Summer Outreach Scholar students Sarah Zieglmeier, Adam Gips and Gweni Malokofsky canoe to learn about ecological monitoring and a Manoomin restoration/reseeding project. Image credit: Deidre Peroff, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The calendar has flipped to 2024. Our staff members are already tackling new projects. Before they move too deeply into the new year, however, some staff members took a moment to retain the glow of their favorite 2023 project. Deidre Peroff, social science outreach specialist, shared her thoughts.

My favorite project from 2023 was when I took seven “Generation Z” students who are studying Manoomin (wild rice) camping near Green Bay. I was mentoring two of the students as part of Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Summer Outreach Scholar Program and the other five came from the University of Minnesota. They were also studying Manoomin and participating in summer Manoomin-related field excursions.

The Summer Outreach Scholar group enjoys an ice cream stop after a day trip. Pictured, left to right, front row: Elliot Benjamin, Adam Gips, Pipper Gallivan. Back row: Sashi White, Lucia Richardson, Deidre Peroff, Sarah Zieglmeier, Kane Farmer. Image credit: Deidre Peroff, Wisconsin Sea Grant

During four jam-packed days, we learned from Indigenous knowledge-holders about the significance of Manoomin and visited sacred cultural sites on the Menominee Indian Reservation. We met with Amy Corrozino-Lyon (University of Wisconsin-Green Bay restoration scientist) and Titus Seilheimer (Sea Grant fisheries outreach specialist) one day to learn about ecological restoration efforts of Manoomin in Oconto and did journal and poetry writing to better connect with a new plant (inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer’s work, “Braiding Sweetgrass”). We also met with Jesse Conaway (who is working with the Brothertown Nation on another Sea Grant-funded project) to participate in a traditional Manoomin appreciation ceremony, plus we saw how drones are used for monitoring Manoomin in the Lake Winnebego region.

While the students learned so much, what I think we all appreciated the most was spending time together and getting to know each other. During our three nights camping, we enjoyed cooking meals together, playing cards, telling stories by the campfire and swimming in Lake Michigan.

At night, we reflected on what we had learned that day and I enjoyed seeing the students’ newfound understanding and appreciation of Indigenous knowledge and finding a balance between Western and Indigenous science approaches to conservation, restoration and monitoring of a cultural, spiritual and ecological keystone species. When we weren’t reflecting on what we were learning during the day, we enjoyed sleeping under the stars (and storms) and finding time to decompress in nature.

 

The post Learning about Manoomin first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/learning-about-manoomin/

Deidre Peroff

A wild rice stand on the Peshtigo River. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The calendar has flipped to 2024. Our staff members are already tackling new projects. Before they move too deeply into the new year, however, some staff members took a moment to retain the glow of their favorite 2023 project. Titus Seilheimer, fisheries outreach specialist, shared his thoughts.

Call it manoomin (the “good berry”). Call it wild rice. Call it Zizania. Whatever you call it, it is a great plant species! My favorite group of projects from 2023 revolves around wild rice restoration along the west shore of Green Bay and in several rivers in Manitowoc County.

Hundreds of years ago, wild rice was abundant in the Great Lakes region, from what is now Milwaukee Harbor to all over Green Bay. Development and settlement led to declines in habitat and water quality, and associated declines in wild rice. Wild rice is an important staple for the Indigenous people of the region, with the Menominee named for it, “People of the Wild Rice.”

Titus Seilheimer (far side) and Amy Carrozzino-Lyon (left) and her crew use a seine net to capture fish for counting in a Green Bay wetlands near Marinette. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

For the second year, I have worked with Amy Carrozzino-Lyon, a professor at UW Green Bay. Amy leads the wild rice restoration project in Green Bay. We have been looking at fish use and fish assemblage in locations with and without wild rice in Green Bay coastal marshes. We had a great team this summer of college students (Sea Grant summer outreach scholars), high school students (Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin funding through UW-Green Bay) and colleagues. We set nets and pulled seines. We waited out a storm in the back of the truck and had some great times on the water.

As the weather cooled, we also planned for seeding wild rice, which is an annual plant. Although the seeds are ripe and harvested in late August to early September, seeding success is better later in the season. This keeps hungry migratory waterfowl and other species from chowing down on all the seed. We stored the rice seed underwater until late October to early November.

I helped the UW-Green Bay team with educational seeding events with the Great Lakes Explorers and the Menominee Indian High School. I also planned seeding in various ponds and habitats at Woodland Dunes Nature Center in Two Rivers. We seeded about an acre on a snowy day and the team at Woodland Dunes seeded another three acres in the West Twin River on a better weather day. We also seeded an acre of marsh in the Little Manitowoc River.

