3.02.010 Findings

The Tribal Council finds that the lands now comprising the Bad River Reservation were traditional hunting grounds for the ancestors of the Tribe; that these lands were selected as a Reservation because of their wealth of fish, game, and wild rice; that deer have been a nutritional staple for members of the Tribe for generations beyond memory; that deer continue to provide a substantial portion of the protein and other nutritional needs of the Tribe's members; that high unemployment and cash-poor local economy indicate that deer will remain critical as a food source for the Tribe's members; that pressure on the deer population by non-member sport hunting reduces the availability of deer as a food source for members; that non-members flaunting of tribal conservation laws has contributed to a decline in the reservation deer population; and that effective regulation of both member and non-member hunting of deer is essential for the preservation of the species in numbers sufficient to supply the economic and nutritional needs of the Tribe's members.