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- By Chez Oxendine
- Real Estate
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is set to regain roughly 3,400 acres within its reservation after the Minnesota Legislature approved a bonding bill authorizing the transfer of the Cloquet Forestry Center from the University of Minnesota.
The property, managed by the university for more than a century, lies entirely inside the reservation. The transfer will shift ownership and long-term management authority to the tribe while allowing the university to continue research and educational programs during a transition period.
The Cloquet Forestry Center has been managed by the university since 1909 and serves as a site for forestry research, education and natural resource management.
Fond du Lac Chairman Bruce M. Savage said the return affirms the tribe’s longstanding connection to the area and its responsibilities as a tribal nation.
“This land has always been connected to our people and our responsibilities as Anishinaabe,” Savage said. “Its return is an important step for our community and for the work we have carried for a long time.”
The tribe and the university have operated a joint research review process for several years to align projects with tribal priorities and resource management goals. That collaboration is expected to continue during the transition, according to Thomas Howes, director of the tribe’s resource management division.
Fond du Lac leaders said the transfer will give the tribe greater authority over land stewardship, access and long-term planning. Leaders described the transition as part of a broader effort to exercise treaty‑based rights and strengthen tribal governance over lands within reservation boundaries.
Gov. Tim Walz signed the legislation authorizing the return of the land on Wednesday joined by Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a citizen of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe).
“It's never too late to do the right thing,” Walz told Minnesota Public Radio after signing the bill. “This land belonged to the people of Fond du Lac. We can manage it jointly, together in a way that makes sense.”
University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham said the university supports the transfer and plans to continue operating at the site while the parties finalize agreements governing future research, education and land management.
Additional steps include approval by the university’s Board of Regents and the completion of operational agreements between the tribe and the university.
