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Leah Lemm

White Earth Nation leadership sets priorities for tribe: Land stewardship, tribal health services

Signs welcome visitors to White Earth, on the White Earth Reservation.
Signs welcome visitors to White Earth, Minn., on the White Earth Reservation in northwestern Minnesota. The reservation is home to the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. Photographed on Aug. 2, 2017.
Ann Arbor Miller for MPR News

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White Earth Nation leadership shared tribal program updates and priorities for the coming year at the annual State of the Nation in Mahnomen.

Community members, employees and dignitaries gathered on Thursday at the Shooting Star Casino ballroom on the reservation for the annual address.

Chairman Michael Fairbanks focused on land return, citing several projects that have increased White Earth Nation's influence on land management. Secretary Treasurer Michael LaRoque followed with financial and programmatic updates, including the tribe’s shift away from federally managed health clinics.

Leadership also announced a new tribal cannabis dispensary location.

Land stewardship

Fairbanks gave an update on the tribe’s collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge. He said the tribe will focus on three areas: water, forestry and culture.

“That’ll be water management. That’s our wild rice. We’re going to be managing that along with the refuge,” Fairbanks said. “No. 2 — forestry. We’re going to be working along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife on our forestry, working hand-in-hand to manage the forest lands out in Tamarac. And No. 3 is our culture — implementing our culture and our language into that system.”

The refuge is nearly 43,000 acres and is located north of Detroit Lakes.

Fairbanks also highlighted a recent co-management agreement between the tribe and the state. Earlier this year, the tribe entered into an agreement with the state’s DNR to collaborate on resource management at White Earth State Forest.

Much of the state forest land is within reservation boundaries. White Earth Nation has made efforts to restore lands to the tribe in the past through state legislation.

After fierce testimony lawmakers pump the brakes on White Earth Forest land return bill

According to a February press release, the agreement formalized the co-management of land, water, fish and wildlife within the state forest. The agreement does not address the tribe’s request to transfer the state land to the tribe.

Tribal healthcare

Secretary Treasurer Michael LaRoque discussed the tribe’s move to assume control of its health care clinical services, a shift away from federal Indian Health Service oversight.

“We can align healthcare funding with local priorities,” LaRoque said. “There are financial benefits to moving forward. It gives us local control over how healthcare dollars are planned, managed, and used.”

LaRoque said the tribe has successfully managed other areas of its health system for more than three decades.

 “Right now, too many parts of the federal systems are uncertain,” LaRoque said. “There are IHS and HHS reorganization and staff shortages, government shutdowns, and federal delays that slow down hiring, purchasing, and contracting.”

LaRoque said the listed issues “don’t stay in D.C.” They end up impacting White Earth Nation’s daily clinic operations. The change will position the tribe to localize hiring, budgeting and accountability. Hiring for the healthcare services CEO position is underway.

In February, White Earth Nation’s health care system received national accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board. The process guarantees the tribe’s health care system meets or exceeds national standards practiced by government public health departments.

Cannabis

Leadership also gave an update on cannabis dispensary openings. The tribe has opened several dispensaries outside the reservation: Moorhead and St. Cloud, and the latest, in East Grand Forks, opened in April. A location in Chanhassen is nearing completion, LaRoque indicated it will open in July.

Additionally, Fairbanks announced that another dispensary will go up in Bemidji.  

“Our membership in Bemidji will be able to apply for work at that place,” Fairbanks said. Waabigwan Mashkiki, the tribe's cannabis company, currently employs nearly 200 people across its operations, according to LaRoque.

The tribe also owns a dispensary on the reservation in Mahnomen.