It was a great year for wild rice projects for the Manitowoc Field Office! Now, the long winter-wait to see how much germinates in the spring.

 

The post Tossing seeds and measuring fishes first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Titus Seilheimer

What did you do this summer?

A red children's toy buried in beach sand

A red toy buried in sand at Bradford Beach. Photo credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

It’s a question that, in the middle of August, might prompt panicked reexamination of how you spent the long, warm days of a fleeting season. For Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Summer Outreach Opportunities Program scholars, the answers come easily.

This summer, 12 undergraduate students from across the country spent a jam-packed 10 weeks collaborating with outreach specialists on coastal and water resources projects across Wisconsin. Scholars conducted research, engaged kids and adults and shared the stories of Great Lakes science, all while working alongside mentors to explore careers and graduate education in the aquatic sciences.

Whether they wrangled fish in Green Bay or researched green infrastructure in Ashland, scholars have much to share about how they spent their summers. Here’s the first snapshot of four projects.

 

Project: Beach Ambassador Program for Great Lakes Water Safety

When Alan Liang and his fellow beach ambassadors push their powder-blue cart across Bradford Beach in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, curious beachgoers often approach with a question: What are you selling?

Alan Lian g pushes the blue Beach Ambassador cart from the shed.

Alan Liang pushes the beach ambassador cart as he starts a shift at the beach. Photo credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

Liang explains they’re not peddling cold treats. The brightly colored cart is filled with pamphlets about beach safety, not paletas, and the team is working to build awareness around the changeable water conditions of Lake Michigan.

“Our mission is to spread information as educators about how to keep yourself safe on the beach since there are no lifeguards,” said Liang.

A collaboration between Wisconsin Sea Grant and Milwaukee-area partners, the Beach Ambassador Program began in 2021 in response to an increased number of drownings at Milwaukee beaches. Ambassadors, like summer scholar Liang, are trained to share water safety information with the public, including how to properly wear a life vest, escape a rip current, recognize water quality conditions and determine whether it’s safe to swim. Social Science Outreach Specialist Deidre Peroff serves as one of the program’s mentors.

Weather permitting, ambassadors rove the beach Thursdays through Sundays and begin each shift by gathering at their “shed” on the beach. The team then records the weather and water conditions for that day on a whiteboard: wind speed and direction, water temperature and quality and UV index. Those data then inform the conversations ambassadors initiate with beachgoers.

“For example, yesterday we had very strong winds from the northeast, which would generate a lot of longshore currents,” said Liang. “So that’s what we would talk about because that was the big concern for that day.”

Liang, a sophomore at UW–Madison majoring in computer science and environmental studies and a former math tutor, was drawn to the program because he likes teaching. “I wanted to do something a little bit more education-based, and I thought this was a great fit for me because I’ve also spent a lot of time around water.”

Approaching people, however, can be difficult. It helps that beach ambassadors move as a group, but Liang said this summer has challenged him to get outside of his comfort zone. “I feel like I’ve learned to overcome those awkward, uncomfortable situations,” said Liang.

A Beach Ambassador shows a informative flyer about longshore currents

A beach ambassador holds a factsheet about longshore currents. Photo credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

Not all outreach happens near water. In addition to pulling ambassador shifts at Bradford Beach, Liang tabled at the Green & Healthy Schools Conference and talked with other Milwaukee-based, environmental justice-focused organizations. The goal is to connect with more audiences. “This helps to promote beach safety among those who may be hesitant to go to the beach at all,” said Liang.

He is also designing a website for the program that will launch in early fall. He likes that the project melds both of his interests and shows a possible path forward in both the environmental and computer science fields.

Although the future is on his mind, Liang is also enjoying the present moment, spending the summer along Lake Michigan in his hometown.

“It’s nice to just be where you’re from and interact with the people from your community.”

 

Project: Restoration and Monitoring of Coastal Habitats

Isabelle Haverkampf and Gweni Malokofsky spent their summers the way many of us wish we could: on the water. Under the mentorship of Fisheries Specialist Titus Seilheimer, Haverkampf and Malokofsky have been working on multiple projects in the Lake Michigan watershed, including surveying fish and manoomin (wild rice) in Green Bay and collecting water quality and site assessment data at Forget-Me-Not Creek between Two Rivers and Manitowoc.

Isabelle Haverkampf in waders releases a fish into the water.

