DULUTH — The Superior National Forest and three northeastern Minnesota Chippewa tribes have made a first-of-its-kind agreement, one that gives the tribes a stronger voice in managing national forest and federal trust land that was ceded to the federal government nearly 170 years ago.

The Fond du Lac and Grand Portage bands of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa signed an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service recently to protect the bands' treaty rights within the Superior National Forest.

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The agreement recognizes the sovereign bands as original stewards of that land and outlines ways to ensure tribal input is included early in decisions made by the Forest Service, including those that impact treaty rights. It stipulates training from both sides, coordination with the bands on management priorities, and provisions for protection of culturally sensitive areas within the forest.

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While the tribes and the Forest Service have long worked together, the agreement lays out a plan for making meaningful change in how that happens, for things like prescribed burns or restoration activities for hunting, fishing and gathering, Hall said.