<P> The tribe's government includes an elected governing body consisting of a tribal chair and six tribal council members; they are elected by the enrolled members of the Grand Traverse Band . The band has programming, fiscal and administrative authority . The council also appoints judicial officers who decide criminal, family and civil matters in conjunction with the state court . </P> <P> The water resources within the 1855 reservation area include Grand Traverse Bay, the eastern shore of Michigan, Lake Leelanau, Elk Lake, and their watersheds . Other natural resources of importance include undeveloped forested parcels and areas of traditional and cultural hunting, fishing and plant gathering . </P> <P> The Grand Traverse Band's Natural Resources Department is made up of a department manager, game wardens, Great Lakes fishery biologists and technician, fish and wildlife biologists and technician, environmental and water quality staff, and an office manager . </P> <P> Ottawa, Chippewa and Potawatomi Indians are Algonquian - speaking peoples who migrated from the east coast settling around the Great Lakes throughout Canada, and the Midwest of what became the United States: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota . Today they have federally recognized reservations of communal land only in Canada, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota . During the 19th century, they were forced to cede most of their land to the governments of Canada and the United States . </P>

Grand traverse band of ottawa and chippewa indian reservation in northern michigan