Isabelle Haverkampf releases a fish back into the water. Photo credit: Isabelle Haverkampf

A highlight of the summer was fish monitoring. For one week each month, the scholars worked with partner organizations at four sites in the bay of Green Bay in Lake Michigan, setting fykes and hauling seine nets to collect data on the species, size and number of fish caught. Prior to this summer, neither had much experience handling fish.

“I was uncomfortable holding and measuring bigger fish at the beginning, but I’ve definitely gotten much better at it,” said Haverkampf.

Gweni Malokofsky in waders holding up painted turtles

Gweni Malokofsky holds painted turtles she encountered during fish  monitoring. Photo credit: Gweni Malokofsky

Together, the team netted banded killifish, yellow perch, gar, bowfins and bullheads. Some species, Malokofsky learned, were more cooperative than others.

“The bowfins are definitely the hardest to deal with,” Malokofsky said. “If they don’t want to sit there, they won’t.”

Overall, the experience affirmed the scholars’ interest in working in the natural resources field. Haverkampf, a water science and geology double major who will graduate from Northland College in December, gained clarity about what she wants to study in graduate school.

The team measures fish caught during their survey

The team measures a fish. Photo credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

“I’ve found I really want to go into the water sciences sector, specifically in restoration or resource work,” she said, adding that she’s interested in how contaminants move through aquatic food webs.   

Malokofsky, a sophomore at UW–Green Bay majoring in biology with an emphasis in ecology and conservation, appreciated the hands-on introduction to field work. 

“I’m glad that I’m learning how to use different kinds of probes and tools and field equipment I previously haven’t had experience with,” she said.

Another perk of the experience? Knowing the best places for a peaceful paddle. Malokofsky said her family just got kayaks and canoes this summer. “Now I know some places I’d like to take them to.”

 

Project: Harvesting Manoomin as a Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy

This summer, Elliot Benjamin and Lucia Richardson immersed themselves in the stories and science of manoomin, also known as psiŋ or wild rice. Manoomin is an important food source with cultural and spiritual significance to the Native nations of the Great Lakes region but has been declining in range and abundance. Working with Social Science Outreach Specialist Deidre Peroff and partner organizations in Minnesota, the scholars participated in field work, field trips and independent study to learn how manoomin is connected to human, plant and animal communities and how those connections can help the plant thrive—despite changes in climate, water quality, land use and hydrology that threaten its existence.

Elliot Benjamin

Summer scholar Elliot Benjamin. Photo credit: Elliot Benjamin

For Benjamin, a senior at Marquette University majoring in sociology and gender studies with a minor in English, this summer was an opportunity to take a deeper dive and learn more about the ecological importance of a plant they first encountered in a Native American literature course.

“I knew some of the cultural significance and had read a little bit on my own,” said Benjamin, “but I didn’t know a lot about the biology of the plant itself and the history of the Anishinaabeg culture and all the different factors that are harming [manoomin].”

Lucia Richardson holds up a snake.

Summer scholar Lucia Richardson. Photo credit: Lucia Richardson

Richardson, a junior at Northland College majoring in nature and humanities with a minor in Native American studies, was also familiar with manoomin, having made rice knockers and participated in harvesting. This summer, she learned more about the relationships between manoomin, water quality, wildlife and the overall ecosystem.

“Manoomin is a keystone species,” said Richardson. “Manoomin in a habitat means that it’s a healthy, thriving habitat.”

Both scholars worked on capstone projects that raise awareness of the plant but also foster relationships between people.

Benjamin wrote an essay blending what they’ve learned about manoomin with reflections on their identity as a trans person.

“I wanted to take a more personal reflection approach to it,” they said, noting the capstone was a good opportunity to tap into their training in the humanities. Benjamin plans to submit the piece to an academic journal currently seeking papers about trans perspectives and ecology.

Richardson built upon an oral history project she began at Northland College transcribing and digitizing interviews with Bad River and Red Cliff tribal elders and government officials. Recorded in the 1970s, the oral histories were recently found on cassette tapes in the Northland Indigenous Culture Center and feature both personal and tribal history. Richardson is returning the tapes to tribal governments and hopes to collaborate on a future project.

As humanities students, Benjamin and Richardson appreciated how the summer exposed them to scientific topics and field work while welcoming their perspectives as nonscientists. Both are considering futures in environmental studies. Said Benjamin, “[The summer scholar experience] made it feel more attainable.”

 

Project: Environmental Video Production

Jeremy Van Mill stands in waders in a wetland, holding a camera.

