Star Tribune
Grand Marais maple syrup producers tap into trouble with Minnesota DNR
Selling bikes is interesting, but being in the woods in spring, gathering maple sap, is addictive, a distinction Mark and Melinda Spinler know well.
The Spinlers live about 7 miles outside of Grand Marais, the small town on the North Shore that was more quaint than trendy when the couple moved there in 1984.
Mountain biking wasn’t yet a thing when the Spinlers arrived in Grand Marais. But they were into it, and opened the town’s first bike shop, which they operated for about 30 years before selling it.
Now, instead of two-wheelers, they peddle wood-burning stoves. Also, Mark has a chimney-cleaning business. And together, come March, he and Melinda, both 65, decamp to two relatively small stands of maple trees — one they own and one the state owns — to begin a process that will produce about 270 gallons of syrup, which they market to local businesses.
“Northern Minnesota is a wonderful place to live,” Melinda said. “But a hard place to make a living.”
Mark Spinler returns his chain saw to the sugar shack on his Grand Marais, Minn., property after trimming some downed limbs that had fallen on the network of tubing he uses to collect sap from maple trees. (Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
It’s the syrup business that has embroiled the Spinlers in a standoff with the Department of Natural Resources that speaks to a larger debate about public lands and their proper use. Similar issues have affected northeast Minnesota residents since at least 1926, when the border region that would become the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was first established as a roadless area.
But the Spinlers’ brouhaha has nothing to do with paddling or camping.
At issue instead is a 13-acre tract of relatively isolated state land adjoining their property that they have leased from the DNR for about 25 years.
Six years after purchasing 1,200 acres of land just north of Rochester, the Prairie Island Indian Community has secured federal approval to recognize a portion of the land as sovereign tribal territory.
The decision, announced earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, puts 400 acres of the Elk Run property the tribe owns into a federal trust, granting the tribe the tax benefits and other protections afforded to tribal lands. It also raises the possibility of the site being used for a casino.
While the tribe said it has no immediate plans to develop the land, its application noted the potential need to build an “emergency gaming facility” on the site in the event a disaster impacts operations at Treasure Island, the casino and resort it owns near Red Wing. The interim casino would be built inside a 22,000-square-foot bar on the property that is now vacant.
The approval from the Bureau of Indian Affairs also opened the possibility for a permanent casino to be built on the site after a six-year forbearance period “should the Tribe determine additional Tribal economic income and employment opportunities are needed.”
For years, the tribe has raised concerns about catastrophic flooding impacting the reservation, including the casino, the tribe’s primary source of revenue. The tribe has also expressed worry about the presence of a nuclear generating plant, one of the oldest in the country, located about 700 yards away from the casino.
“[T]he funds generated by the emergency interim gaming facility will allow the Tribe to continue its critical governmental functions in the event of a closure of its main casino as a result of a natural or nuclear disaster,” reads the decision from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. “The Elk Run Site will become the Tribe’s lifeline in such an event and will serve as a means of recovery for the Tribe should such an event occur.”
As the tribe prepares its contingency options for keeping its gaming operations afloat, it is also awaiting approval for a second application covering the remaining 800 acres it owns near Pine Island.
Those plans center on housing for tribal members, which the tribe has said was its primary reason for purchasing the site in 2019 for $15.5 million. The tribe has about 1,100 enrolled members, about 150 of whom are on a waiting list for housing on the reservation.
For the first time since at least before the pandemic, tour groups will go through the Alexander Ramsey House in St. Paul on Dec. 26.
Tours of the historic mansion had previously been suspended on that date in recognition of the mass hanging in 1862 of 38 Dakota men outside Mankato while Ramsey was governor.
Officials with the Minnesota Historical Society, which owns the 19th Century house and 25 other historic sites across Minnesota, said tickets were sold for four Candlelight Christmas tours this year after new staff members were “unaware” of the practice to not conduct tours on that date.
Ben Leonard, the nonprofit’s vice president of historic sites said in a statement that it has been “practice, but not policy,” to not hold programming Dec. 26. Leonard said the Historical Society’s officials decided not to cancel the Dec. 26 tickets and issue refunds, but instead, address “Minnesota’s complex history” during the tours.
“December 26th marks a very painful anniversary for Native American communities,” he said in a statement. “At the Minnesota Historical Society, we recognize the tragedy of this day and the generational impact of the mass execution and exile of the Dakota people from Minnesota.”
That’s not good enough, said Josie Bergmann, a tour guide at the Ramsey House for the last five years.
“It is deeply disappointing,” she said. “No. 1, that we didn’t recognize this error. And, then, that it’s still going to go on. It sends a bad message. ‘We can’t cancel it. Let’s just hide it.’”
The Minnesota Star Tribune sent emails Friday asking Historical Society officials, including director and CEO Kent Whitworth, whether they consulted with Native American officials before deciding to continue the tours. None responded.
The St. Paul officer who shot a man in the arm while responding to a call of a physical and sexual assault this January will not be charged by county prosecutors.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office determined Friday that Joshua Needham, a St. Paul officer with 11 years of experience, was justified in shooting Brett Kohl Fraser during that January assault call. Needham was placed on administrative leave after the shooting, a standard practice for police shootings investigated by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Fraser, who was hospitalized and later released, was arrested shortly after the incident but was not charged.
County Attorney John Choi agreed with prosecutors’ decision through a memo released with Friday, adding that his office expects public portions of the BCA’s investigation will be publicized as soon as possible.
Needham shot Fraser on Jan. 6 while responding to reports of a physical and sexual assault on the 400 block of Thomas Avenue W. The caller warned that the assailant was armed with a handgun, and that a woman was screaming.
The St. Paul Police Department released body-worn camera footage of the shooting days later, showing Needham and officer Ryley Reschke outside the apartment with guns drawn. They knock and a woman opens the door, sobbing as she and shuffled past.
Reschke pointed his gun into the apartment, ordering Fraser to come out and show his hands as Needham waited in the hallway. Both officers back up as Fraser runs out of the apartment and Reschke yells “he’s got something!”
Needham fired three rounds before Fraser fell to the ground and the video footage ends. One shot hit Fraser in the arm. After reviewing the footage, officer statements and other evidence, prosecutors said Needham was in reasonable danger when firing his weapon.
“Based on what they knew, Officers Needham and Reschke reasonably asssessed a potentially dangerous situation as they arrived at the door to Apartment No. 1 and took prudent measures to minimize that danger,” Prosecutors’ memorandum read.
