Contested Ecosystems and Expanding Tribal Jurisdiction in the Great Lakes Region

Multiple Sovereigns and Transient Resources: Contested Ecosystems and Expanding Tribal Jurisdiction in the Great Lakes Region A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Laura M. Matson IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dr. Bruce Braun & Dr. George Henderson October 2018 © Laura M. Matson 2018 Acknowledgements It seems appropriate to begin this dissertation with Acknowledgements, because it this dissertation was produced by each of these people—their guidance, feedback, ideas, edits, interviews, and support. At its root, this is a dissertation about how communities— and their laws—are shaped, negotiated, and philosophically rooted. I would not have been able to produce this work, or any of the logistical, empirical, or intellectual efforts that went into it, without the many people who contributed. First, I must thank my PhD Committee. Co-advisers Bruce Braun and George Henderson were instrumental in shepherding my intellectual development and have consistently encouraged me to push the limits of my thinking on many of the issues I explore in this dissertation. I am tremendously grateful for their support, guidance, and generosity throughout this process. Throughout law school and my PhD study, John Borrows has steadfastly been one of my most influential mentors. I first studied with John in a Tribal Courts class at the University of Minnesota Law School in the fall of 2011; that course lit a fire that set me on the path that I am on today. I am also indebted to the entire Borrows family for their kindness and hospitality. Though we did not get to know each other until later in my studies, David Wilkins’s prolific and important scholarship influenced my intellectual trajectory from the very beginning of my PhD research. He has become an important mentor and I am very grateful for his intellectual provocations, steady support, and guidance. Kate Derickson has been a mentor and friend throughout this process. I have repeatedly relied on her experience and feedback as I have navigated graduate school, and particularly, have learneD a lot from her methodological i and ethical commitments to the communities where she conducts her research. I look forward to continuing the conversation with this exceptional group of scholars. Throughout my studies, I have been influenced and supported by a number of other academic mentors. These mentors include: Robert Williams, Jr., whose generosity and humor is infectious, and who has remained an important touchstone for me; Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, who has provided a shining example of the kind of person, teacher, and scholar I hope to be; and Steven Manson and Lorena Muñoz, who each in their own way taught me how to teach, engage students, and gave me incredible pedagogical opportunities. In addition, my cohort from the Social Science Research Council’s Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship—helmed by Chandra Lekha Sriram and Amy Ross—have been an influential and supportive intellectual community; thanks to Samar Al-Bulushi, Jian Ming Chris Chang, Evelyn Galindo, Alexa Hagerty, Christoph Hanssmann, Grégoire Hervouet-Zeiber, Austin Kocher, Jaimie Morse, J. Sebastian Page, Justin Perez, and Azita Ranjbar. I have also had a number of non-academic guides on this journey. Though there are too many to name, I would like to explicitly thank Ann McCammon Soltis, Philomena Kebec, Jim Zorn, Mic Isham, Esteban Chiriboga, Jon Gilbert, John Coleman, Peter David, Lisa David, Melonee Montano, members of the Voigt Task Force, and the entire staff of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission; Reginald DeFoe, Tom Howes, Nancy Schuldt, Rick Gitar, Kari Hedin, the Fond du Lac Tribal Council, Karen Diver, Margaret Watkins, Seth Moore, Wallace Storbakken, Leslie Harper, Curt Goodsky, Conrad St. John, and Darren Vogt; Winona LaDuke, and Tara Houska; Robert Morales, Rosanne Daniels, Renée Racette, and everyone at the Hul’qumi’num Treaty ii Group. In their own ways, each of these people and groups has pushed me to consider and engage with different perspectives on the issue of tribal jurisdiction and Indigenous ecological approaches. I’d also like to thank Catherine Neuschler, Ed Swain, Alex Klass, Danielle Meinhardt, and Barbara Wester for their insights on the complex regulatory processes I delve into in this dissertation. My more recent mentors and colleagues include the incredible Kawe Gidaa- Naanaagadawendaamin Manoomin Grand Challenges Research Team: Mark Bellcourt, Diana Dalbotten, Mae Davenport, Michael Dockry, McKaylee Duquain, Erik Kojola, Dan Larkin, Amy Myrbo, Gene-Hua Crystal Ng, Patrick O’Hara, Cara Santelli, Josh Torgeson, Gabriele Menomin, Riley Howes, Lilah White, LeAnn Charwood, Susannah Howard and