Wild rice, also known as manoomin in Ojibwemowin, the language of the Ojibwe people, and Psiη in the language of the Dakota people, is a wild grass species that grows in lakes and rivers in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Populations of this culturally significant plant have dropped by about 6%–7% per year on off-reservation rice waters since the 1990s.
Research presented at AGU’s Annual Meeting 2023 in San Francisco showed that the plant is suffering from the combined effects of climate change and changes to the landscapes that surround rice lakes. The findings could indicate ways to steward the plant in the face of these threats.
“We’re calling for caretaking for this being as it faces these stressors.”
“We’re calling for caretaking for this being as it faces these stressors,” said Madeline Nyblade, who completed the research as part of her doctoral studies in Earth and environmental sciences at the University of Minnesota.
Nyblade’s research is part of Kawe Gidaa-naanaagadawendaamin Manoomin (First we must consider Manoomin/Psiη), a research collaboration between the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, intertribal organizations, and University of Minnesota scientists that is codeveloping wild rice research following tribal priorities. Wild rice is both an important food and an important ceremonial plant for Ojibwe and Dakota peoples.
Wild Rice in Jeopardy
Nyblade and her colleagues used data on wild rice abundance within 49 lakes in the Upper Midwest collected over 3 decades by tribal partners on the project, along with climate and land use data. The team found multiple stressors contributing to wild rice decline—but climate change was a primary concern.
Wild rice is an annual plant, meaning it grows from a seed each year rather than lying dormant during the winter. In early summer, its long leaves lie flat along the waters’ surface. At this stage, the plant is sensitive to changes in water level, because deeper waters can uproot its thin root system. Climate change has brought more early-summer precipitation to the Upper Midwest, making it harder for wild rice to survive this critical phase.
Winters in the Midwest are warming, too. Average lake ice has thinned in recent decades, and lakes are covered with ice for a shorter duration. Joe Graveen, a member of the research collaboration and the wild rice program manager for Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, remembers lake ice 4 or 5 feet (1–1.5 meters) thick in his youth. Now, he said, “you’re lucky to get 2 feet” (0.6 meter).
Nyblade’s research found that colder winters and longer ice duration relate positively to strong wild rice abundance in the following summer. That may be because colder winters hamper the growth of pickerel weed and water lilies, freeing up space for wild rice, said Graveen.
“We’ve been stewarding manoomin, or wild rice, since time immemorial.”
The Fifth National Climate Assessment, released in November, projects that warmer winters, shorter ice duration, thinner ice, and extreme precipitation events will become the norm in the Midwest.
As a result of growing partnerships with Dakota nations, the team has also begun to understand how land use changes over the past 200 years may have affected wild rice. A conversion of prairies and forests to farmlands, draining of wetlands, and urban development have “directly or indirectly contributed to the decline of manoomin,” said Bazile Panek, an Indigenous consultant with the research team and a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.
Previous research has indicated that the mining industry in Minnesota also threatens wild rice through sulfate pollution. Tribes in northern Minnesota have recently expressed concern that a proposed nickel mine could threaten wild rice in nearby lakes.
Stewarding Manoomin
Following the lead of tribal natural resource managers is the best way to care for wild rice in the face of so many threats, Nyblade said. “We’ve been stewarding manoomin, or wild rice, since time immemorial,” Panek said.
As part of wild rice stewardship efforts, the Lac du Flambeau tribe has been involved in reseeding efforts and has started to remove competing plants from some rice lakes. The traditional method of harvesting wild rice by hand also promotes its growth by allowing some of the plant’s seeds to fall to the lake bed, Panek said.
More research is still needed to fully understand what’s causing drastic declines in wild rice abundance. Panek said he wants to gather more data showing the effect of cultural burning on wild rice. “Traditional ecological knowledge can tell us that low-intensity fires near manoomin lakes contribute to the betterment of wild rice,” he said.
Above all, land managers must ensure that tribes are consulted in land management decisions to protect wild rice, Nyblade said. “This really all does come from centering tribal priorities.”
—Grace van Deelen (@GVD__), Staff Writer