Van Mill out in the field. Photo credit: Bonnie Willison

Jeremy Van Mill knows that observation is a good teacher—a lesson his summer scholar experience has helped him appreciate in a new way. Alongside video producer Bonnie Willison, Van Mill travelled across Wisconsin filming and photographing Sea Grant-funded researchers, outreach specialists and fellow summer scholars in the field. With no formal training in the aquatic sciences, Van Mill learned by watching and listening with his camera.

“One of the things I really enjoy about this position is that I am exposed to topics that I don’t have any experience with,” said Van Mill.

Van Mill, a second-year student in visual communications at Madison College, profiled the work of Aquatic Invasive Species Outreach Specialist, Scott McComb, and edited a video about groundwater flooding research on Crystal and Mud lakes in Dane County. He also edited the audio for a live performance of “Me and Debry,” a Sea Grant-funded play about marine debris, and photographed numerous events and outings.

The experience invited Van Mill to practice different ways of telling stories and producing videos. “It’s forcing me to stretch and change and reconsider the way I do things,” he said.

Fisheries Specialist Titus Seilheimer holds up a tiny brown bullhead in a container.

One of Van Mill’s favorite moments he captured this summer: Titus Seilheimer and a little, whiskery brown bullhead. Photo credit: Jeremy Van Mill

For example, letting the footage shape the story. In his previous film projects, Van Mill knew exactly what he was getting into: with script in hand, location scouted and actors rehearsed, he could plan out every shot in advance. That sort of control isn’t possible when filming in a poorly lit laboratory or on a boat in Lake Michigan, especially if your subjects move in unpredictable ways.

“You have to take a step back a little bit and stop trying to stage things or control different elements and seize the opportunities you have,” said Van Mill.

That means being present, paying attention and letting the story unfold on its own. “You’re sort of like a fly on the wall more than you’re producing video,” said Van Mill.

A close up shot of butterfly that shows all the little hairs on its body. Photo credit: Jeremy Van Mill

Van Mill’s macro photography captures small creatures up close, like this butterfly. Photo credit: Jeremy Van Mill

Speaking of flies, Van Mill films them, too. While in college, he started dabbling in macro videography and photography, meaning he films very small things. His subject of choice? Insects. Van Mill has spent hours finding and filming various critters going about their insectile agendas on beaches and in backyards.

“I learned a lot about insects by observing them,” said Van Mill. The videos reveal details people don’t usually see, like the tiny hairs on a fly’s leg or the coiling proboscis of a butterfly.

So much of the world opens up when you pay attention. Van Mill said it best: “Everyday things become extraordinary with a different angle or different perspective.”

 

The post Summer scholars dip toes into water-related careers: Part one first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Jenna Mertz

As the largest lake entirely within Wisconsin’s borders, Lake Winnebago spans nearly 132,000 acres across three counties. Fed by the Wolf and Fox rivers, it’s a place rich in significance for several tribal nations, including the Ho Chunk, Meskwaki, Fox, Sauk, Menominee, Oneida, Stockbridge-Munsee, Brothertown and others.

It is this importance to multiple nations that led Mark Denning (Oneida/Menominee) to describe Lake Winnebago and its tributaries as “international waters.” Said Jessica Ryan, vice chair of the Brothertown Indian Nation, who recounted hearing this comment from Denning, “That (statement) really stuck out to us… We know that all these nations have called these waterways home, but that was really impactful. This is how all the trading happened, and the water sustained us. It’s the lifeblood of Earth.”

Ryan is part of a team working on an effort known as the Lake Winnebago InterTribal Connectivity Project, which is receiving Wisconsin Sea Grant support during Sea Grant’s 2022-24 research funding cycle. Her partners in this work include Dr. Jessie Conaway of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Skip Blanc, a Brothertown tribal council member; and other members of the Brothertown Nation. They are joined by a vast network of partners from other Native nations, UW-Madison students, non-tribal partners, and agencies like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This large, multifaceted collaborative is focusing on revitalizing wild rice in the Lake Winnebago area.

Wild rice grows in a coastal wetland

Wild rice grows in a coastal wetland in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, in summer 2022. A collaborative effort supported in part by Wisconsin Sea Grant will consider wild rice revitalization at Lake Winnebago. (Photo: Titus Seilheimer)

While still present, particularly in Lake Poygan (just west of Lake Winnebago), wild rice is not what it used to be in the area. Ryan recounted coming across an old journal that described Lake Winnebago as “teeming with rice such that the boats could not pass.” That vivid image stuck in her mind due to its disconnect with current reality.

Project work will include assessing water quality, sediments and wild rice habitat. Said Blanc of the wide-ranging effort, “It’s going to take all of us, Native and non-native, from all spectrums of life to do this.”

