There is a separate but equal elected judicial branch. The Band holds regular elections for a nine-member legislative council and an Ogemakaan (Elected Chief). The Little River Band operates its own constitutional government it has three parts: executive, legislative and judicial. The Band is the successor apparent to nine of the 19 historical Grand River Bands of Ottawa peoples who lived along the Thornapple, Grand, White, Pere Marquette, Manistee and its tributary Little Manistee rivers. All editions are available on the official tribal website.

Since January 1994 the Little River Band has published a monthly newspaper, Currents.

On September 21, 1994, the tribal status of the Little River Band (along with that of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians) was reaffirmed by the federal government when President Bill Clinton signed Senate Bill 1357 into law. The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians is one of 567 federally recognized tribes of Native Americans in the United States. Part of that land came back under tribal ownership in August 2000 when the Little River Band bought about 740 acres in Mason County. The new treaty provided the tribe with a reservation that included Custer and Eden townships in Mason County and Crystal and Elbridge townships in Oceana County. The treaty provided reservation lands for five years and provisions to move tribal members west beyond the Missouri River however, the parties ratified in 1855. In 1836 the United States government assigned the Ottawa to a reservation along the Manistee River by a treaty this was part of the tribe's historic range. French fur traders visited the villages during the historic period of the 17th and 18th centuries. This area around the Manistee River was long occupied by bands of Ottawa and Chippewa (Ojibwe) peoples before European colonization. They historically spoke the Odawa language, a dialect of Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), but use of this language has declined.

Other bands with federal status include the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma and several First Nations in Ontario, Canada.

The others are the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. It is one of three federally recognized tribes of Odawa people in Michigan. It is based in Manistee and Mason counties in northwest Michigan. Little River Band of Ottawa Indians ( Ojibwe: Gaaching-Ziibi Daawaa Anishinaabe) is a federally recognized Native American tribe of the Odawa people in the United States. Flag of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.

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