ESCANABA, MI (AP)-- A Native American group has asked the federal government for recognition as a tribe.
The Daily News of Escanaba reports that the Mackinac Tribal Nation filed the request with the Interior Department.
The tribe says it filed a request March 20 seeking tribal jurisdiction and recognition for land claims, hunting and fishing rights, the protection of religious freedom and other treaty obligations under the Indian Reorganization Act.
Mackinac Tribal Nation member Darrin Ranguette says the group has thousands of members in the eastern Upper Peninsula as well as in the Lower Peninsula, Indiana and Ohio.