[4] The reservation is located primarily in two non-contiguous sections on either side of the Keweenaw Bay in Baraga County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan.

The European-American community of L'Anse developed around a French fur trading post set up in colonial times at the site of an Ojibwa village on the bay.

As European-American settlers moved into Michigan in the early 19th century, the United States increased pressure on the Lake Superior Band of Ojibwa to cede their lands to allow unrestricted development.

It includes provisions and stipulations that the Chippewa retain their rights to fish, hunt and gather on these ceded lands.

The US ultimately acquired land and set up other reservations in Michigan for Chippewa based on this treaty, for instance for the Bay Mills Indian Community.

Seven hundred and sixty acres (310 ha) of forestland was transferred from The Nature Conservancy to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in 2024.

[2] Due to historic allotment under the Dawes Act of 1886, only about 36% of the land inside the reservation is owned by the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.

The Keweenaw Bay Community was among the four founding tribes of the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc. established in 1966 during a period of rising Indian activism in the United States and Canada.

Working as a group, the tribes qualified for Community Action Program grants that helped fund improvements in living conditions for their peoples.

It works to improve and preserve water quality in the lake to support fish and other natural populations.