Menominee Tribe seeks letters of interest for Conservation Commission seat

A seat on the Menominee Conservation Commission carries real authority over how land, water and wildlife are managed on the reservation, and the tribe asked members interested in that role to send a letter of interest by 12 p.m. March 18 to the MITW Chairmans Office.

The notice, posted April 17, came as the commission’s work remained central to daily life in Menominee County. The body helps shape regulations on hunting, trapping, fishing and ginseng gathering, rules that affect members who rely on the land for food, income and tradition as much as for recreation.

Those regulations are not symbolic. The tribe’s hunting and fishing rules say state hunting and fishing laws do not apply within the exterior boundaries of the Menominee Indian Reservation or on other land owned by the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. Under Chapter 287 of the Menominee Conservation Code, the Menominee Conservation Commission develops the rules, and the Menominee Tribal Legislature gives final approval.

That governance structure places the commission close to decisions that reach beyond one vacant seat. The tribe’s current Conservation Committee roster lists Jonathan Pyatskowit as chairperson, Doug Cox Sr. as vice-chairman, Gilbert Mendez Jr. as secretary, and Steven Dick, Gary Frechette and Ma-Sha-Quit McPherson as community members.

The conservation system also includes a staffed department. The tribe lists Rashawn Bell, Richard Irving, Nathan Miller, Willard Waupoose Jr. and Chad Wilber among its conservation wardens, along with Conservation Director Maniyan Pyawasay and office manager Carrie Waukau Grignon. Together, the commission and department sit at the center of enforcement, natural-resource policy and public access on tribal land.

The timing matters in a place where forests remain part of the tribe’s identity and economy. Menominee historical materials say the tribe’s presence in Wisconsin dates back 10,000 years, that it once occupied about 10 million acres, and that its land base has been reduced to a little more than 235,000 acres today. Those same materials trace the 1908 La Follette-era forestry system, which established selective logging based on sustained-yield practice and helped support tribal institutions including a hospital, trade school, police force and justice system.

The April 17 notice also fit a broader pattern of governance recruitment on tribal boards. The tribe posted a similar Conservation Commission interest notice on Sept. 1, 2025, and police commission interest notices on April 2, 2026. Taken together, the postings point to a recurring appointment process, one that gives tribal members a direct opening into decisions that shape stewardship, access and enforcement across Menominee land.