The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (LDF) will be hosting a public information meeting at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, April 22 in the Shullsburg High School gymnasium in Shullsburg for the purpose of updating area residents and officials on the status of the Tribe’s Federal Fee to Trust Land Application for a casino resort facility in the community.
    Representatives of the Tribe, led by Tribal President Tom Maulson and Project Manager Duane Chapman will be discussing the results from new feasibility studies, the preliminary project renderings, the status of the Federal Trust Application and the Environmental Impact Study. The program will feature tribal officials, the LDF Veterans Color Guard and the LDF singers. A press reception will be held immediately following the event.
    The Tribe has formally submitted its second trust land application for the purposes of building a casino resort facility on 20 acres of the 90 acres of land it owns in Shullsburg. The first attempt for a casino was filed in 2001, but after a revision in the way the law was interpreted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in 2008, that application and virtually all
other applications pending at the time, were declined. The Obama Administration rescinded the change in 2011 and is once again processing applications. After meetings with local officials and a related Tribal Referendum, the Lac du Flambeau Tribe is proceeding with a new application.
    In a recent letter to city officials, President Maulson reiterated the Tribe’s appreciation to the citizens of the community and pledged that this application “will be the best it can be.” He went on to say, “The process takes much longer than any of us would like but the upside for Shullsburg and the Tribe is that when we’ve built this thing it will go a long way toward our mutual goal of meeting the unmet needs of our communities.” 
    The April 22 meeting is open to the public. Additional background information can be found at the Tribe’s website at www.ldftribe.com. Click on the Shullsburg link.