Lac du Flambeau town board continues to seek answers from LdF tribe on road issue

Lac du Flambeau town chairman Matt Gaulke has sent a letter to John Johnson, Sr., president of the Lac du Flambeau Tribe of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians regarding the town’s position with respect to the ongoing road easement issue between the town and the tribe.

Gaulke was authorized to send the letter to Johnson at the April 3 town board meeting along with the town’s latest monthly payment to the tribe to keep four roads at the center of the dispute — Annie Sunn Lane, Center Sugarbush Lane, East Ross Allen Lake Lane and Elsie Lake Lane — open until a long-term solution can be reached. 

The payment, initially $20,000 per month last May, has increased by $2,000 since and is now at the $42,000 mark. 

As a way to get the matter resolved, the tribal council is seeking nearly $10 million for past damages since easements for tribal land on the four roads expired more than a decade ago. 

Last month, Johnson wrote a letter to the town asking for “additional information concerning the Town’s response to the Tribe’s calculation of past damages,” Gaulke noted in his response.

“In the letter written by you dated December 1, 2023, you stated that the Tribe has calculated past damages to be $9,657,720,” Gaulke wrote in response to Johnson. “The Town has worked diligently and explored many possible options in considering this request. At this time, the Town does not have the capacity to raise that amount of money.”

Gaulke said the town’s attempts to address the issues of past damages and future access fees “have been impaired” because the length of future access permits can’t exceed one year. 

“We are experiencing difficulty developing solutions to future access permits unless they are for a longer period of time,” he wrote. “Will the Tribe consider granting access permits for a duration of five to ten years?”

In the letter, Gaulke told Johnson his “response was necessary” so the town will “have a clear understanding of how it must structure potential solutions to this situation.”

Despite the town board and tribal council not meeting on the road issue since May of last year, and Gaulke telling The Lakeland Times at various times over the past several months he has not heard anything from the tribe on the issue when he’s reached out, Gaulke tried again. 

“Please contact me if you would like to discuss this matter further,” he concluded. 

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].