Wild rice harvesting in Minnesota. Photo from National Museum of the American Indian

Tribal members harvested wild rice in off-reservation areas of Minnesota on Thursday but didn't face any enforcement actions.

The 1855 Treaty Authority hoped to provoke a court battle in order to settle their treaty rights to the traditional crop. But the Department of National Resources avoided the issue by issuing a special one-day permit that no one asked for.

So tribal members vowed to return to harvesting today. The state is expected to ticket anyone who gathers wild rice without a permit.

“We want to settle it,” Jim Merhar, a member of the White Earth Nation, told The Minneapolis Star Tribune. “The only way you can do it is by getting it into federal court.”

Minnesota Public Radio said a group of tribal members harvested rice for about an hour today without anyone bothering them. However, the state did ticket two tribal members for a different reason -- setting a gillnet for fishing.

The 1855 Treaty Authority believes the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians confirmed their off-reservation rights under the 1855 treaty. The group asked attorney general Lori Swanson to explain her position in an August 22 letter.

Get the Story:
Tribal group asserts wild rice treaty rights (KARE 8/28)
DNR avoids court case by signing off on protest wild rice harvest (The Grand Forks Herald 8/28)
DNR issues citations after treaty rights challenge on Gull Lake (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 8/28)
MN DNR cites tribal members in second day of treaty rights challenge (Minneapolis Public Radio 8/28)
Wild rice protest defused Thursday, may be revived Friday (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 8/27)
DNR issues special permit allowing wild rice harvest today by 1855 Authority (The Brainerd Dispatch 8/27)
Ojibwe rice harvest is latest test of treaty limits in Minnesota (Minnesota Public Radio 8/27)
Off-reservation wild rice harvesting to begin this week, in accordance with 1855 Treaty (KUMD 8/25)