our many tribal collaborators. My post-doctoral fellowship with this collaborative team has given me the fantastic opportunity to develop, expand, and enrich the relationships and roots planted during my dissertation research. My intellectual community includes the dedicated graduate students with whom I’ve had the pleasure of studying at the University of Minnesota, including but not limited to: Kai Bosworth, Jay Bowman, Laura Cesafsky, Anindita Chatterjee, Charmaine Chua, Spencer Cox, Jacqui Daigneault, Jessica Finlay, Tia-Simone Gardner, Anya Kaplan-Seem, Jessi Lehman, Aaron Mallory, Sara Nelson, Lisa Santosa, Liz Schneider, Mike Simpson, Sophie Strosberg, Kevin Van Meter, and Hillary Waters. A special thanks is in order for the thoughtful and generous members of my writing groups: Aaron Eddens, Evan Taparata, Karen Bauer, Erik Kojola, and Julie Santella. Thanks also to Sara Braun, Glen Powell, Cathy Dziuk, and all of the people who make the Department of Geography, Environment & Society function. The community that I developed at Sarah iii Lawrence College provided the foundations for all of my subsequent intellectual engagements, notably Cameron Afzal, Emma Borges-Scott, Autumn Brown, Mary Dillard, Katie Gillespie, Gwenda-lin Grewal, Jonathan Grinspan, Nehemiah Luckett, Annie Novak, Mary Porter, Karen Rader, Kasturi Ray, Eli Rosenblatt, Leah Rudick, Samuel B. Stein, Corey Walker, Melanie Weiss, and Cascade Wilhelm. My deepest gratitude to Melinda Kernik in the University of Minnesota’s John R. Borchert Map Library for producing the map of the ceded territories in Chapter 2 and the proposed pipeline route maps in Chapter 4. Thank you also to Nancy Schuldt, who allowed me to use the two images in Chapter 6, and Crystal Ng, who contributed the image in Chapter 3. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the patient, professional, and friendly staff at Anelace Coffee in Minneapolis, where I spent many hours writing and revising this dissertation. This project was made possible with generous financial support and mentorship from the Social Science Research Council, University of Minnesota’s Inter-Disciplinary Doctoral Fellowship and Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Grand Challenges Initiative, Institute for Advanced Study, Water Resources Center, River Life program, and the Philanthropic Education Organization. Most importantly, this project was possible because of the love and support of my family: Mike, Juna, Baby, my parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. This Dissertation is dedicated to my Grandparents—Gale and MaryAnn Matson, Don and Marilyn McRae, and Paul Raadt—and those who came before; and to my children—Juna and Baby Matson Curren—and those who will come after. iv Abstract In the past sixty-odd years, Indigenous nations and tribal groups have increasingly expanded their authority and advanced their communities’ interests in the realm of environmental protection. Multiple Sovereigns and Transient Resources: Contested Ecosystems and Expanding Tribal Jurisdiction in the Great Lakes Region seeks to understand some of the ways in which tribes and inter-tribal groups in the Lake Superior region have extended their influence over, engagement with, and impacts on environmental management and resource regulation. In particular, this dissertation investigates how tribes have mobilized jurisdictional authority to demand a seat at the table in regulatory discussions that impact their reservations and the treaty-ceded territories in the region. In so doing, this dissertation builds an empirical record of some of the strategies and mechanisms that tribes have used to advance their environmental interests in practical terms. This empirical record forms the basis of a more sustained critical engagement with the concept of jurisdiction. Intervening in legal geography, political ecology, and Indigenous legal scholarship, this dissertation argues that contests over environmental jurisdiction are not just disputes about static administrative units within fixed governmental hierarchies, but also enroll the authority to interpret and define the law and its normative orders. Through interviews, participant observation, archival review, and doctrinal legal analysis, I demonstrate how jurisdiction is practiced and produced through the day to day acts of permitting, rule-making, enforcing regulatory standards, litigating conflicts, building infrastructures, degrading and restoring habitats, and negotiating between governmental entities. Tracing the jurisdictional expansions of the Indigenous “third sovereign” v illuminates the particular ontologies that ground state and federal environmental regulatory practices, but also provides a set of alternatives for thinking about resource protection in an integrateD,

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