The Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe () is one of six federally recognized bands of Ojibwe people located in present-day Wisconsin. It had 7,275 enrolled members as of 2010. The band is based at the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation in northwestern Wisconsin, which surrounds Lac Courte Oreilles (Odaawaa-zaaga'igan in the Ojibwe language, meaning "Ottawa Lake"). The main reservation's land is in west-central Sawyer County, but two small plots of off-reservation trust land are located in Rusk, Burnett, and Washburn counties. The reservation was established in 1854 by the second Treaty of La Pointe.
The Lac Courte Oreille ceded land under a treaty they signed with the United States in 1837, the 1842 Treaty of La Pointe, and the first 1854 Treaty of La Pointe. The tribal reservation has a land area of , including the trust lands and a population of 2,968 persons as of the 2020 census. The most populous community is Little Round Lake, at the reservation's northwest corner. It is south of the non-reservation city of Hayward, the county seat of Sawyer County.
Reservation
Lac Courte Oreilles is a land which is almost entirely covered by a forest and several lakes. To the northeast and east of Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation is Chequamegon National Forest, which was established in 1933 during the Great Depression. White-owned lumber companies had cleared the land of the trees earlier in the century and, during the Depression, Civilian Conservation Corps workers planted new trees.
Today, both the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation and Chequamegon National Forest are recovering from the clear-cutting conducted by the lumber companies. Numerous lakes are within the borders of Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation or border it, including Ashegon, Blueberry, Chief, Cristner, Devils, Green, Grindstone, Gurno, Lac Courte Oreilles, Lake Chippewa, Little Round, Little Lac Courte Oreilles, Pokegama, Rice, Scott, Osprey, Spring, Summit, and Tyner lakes.
Within the Reservation borders is the protected Grindstone Creek State Wildlife Management Area. Wild rice, called manoomin in Ojibwe language, grows on many of the waterways on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation. Citizens of the Reservation still harvest it in the traditional way and it is one of the staples of the community.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the combined reservation and off-reservation trust land have a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Reservation demographics
Lac Courte Orellies is one of several reservations that has a relatively large non-Native population within its borders. Broken treaty promises allowed settlement by white squatters and the US allowed them to stay.
As of the census of 2020, the combined population of the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation and off-reservation trust land was 2,968. The population density was . There were 2,102 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the reservation and off-reservation trust land was 72.3% Native American, 21.3% White, 0.2% Black or African American, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.2% from other races, and 6.0% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 1.7% Hispanic or Latino of any race.
According to the American Community Survey estimates for 2016-2020, the median income for a household (including the reservation and off-reservation trust land) was $33,590, and the median income for a family was $49,706. Male full-time workers had a median income of $30,801 versus $28,974 for female workers. The per capita income was $19,251. About 27.5% of families and 33.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 45.4% of those under age 18 and 13.6% of those age 65 or over. Of the population age 25 and over, 90.0% were high school graduates or higher and 15.3% had a bachelor's degree or higher.
Government and economy
The band is federally recognized as a tribe and has its own elected government, consisting of a chairman and tribal council. Members are elected from enrolled members of the tribe and elected to serve four-year terms with elections staggered every two years.
It owns and operates a tribal college, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, located in Hayward. The Tribe owns and operates the Sevenwinds Casino, to generate revenue for its people's welfare. It also operates a community radio station, WOJB-FM.
The reservation hosts an "Honor the Earth" Pow Wow every summer. Rock drummer Mickey Hart's recording of some of the performers, Honor The Earth Powwow--Songs Of The Great Lake Indians, became a minor national hit in 1991.