The Menominee Indian Tribe has existed in what is now Wisconsin and Upper Michigan for over five thousand years. The name in Tribal language, “O-MAEQ-NO-MIN-NE-WUK, means Wild Rice People” (Loew, 2001). The Menominee once owned 9.5 million acres of land in what is now Central and Mid-eastern Wisconsin and part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Today, the Menominee live in an area, which is part of their original domain, now reduced to 235,033 acres of which 227,888 are in trust status. The pristine environment, with clear running streams, sparkling lakes, and 223,000-forested acres, is filled with animals, fish, and birds like when the Creator Spirit made the first Menominee. There are 200 lakes covering an estimated 7,000 acres, around 25,000 acres of wetlands, and over 300 miles of rivers, creeks, and streams. Water resources within the reservation include many miles of pristine rivers most notably the Wolf River, which include segments of the Red River of Wisconsin, the Oconto River (West Branch), and the Evergreen River, plus many named and unnamed lesser tributaries. The fish found in reservation lakes and streams continue to serve as an important protein source for Tribal members. The reservation wildlife populations include many species listed as federal or state threatened or endangered species.
The current reservation population is 3,890. The economy of the Menominee Reservation is very dependent on the harvesting by managed sustained yield forestry practices of the reservation woodlands, the manufacture of lumber from the saw log grade timber, and the sale to local paper mills of the pulp and paper-mills grand bolts. Local firms in nearby communities employ many Menominee. The Tribal economy also benefits from a tourist trade based on a lake development and the Tribal gaming complex.
A 9-member Tribal Legislature governs the Tribe...............
