DULUTH — The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has a new leader after the narrow defeat of two-term incumbent Kevin Dupuis Sr.
Bruce Savage, a former tribal council member and co-owner of Spirit Lake Native Farms in Sawyer, Minn., will take office in July.
Savage didn’t return messages but said in a news release that the election “reflects the voice of the people.”
His campaign materials said he hopes to strengthen the tribal community to benefit all of its members. He will take over the band as it adds cannabis cultivation and dispensing to its economic development portfolio.
Dupuis has led the band through several mining-related legal challenges to protect the St. Louis River watershed and the painstaking recovery of bones after the Minnesota Department of Transportation disrupted burial grounds in western Duluth.
He also was instrumental in the reclamation of sacred land on Wisconsin Point and the return of thousands of acres of forest land in Cloquet, Minn., from the University of Minnesota.
Under Dupuis, the band became part of a historic forest management agreement with the Superior National Forest. Before he was elected chair eight years ago, he served eight years as a tribal council member. Dupuis didn’t respond to an interview request.
Fond du Lac has about 4,200 enrolled members.
