Prior Lake, Minnesota - The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announces a grant for $1,000,000 to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa for fiscal year 2008 for a tribal fishery. With the assistance of a $1,000,000 SMSC economic development grant in fiscal year 2007, the tribal fishery began accepting fish on September 12, 2007, after a ten-year closure.

"I sincerely appreciate your assistance in bringing the Red Lake Fisheries back into production," wrote Red Lake Chairman Floyd "Buck" Jourdain, Jr, in response to the grant for the tribal fisheries.

The Red Lake Band opened the commercial fishery on Red Lake, the sixth largest natural, freshwater lake in the United States, in 1917 to help with the World War I effort to provide fresh meat for Minnesota citizens. Eighty-five percent of Red Lake lies within the boundaries of the Red Lake Indian Reservation and is entirely under the jurisdiction of the Red Lake Band. The other 15% is controlled by the State of Minnesota.

The Red Lake fishery is the only commercial walleye fishery and one of the largest freshwater commercial fisheries in the United States. Through the years, the fishery supported several hundred commercial fishers and their families on the reservation and has been important to the off-reservation economy as well.

Populations of walleye in Red Lake collapsed in the mid-1990s, forcing the closure of the commercial fishery for the first time. The Red Lake Band led an effort to bring walleye back, which commenced in 1999 with the signing of a historic 10-year agreement between the Band, the State of Minnesota, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Other partners included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the University of Minnesota, and the Red Lake Fisheries Association. The recovery process included a complete moratorium on walleye harvest and a large scale stocking effort. It was uncertain if the walleye stocks could actually be recovered. The unprecedented success the Red Lake walleye recovery team has had has brought the walleye population back from virtual extinction to an optimal level in just seven years. Fishing for Red Lake walleye resumed in 2006 under a sustainable management plan guided by a technical committee of fishery experts. To ensure future sustainability of the walleye population, regulation of the fishery is by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa.

"We appreciate that the Red Lake Tribal Council wants to make life better for its members. It is very important to us to help other Indian people help themselves. It is an important step for tribal sovereignty for Red Lake to reopen their fishery and provide jobs and resources for their members," said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks.

In Resolution No. 13-07, dated January 25, 2007, the Red Lake Tribal Council declared, "Be it finally resolved, the Red Lake Tribal Council expresses its strongest gratitude to the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community for their consideration to assist the Red Lake Band in achieving our goal of economic self-sufficiency."

With the FY07 grant, major upgrades and improvements were accomplished. The old ammonia based refrigeration, freezing, and ice-making units were removed and replaced with a new, safer, and more efficient Freon based system. Key positions were hired. Equipment such as a spiral flash freezer, forklift, pallet jacks, and a flatbed truck for ice delivery and fish pickup, and a tub grinder/mixer to compost fish waste generated at the plant for use as a fertilizer for growing wild rice were purchased.

The Red Lake Reservation, which consists of 1,259 square miles in northwestern Minnesota, has a present population of over 6,000. In 2006 the SMSC awarded a $1 million grant to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa for a Boys & Girls Club. Other SMSC grants to the Red Lake Band include $500,000 for the St. Mary's School and $200,000 for a Family Advocacy Center.

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