Mille Lacs County Resolution Revives Longstanding Reservation Boundary Dispute

By Joe Morey Rez Life Weekly Editor

A newly passed resolution by Mille Lacs County commissioners is threatening to reopen one of the most significant legal disputes between the county and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in recent history.

The county board voted last week to ask the federal government to withdraw a legal opinion that affirms the boundaries of the Mille Lacs Reservation. That opinion, issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2015, concluded that the 61,000-acre reservation created by the 1855 treaty remains intact.

The move has reignited tensions between the two governments, whose disagreements over reservation boundaries have been closely tied to questions of law enforcement authority and jurisdiction.

The county’s resolution specifically calls on federal officials to withdraw what is known as Opinion M-37032. The opinion was issued during the Obama administration and confirmed that the Mille Lacs Reservation still exists within the original treaty boundaries.

In the resolution, county officials argued that the opinion “is unsupported, creates confusion regarding the status of the former Mille Lacs Reservation,” and has been used by state leaders to justify a change in Minnesota’s legal position on the reservation, according to a report by MPR News.

County officials have long maintained that the reservation consists of only about 4,000 acres, a position that differs sharply from the Band’s view and from recent federal rulings.

Mille Lacs County Board Chair Phil Thompson said during past public discussions that the dispute has created uncertainty for residents and local governments.

“Our concern has always been about clarity,” Thompson said in county statements on the issue. “We want residents, property owners, and law enforcement to know exactly what the jurisdictional boundaries are and how they are applied.”

Dispute rooted in law enforcement conflict

The current legal conflict traces back to a breakdown in a cooperative policing agreement between the county and the tribe.

MPR News reported that in 2016 the county revoked its law enforcement agreement with the Mille Lacs Band, leaving tribal officers without authority to enforce state laws. Around the same time, the Band had successfully applied to the federal government to exercise expanded law enforcement jurisdiction.

That federal approval led to the issuance of the M-Opinion affirming the reservation boundaries, which in turn became a central issue in the ongoing legal dispute.

The disagreement eventually led to federal litigation. The Mille Lacs Band filed suit in 2017 seeking recognition of its law enforcement authority within the reservation.

Former Mille Lacs Band Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin previously described the breakdown in the policing agreement as a setback for public safety.

“Our goal has always been to work cooperatively with our neighbors to keep everyone safe,” Benjamin said in earlier Band statements. “Jurisdictional fights do not help the community. Cooperation does.”

In March 2022, a federal district judge ruled that the reservation boundaries remain as they were established in the 1855 treaty.

The court concluded that later treaties and federal laws did not disestablish the reservation.

That ruling was consistent with the Band’s long-standing position that the reservation was never diminished.

Mille Lacs Band officials have repeatedly emphasized that the issue is about recognition of treaty rights rather than expanding territory.

“This is not about taking land from anyone,” Band officials said in prior public statements. “It is about recognition of a reservation that federal law has never terminated.”

The county appealed, but in 2025 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit determined that the case had become moot due to a change in Minnesota law. The appeals court vacated the lower court decisions and sent the matter back for further proceedings.

County officials say that appellate ruling prompted the recent resolution.

County Administrator Dillon Hayes said in communications reported by MPR News that the county felt compelled to act after the appellate decision.

“The court’s action reopened important questions about the reservation’s legal status,” Hayes wrote. “The county believes it is appropriate to seek clarification from the federal government.”

Decades of legal conflict

The dispute over Mille Lacs treaty rights and reservation status stretches back decades.

In 1990, the Mille Lacs Band sued the State of Minnesota seeking recognition of its treaty-protected hunting, fishing, and gathering rights.

That case culminated in a landmark 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed the Band’s treaty rights on ceded lands.

More recently, the boundary issue has been tied to policing and jurisdiction. For years, the county argued that the reservation had been disestablished and that tribal officers were operating outside their authority.

Federal courts have repeatedly rejected that argument, concluding that the 1855 treaty created a reservation that was never formally terminated by Congress.

Tribal leaders have frequently pointed to the long legal history as evidence that the reservation’s status is settled law.

“The courts have spoken on this issue more than once,” former Band officials have said in past statements. “The reservation exists because Congress never took it away.”

Band says resolution undermines progress

In a statement, the Mille Lacs Band said it was “deeply disappointed” by the county’s action and viewed it as a setback in improving relations.

The Band said the resolution “undermines months of government-to-government engagement,” according to MPR News.

Chief Executive Virgil Wind told MPR News that both sides had begun making progress toward a more constructive relationship.

“As a result of that long and costly history, we believed both governments were beginning to make headway toward a more constructive, government-to-government relationship,” Wind said. “Reopening long-settled federal law through misleading arguments is inconsistent with good-faith relations and threatens the progress we were starting to see,” he said.

Wind also emphasized the Band’s focus on cooperation moving forward.

“We remain committed to working with the county and the state in a respectful, government-to-government way,” Wind said in additional Band communications. “Our priority is the well-being and safety of everyone who lives within these communities.”

Costly legal battle

The county has spent nearly $10 million on the dispute over the years, according to County Administrator Dillon Hayes in comments reported by MPR News. Most of that spending occurred between 2018 and 2023 after litigation with the Band intensified.

Hayes said the costs reflect the complexity and length of the legal fight.

“This has been a long and expensive process for county taxpayers,” Hayes said in county budget discussions. “We believe it is important to pursue a clear legal outcome.”

There is no timeline yet for how or when federal officials might respond to the county’s request to withdraw the legal opinion.