The Town of Lac du Flambeau is looking for state and federal help to reach an agreement with the Lac du Flambeau Tribe regarding roads.
For more than a year and a half, the town and tribe have been going back and forth to reach an agreement on easements for four roads.
The roads are tribally owned but give access to private land. In January 2023, the Tribe barricaded the roads for several weeks to get action from the town.
While the town of Lac du Flambeau and the tribe work on a permanent solution, the Town has been paying tens of thousands of dollars each month for four road permits.
Last month, the town announced it no longer had the funds to keep paying for the permits.
In response, the Tribe said it would restrict access over the roads if the permit fees weren’t paid by Friday, August 23rd.
Road permits paid through September 12
At a special town meeting in Woodruff that day, one of the town attorneys said the title company made a payment of $50,000 for the permits. This will ensure the roads stay open through September 12th.
The meeting on Friday was held to get assistance from state and federal officials to permanently resolve this issue.
In early July, the town made an offer to the tribe of more than $1.8 million to pay for past trespasses and renew the easements for 50 years.
During the meeting Friday, town attorney Frank Kowalkowski said the town and Tribal Council met to discuss the offer.
“At that meeting, the tribe conveyed an interest, I think, more so than they had in the past when discussions occurred in length, and that resolutions to this problem could very well focus upon more land being provided to the Tribe,” said Kowalkowski.
The issue is the resources available to the town to make that happen.
“The town simply does not have the money or the land to resolve this in any manner that Tribal Council would deem acceptable,” said Kowalkowski.
State and federal officials weigh in
Of the nearly two dozen officials invited to the meeting by the town, only six came or sent representatives.
U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson sent representatives.
Congressman Tom Tiffany, State Senator Mary Felzkowski, and Representative Rob Swearingen were there.
Most of them expressed frustration that this issue hadn’t been resolved yet and that mediation hasn’t taken place.
Several said they support a compromise for both the Town and the Tribe but wouldn’t make specific commitments until they had more details of an agreement.
“I want to see the details, because we're not going to simply, I will not simply stand for extortion and allow this to be able to happen. So is there an agreement that could be struck? I would hope,” said Congressman Tom Tiffany.
Sen. Felzkowski said she wants to see talks between the Tribe and town mediated.
“I represent Lac du Flambeau [Tribe] too. I want compromise. We always say in Madison, when you're sitting down and you're working on a controversial piece of legislation, if both people get up and walk away from the table and no one's 100% happy, you have a good piece of legislation,” said Felzkowski. “You're going to have the same issue here. When both people, when the town gets up and walks away, and the Tribe gets up and walks away, and nobody gets 100% of what they want, that's called compromise, and that's probably the best you're going to get.”
Felzkowski also suggested that the state still has ARPA funds that Governor Evers could allocate to help resolve this issue.
Gov. Evers was invited but was unable to attend the special meeting.
WXPR emailed his press office asking about using the ARPA funds.
His spokesperson Britt Cudaback said, “There’s been no change in the governor’s position—a long-term solution is critical and long overdue for the safety, security and well-being of the community, and Gov. Evers has repeatedly urged all parties to come to the table in good faith and move to mediation to resolve these outstanding issues.”
She also sent this letter dated August 16th, 2024 that details how the town could acquire land through the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands for the purposes of a resolution with the Tribe.
Possible land options
Board of Commissioners of Public Lands Executive Director Tom German attended Friday’s meeting.
Through the BCPL, the state owns about 75,000 acres that’s used to provide money to schools and loans to municipalities.
“Do we want to sell those? Not particularly, but we understand how serious the problem is here, and we want to make sure that we're playing our part to help resolve things,” said German.
German said the BCPL can’t give any land away, but there is a process to sell parcels at their appraised value.
No specifics of an agreement were given at the meeting.
Lac du Flambeau Town Chairman Matt Gaulke asked the officials at the meeting to answer several questions regarding their commitment to the issue. He requested responses in writing within two weeks.
The questions were:
- “Would you support legislation to facilitate the transfer of land to the town as part of the dispute settlement that would eventually be conveyed to the tribe?”
- “Would you support legislation or appropriations of monetary value to assist the town in a settlement with the tribe?”
- “Would you be able to facilitate law enforcement intervention or an injunction to ensure that barricades are not erected until a resolution is reached?”
- “Would you commit a written response within two weeks regarding these issues, especially of the defined piece of land or defined monetary value was confirmed?”
- “Is there anything else that you can bring to the table to assist?”
Town Chairman Matt Gaulke also addressed the people in attendance at the meeting. He said he’s had a very hard time with this issue but remains hopeful that there are resources available to resolve it.
“I was born and raised in Lac du Flambeau, a lot of these people that we’re dealing with, both with the town and the tribal council, I was in grade school with, I was in high school with, I consider them friends of mine. For this issue to tear this community apart the way that it has, really hurts me personally,” said Gaulke.
Absent from the meeting were Governor Evers, representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs or Department of Interior, officials from the title company, and officials from the Lac du Flambeau Tribe.
