Menominee Tribal Enterprises Board Meeting Scheduled for March 26

The Menominee Tribal Enterprises Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting Thursday evening, March 26, at 5:00 p.m., convening weeks after a fire dealt a significant blow to the organization's Neopit sawmill operation.

Jennifer Peters, president of Menominee Tribal Enterprises, had announced that a fire in the early morning of March 3 destroyed a stacker building and associated equipment at the facility. Nearly all of MTE's "stickers" were also lost in the blaze. Stickers are thin strips of wood placed between layers of sawed wood to create air space for drying. The meeting marked the board's first regular session since that incident.

MTE is owned and operated by the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin through a 12-member Board of Directors elected from the members at large. The MTE Board of Directors retains the authority to set wages, benefits, and policies of MTE and its employees in concert with the Constitution and Bylaws of the Menominee Tribe.

Menominee Tribal Enterprises has produced and manufactured sustainable forest products since 1908 and is owned and operated by the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. MTE employs nearly 300 people across its operations, with around 160 working at the sawmill during peak season.

The tribe's 235,000-acre forest is clearly recognizable in satellite images, its dense canopy surrounded by agricultural lands. About 15 million board feet of lumber is produced from the forest every year without affecting the forest's ecological balance.

The primary duties of MTE are to log, manage, and reforest tribal forest lands; to manufacture, market, sell and distribute timber, forest products and related products; and to operate subsidiary businesses concerning the subject property. That scope makes the board's oversight role central to both the tribe's economic health and the long-term stewardship of one of the most closely watched forests in North America.

The Menominee Nation's forestry operation is renowned around the world for its sustainable management. Researchers, academics and forestry experts from around the world frequently visit the Menominee Forest to learn about the tribe's techniques for maintaining one of the healthiest forests in the Midwest while sustainably harvesting lumber to support tribal members.

The Tribe posts its full public meetings calendar at menominee-nsn.gov for those wishing to track future MTE board dates.