Duluth, Minnesota - September 18, 2001

Let people speak for themselves. So simple it seems, yet for more than a century, the Anishinabeg (Ojibway or Chippewa) struggled to make their voices heard among Lake Superior’s non-Indian community.

Today, all First Nations of the lake deserve praise for getting their people’s needs heard … and met.

Their efforts help everyone. Many are replenishing natural resources, stocking fish or plants. Tribal businesses, like casinos, benefit extended communities and create job opportunities.

“In deciding to honor the people and the leaders of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Lake Superior Magazine found that Kitchi Onigaming, the ‘place of the grand portage,’ provides example after example of how working with others lets the people speak for themselves,” says Editor Konnie LeMay.

Here is a small sampler:

• Using the Indian Self-Governance Act, the band contracts with the National Park Service to provide park maintenance and to lease housing to Grand Portage National Monument - itself a gift from the band to the United States. Cooperation opens jobs and opens dialogue. “It’s certainly a bright spot in the park service and Native American relations,” says park Superintendent Tim Cochrane.

• After the Minnesota Parks and Trails Council bought land containing Minnesota’s highest waterfall located on the Pigeon River, the state worked with the tribe to purchase it and to put it back under band ownership. Grand Portage State Park is leased by the band to Minnesota for $1 a year.

• In the late 1980s when the 5 acres around the 300-year-old Man-i-tou Ghee-zhi-gance - Spirit Little Cedar or “witch tree” - came up

for sale, a local group organized many fund-raising events (including a bake sale by grade school children) and worked with others like photographer Craig Blacklock and Lake Superior Magazine. With individual contributions averaging $32 from around the world, the land was bought for the band in three annual installments. The band now protects the cedar.

• With casino earnings, the band has bought back more than 2,000 acres from private owners. The reservation covers some 90 square miles and in the 1930s, less than half was Indian owned. Today almost 95 percent is owned by the tribe or tribal members.

• In partnership with U.S. and Canadian First Nations, with private and non-profit businesses plus regional and federal governments, Grand Portage band is working to recreate the “old road” water passage from inland to Lake Superior.

• The band operates Grand Portage Natural Systems Geographics, which sells geographic information systems (GIS) mapping as an area management tool.

• Coaster brook trout, native to Lake Superior, has been restocked by the band. “The beauty of this species defies description,” says Rick Novitsky of the band’s Department of Natural Resources.

• The band welcomed back its own “drum,” the heartbeat of a nation. “People are learning the songs and learning what they need to do to keep the drum,” says band Chairman Norman Deschampe. “That’s not the government. That’s the people themselves doing that.”

• With the Sugarloaf Interpretive Association and the National Park Service, the band published a book of observations by members. “… most importantly, it lets people speak for themselves,” writes Chairman Deschampe.

Lake Superior Magazine’s Achievement Award is given to a community, organization or person who has made a lasting contribution to the whole of Lake Superior. The award has gone to international organizations, cooperating groups, cities and individuals.

For the many role models, we give Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa the 2001 Achievement Award. For their many examples of cooperation and triumph, we say the Grand Portage people: Thank You. Mii’gwetch.

The award is announced in the current issue of Lake Superior Magazine, a full-color consumer publication issued six times a year in Duluth, Minnesota. The magazine is available by subscription, at newsstands and from the publisher's office at 325 Lake Avenue South, Suite 600, Duluth, Minnesota 55802. For more information, call 888-BIG LAKE (244-5253). www.lakesuperior.com/