’ve been measuring mercury in walleye in inland lakes since 1989. We recently started testing Lake Superior fish as well.” Hudson says larger fish tend to contain more contaminants like mercury. “We’re trying to get as much information as we can about fish species that tribal members are eating and concerned about so we can give them the tools to make choices. They’re always going to eat fish. It’s a part of their culture, so we try to give them the species of fish and sizes of fish and information that will help them reduce their risk and maximize benefits.” Hudson says eating fish like herring and whitefish are low in contaminants and can improve heart health over time.

NYT Article on the Shrinking Great Lakes

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the NYTs:

”

The water levels in all five Great Lakes — Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario — are below long-term averages and are likely to stay that way until at least March, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. (The same is true at Lake St. Clair, which straddles the border between the state of Michigan and the province of Ontario and is between Lake Huron and Lake Erie; it is not considered one of the Great Lakes, although it is part of the Great Lakes system.)

“Most environmental researchers say that low precipitation, mild winters and high evaporation, due largely to a lack of heavy ice covers to shield cold lake waters from the warmer air above, are depleting the lakes. The Great Lakes follow a natural cycle, their levels rising in the spring, peaking in the summer and reaching a low in the winter, as the evaporation rate rises.”

NOAA: Climate Change Impacts

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From NOAA:

  • Overall, drought affected 46 percent of the nation, including the Upper Midwest, where persistently dry and warmer than average conditions have helped bring Lake Superior’s water level to its lowest point on record for this time of year, according to NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.
  • Levels of all the Great Lakes, which together make up about 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water, have been in decline since the late 1990s.  Lakes Huron and Michigan were about two feet below their long-term average levels, while Lake Superior was about 20 inches off, Lake Ontario seven inches below, and Lake Erie three inches below normal in September.