The Grand Traverse Bands of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians are located in the northwestern section of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, 23 miles north of Traverse City in Leelanau County. The current tribal enrollment is 3,606 and pursuant to the 1999 BIA Labor Force Report, they reported an unemployment rate of 8% with 39% of those employed living below the poverty guidelines.

Tribal members, for the most part, reside on lands around their primary village (Odanah) of Peshawbetown and the tribal government is headquartered at Suttons Bay, MI. Tribal services are extended to members over a six county area adjacent to Leelanau County.

Their road to federal recognition, self-determination, self-governance and projected for future plans of tribal self-sufficiency; has been a long, hard fought one (won) struggle. They have arrived, a real testament to their tenacity, determination, will, sense of community and perseverance.

The Grand Traverse Anishnabek have continuously resided in these lands for hundreds of years, although severely dwindled over the course of history by treaty land cessions, Michigan statehood, the Homestead Act and the General Allotment Dawes Act of 1887. Later on, their lands became desired by big business, land developers, state, county and local governments and these speculators employed the most unscrupulous means to gain the tribal lands they greedily coveted.

Traditional means of subsistence for the Grand Traverse Anishnabek consisted of fishing, some farming, bartering of arts and crafts, some trapping and hunting and of course TRADE. The word Ottawa, generally means “trader” in the Algonquian languages.

Their lands are located in one of the most breathtakingly beautiful regions of Michigan, if not all of the Great Lakes area. It enjoys a fairly moderate climate, excellent growing seasons (about half way between the North and South Poles), teeming with beautiful lakes, rivers, rolling hills, sandy beaches, vast coastlines, forests and now; Cherry Tree orchards. The area communities of Leeland, Suttons Bay, Northport, Traverse City, Charlevoix, Frankfort, Interlochen and others are bustling with development as the well-to-do of greater Detroit and Chicago primarily, desire these expensive lands for summer homes, condos, branch business offices and the like.

In 1998 the tribal land base consisted of 450 acres of trust lands as well as recently purchased additional tribal lands, not yet in trust. They received their federal recognition in 1980, and first tribal group to do so under the conditions of the Tribal Federal Acknowledgement Process adopted by the Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1978. They adopted their tribal constitution, bylaws and corporate charter on February 24, 1998. It was a lengthy but rewarding undertaking; the end products could be a model for new or soon to be new federally recognized or reaffirmed tribal groups. The constitution is not generic but specific in nature, unlike most of the tribal constitutions developed for the most part by the federal government for adoption pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and adopted by most tribes during the mid 1930s.

Besides tribal government offices in Suttons Bay, satellite offices are located as well in Peshawbestown, Benzie, Williamsberg and Charlevoix. The tribe provides an ever-widening array of tribal membership services, including education, health, human services, housing law enforcement, elders youth, recreational, language, cultural and traditional healing programs, among others.

Gaming is now the major tribal enterprise with ancillary service industries in food and lodging. Primary goals of the tribe remain to be continuing with self-governance, hopes for self-sufficiency, cultural and language preservation and strengthening, land acquisition, repatriation of economic-base diversity.

The Grand Traverse Bands of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians remain a closely knit community, with much of the language, culture, spirituality, traditional ceremonial religious practices and means of historic subsistence still intact.

The Grand Traverse Anishnabek operate two casinos, one in Suttons Bay and one in Williamsberg. Old Eagle Town is bustling with activity and the people of Grand Traverse are enjoying much success and their economic outlook has been vastly improved in the past short twenty years.

They are not done yet though and won’t rest on their laurels. They continue to plan with thoughtful vision for the future, while coping with modern day societal problems mirrored in mainstream America, but with a foot firmly planted in their past. They cherish and honor their history, cultural and peoples.