In addition to the activities, programs, and businesses, there is the LCO Community College, a 40 acre cranberry marsh, a health clinic, youth centers, and a forest products and lumber mill. The LCO tribe owns and operates enterprises, businesses, and programs on behalf of its members and is the largest employer in Sawyer County, paying over two million dollars in federal taxes and one million in state taxes. In addition, LCO people enjoy year-round recreational activities. The LCO people continue to practice traditional subsistence by hunting, fishing, and gathering throughout the four seasons.
It is approximately 90 miles south of Duluth, Minnesota 160 miles northeast of Minneapolis and 11 miles southeast of the town of Hayward in Sawyer County. The tribe occupies approximately 69,000 acres and has recently purchased 8,000 acres adjacent to the Chequamegon National Forest.
Total tribal enrollment is nearly 6,000 members, of which 60% live in LCO in 23 different community villages. The abundance of clean water and air provides an almost pristine environment where indigenous species thrive. The reservation of the Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is located within beautiful mixed forest woods, where the broad leaf and great pine trees create extremely diversified ecosystems.
