At Wisconsin’s northernmost point, the Red Cliff Reservation is trying to diversify tourism while preserving its native culture

Near the northernmost point of Wisconsin, 475 miles from Chicago, a sovereign tribal nation with fewer than 1,400 residents is expanding tourism in ways far removed from slot machine dings and cha-chings.

The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, also known as Ojibwe, owns about 14,500 acres and 22 miles of Lake Superior shoreline. The tribe is one of 11 federally recognized Native American communities in Wisconsin and the reservation is home to the nation’s first distillery by a Native American, the first national tribal park and a fish hatchery known for ongoing work to save an at-risk species on Lake Superior.

Although tourism quiets down after the fall colors peak, there are good reasons to visit in winter.

The search for what is different here feels like a treasure hunt that involves unpaved roads, thickets of evergreens, a stylish new health center and simple sky-blue sheds. Much feels like the work in progress that it is.

“The diversification of tourism is a struggle for us,” said Nicole Boyd, tribal chairwoman. Yet it evolves in ways that draw national attention.

Her community is building a Native American cultural center and community center that will open in 2024. A new mix of lodging and retail is expected within five years.

Boyd describes the land of her birth as the gateway to Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, which tourists view from water or on foot as weather permits. Much of the lakeshore and its 21-island archipelago is federally protected wilderness.

Count Michael John Witgen, a Columbia University history professor, among Red Cliff’s native sons. His book “Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America” was a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist in the history category. The work speaks to the struggles and resilience of Upper Midwest Indigenous nations.

Among Boyd’s governance priorities are Ojibwe language and culture preservation, education and economic development. “Gaming and camping aren’t our best economic drivers,” Boyd said.

A casino inside a pole shed along Wisconsin Highway 13 was Red Cliff’s first attempt at manmade tourism in the 1980s. The more attractive lakefront Legendary Waters Resort and Casino replaced it in 2012.

The resort’s winter lodging rates start at $80, and each of the 47 rooms faces Lake Superior. Should the Northern Lights appear, unobstructed views are a sure bet too.

Demetri Morris, Legendary Waters marketing manager, said his casino shouldn’t be the only game in town.

“Gaming is at the back of the bus,” he said. “It’s not the draw that it used to be.” So the resort’s event center lures customers in other ways, such as the upcoming Feb. 23-24 dart tournament and a March 15-17 tattoo expo. The annual Winter Powwow, Jan. 27-28, will celebrate heritage indoors. Most activities — ice fishing, dog sledding, snow snake games, animal telemetry — will be outdoors for the annual Winter Camp, whose February date will depend on weather.

Heritage means nature preservation too. Simple signage points to a dirt road that ends at 180-acre Frog Bay Tribal National Park, the first of its kind among tribal nations.

Three trails through boreal forest end at Lake Superior, where up to five Apostle Islands are visible. Markers in both Ojibwe and English identify trees, plants and wildlife along the way.

To the Red Cliff members, Frog Bay preserves ancestral homeland and generations-old stories. It’s also a pretty and serene spot to hike or snowshoe.

The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission says the land “was used for many generations as a teaching ground for plant medicine, a place for sitting out (fasting), and as a beautiful, scenic area for canoeing.”

Back at two-lane Highway 13, Red Cliff’s major thoroughfare and a Lake Superior Scenic Byway, pine trees almost hide Copper Crow Distillery. Owner Curtis Basina, North America’s first Indigenous distiller, won 2023 American Distilling Institute awards for his 1560 Bourbon Whiskey and Navy Strength Rum.

Basina makes apple brandy with cider from nearby orchards, but more unusual is the whey that goes into batches of vodka and gin.

“We’re a pioneer in the fermentation of whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking,” that others discard as waste, he said. The ingredient adds a hint of creamy sweetness to his spirits. Sometimes-complex cocktails, developed by his wife and daughter, change seasonally.

One mile away, inside a simple shed, Lance Bresette of Red Cliff Tribal Fish Hatchery is trying to save a species. “This is what 10,000 trout look like, the class of 2022,” he said, referring to when the fish were born while lifting a tank cover as minnow-sized fish scurried toward darkness.

