Federal judge rules roads to non-tribal homes on Lac du Flambeau reservation can't be blocked

A federal judge has ruled that the United States cannot restrict access to four specific roads on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation .

Judge William Conley also ordered Thursday that the U.S. provide a copy of his order to the tribe and to encourage the tribe to eliminate any barriers or restrictions on the roads until litigation is complete.

Tribal authorities in January 2023 barricaded four roads on the reservation, restricting access to dozens of non-tribal properties located within reservation boundaries.

Tribal officials said the roads were illegally built decades earlier and the lease to use them had expired more than 10 years earlier. Tribal officials said they believed they were ignored when attempting to renew the leases with non-tribal entities.

In May 2023, the United States filed a lawsuit against the town of Lac du Flambeau on behalf of the tribe for trespassing.

The tribe had reopened the roads since then, under an agreement in which increasing monthly payments would be paid by the non-tribal town of Lac du Flambeau. But non-tribal town officials recently said they were unable, not unwilling, to keep paying the fee.

The resolution of the 2023 lawsuit is pending.

More: Town asking if Wisconsin will give back land to Lac du Flambeau to settle road use dispute

Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@gannett.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank .

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Federal judge rules roads to non-tribal homes on Lac du Flambeau reservation can't be blocked