Outdoors, walleye are raised for inland lakes in Wisconsin. Inside, the small hatchery has worked since 1995 to restore the freshwater coaster brook trout population, an at-risk species that the National Park Service says is found only in Lake Superior.

Colleague Ashley Peterson arranges free hatchery tours and volunteer stints for teens and adults. The hatchery aims to raise 50,000 trout per year, and Bresette needs help clipping fins of fingerlings to identify them when they’re caught in the wild.

“We want to know that we’re doing something (productive) and not just raising these fish for nothing,” he said.

Volunteers also help check length and weight of trout samplings. “We want to make sure we’re raising healthy fish,” he said.

Also in the neighborhood is Red Cliff Fish Co., which handles processing and pricing for the tribe’s commercial fishermen and catches whitefish, walleye, lake trout and lake herring.

“We all grew up fishing,” said Joe DePerry, business manager. “This is a spot to help keep our fish in the community,” but the plentiful whitefish are sold wholesale to Canada too.

Fish waste turns into compost at Mino Bimaadiziiwin, which means “good life” in Ojibwe. It’s a 35-acre farm that helps feed the Red Cliff tribe. Tours, offered by request, emphasize Indigenous foods, environmental sustainability and natural medicines.

Indigenous cuisine is more elusive — there’s little beyond wild rice soup and whitefish at Legendary Waters — but the culinary dive deepens on Madeline Island, a 20-minute ferry ride from Red Cliff.

This year, Bryce Stevenson, a Red Cliff tribal member, opened Miijim, or “food.” Menus are a fine dining mix of foraged ingredients and game meats, plus French wines and close-to-home beer brews.

Miijim is closed until spring, but Stevenson intends to pop up as a guest chef at other restaurants this winter.

Although Red Cliff lacks a one-stop shop for Indigenous handcrafts, its health center doubles as an art gallery. It’s “one of the few tribal clinics open to everyone from the area, including the tourists who visit,” project designer DSGW Architecture said online.

The tribe’s business directory lists artists with work for sale online or through one-to-one meetings with prospective customers.

It’s “have art, will travel” for Nathan Gordon, whose birchbark baskets and medallions, photo notecards, mugs and leather pouches are transported in large plastic bins.

Heather Deragon, tribal clerk of court, operates Frog River Designs with a daughter and niece. “We all have full-time jobs; this is our stress reliever,” she said. Beaded earrings, lanyards and ceremonial regalia have a mix of contemporary and traditional styles.

Among the area’s most-revered artists is Rabbett Strickland, whose oil paintings adorn several tribal areas. A new exhibition this month of Indigenous art at Washburn Cultural Center, 16 miles south of Red Cliff, features his work. So does Duluth-based Rabbit, Bird and Bear, an Indigenous art gallery and store that will open an additional location in Washburn, Wisconsin, in mid-2024.

Red Cliff’s biggest draw, though, are the Apostle Islands, typically viewed from afar during hourslong boat cruises that depart from Bayfield, Wisconsin, from spring through fall. Others cautiously kayak to sandstone sea caves.

When temperatures plummet, these same formations become spectacular ice caves, their beauty etched by waves and wind. Tempestuous Lake Superior often obstructs an icy, 1-mile trek from Meyers Beach, 14 miles west of Red Cliff, to the closest ice caves; the National Park Service monitors conditions closely.

Less dramatic in appearance but more protected from weather are Red Cliff ice caves, which outfitter Troy Gordon says are more accessible. Why? The water is shallower, so it freezes faster, and Frog Bay is easier to navigate.

“It’s spiritual and magical,” said Gordon, whose Apostle Islands Rustic Makwa Den, or “rustic bear den,” offers two-hour and 3½-mile ice cave tours. Guides share tribal stories about “who we are, what we believe.”

A fishing guide service called Beyond the Catch uses amphibious vehicles during ice fishing excursions. Adventure North Rentals leases snowmobiles, and maps pinpoint hundreds of groomed trails.

For more information, go to redcliff-nsn.gov or call 715-779-3700.

Mary Bergin is a freelancer.