Building a network, looking ahead

Ryan and the UW’s Conaway first met back in 2015 and had kept in touch. The current work on Lake Winnebago got off the ground in 2019, in part due to help from Ashley Gries, a UW graduate student at the time. “Students can really be the engines of our work and very inspirational,” said Conaway.

In 2021, the Brothertown Nation, Conaway and Gries formed a strategy and invited 12 tribal nations to come together to discuss wild rice work and Lake Winnebago; eight were able to attend. Sea Grant support began in 2022 to help keep this effort moving forward.

Gries described wild rice as a “persnickety plant” that is sensitive to environmental changes. She sees water levels, water quality, nutrient loading, sedimentation and possible user conflicts as just some of the facets for the collaboration to consider. The team will need to weigh appropriate locations for reseeding plants.

Participants in the 2022 Lake Winnebago Water Walk draw attention to water as a vital, precious resource. All are welcome at the event coordinated by the Brothertown Indian Nation, whose vice chair, Jessica Ryan, is pictured third from the left. Ryan is also a key organizer for the Lake Winnebago InterTribal Connectivity Project.

The project will take a long view, considering not only what is feasible given current conditions and uses of the lake, but also what would be sustainable over many years to come.

“I want to see the rice restored, but I don’t know if that’s practical; I don’t know if it can be done long-term,” said Ryan. Yet it is a cherished goal given the cultural importance of wild rice to many peoples (and also its importance to other living beings that depend on it).

Conaway stressed the need to organize around conservation and tribal priorities. “This area is rich with history, stories and connections. It’s a large project, and it can feel unwieldy, but we know we’re on a good path… and I’m grateful for the opportunity. We’re in it for the long haul,” she said.

The Lake Winnebago InterTribal Connectivity Project will bring together resources, equipment and knowledge from its many partners to learn as much as possible and consider future plans. To learn more, contact Jessie Conaway at jessie.conaway@wisc.edu.

The post Reviving rice: Large collaborative effort will investigate possible wild rice restoration around Lake Winnebago first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Jennifer Smith

As 2020 winds down, we asked staff members at Wisconsin Sea Grant what their favorite project was this year. Although work was a bit more challenging than usual due to our altered work circumstances, everyone managed to stay productive, and even find fulfillment.

In our last post in this series, Social Science Outreach Specialist Deidre Peroff describes her favorite project of 2020, which is the Wild Rice (Manoomin) Education and Outreach Toolkit for Lake Superior Audiences project. Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the project is in its final stages.

“The goal is to raise awareness about Manoomin, its cultural and regional significance, its ecological function and importance, and to share information about the current threats to wild rice that may impact its resilience and future,” said Peroff. “Along with two Ph.D. students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Jimmy Camacho and Sarah Dance), we also worked closely with indigenous and nonindigenous partners in the region to develop educational resources to share with broad audiences to raise awareness of Manoomin and to support parallel efforts to protect and restore it for future generations.”

Part of one of the graphics developed for the project is below. We can’t wait to see the finalized versions!

Thank you for reading this series. We wish you the best in 2021.

 

The post Sea Grant staff project faves, Deidre Peroff first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

Nancy Schuldt holds a copy of the health impact assessment document the Fond du Lac Tribe commissioned. Image by Michael Anderson.

By Elise Ertl, University of Wisconsin-Superior

Nancy Schuldt delivered her River Talk, “Promoting Tribal Health by Protecting and Restoring Manoomin (Wild Rice) in the St. Louis River and Beyond,” on Feb. 12, stressing the importance of manoomin’s presence in the St. Louis River and the benefits it creates in health, wellness and wealth.

Schuldt, the water protection coordinator with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, began by noting how the tribe approached the manoomin decline. “Science simply just isn’t enough. You need policy and reform, and to start that, we decided it was best to conduct a health impact assessment.”

Manoomin provides many health benefits physically, economically and socially. Wild rice is packed with fiber and protein, measuring much higher than white and brown rice. The harvesting of wild rice, an important tradition in Native American culture, also provides a great deal of physical exercise that adds to the health benefits of wild rice. Schuldt said that economically, the manoomin harvest adds more than $20 million to the state economy each year and supports nearly 300 jobs. The growth of wild rice also promotes increased duck populations, which in turn promotes duck hunting for economic profit.

After focusing on the benefits that wild rice supports, Schuldt described what wild rice needs to grow properly and abundantly. She used a quote that was shared by a concerned tribal member, which read, “Water is necessary for not just wild rice but us as well. It has to be clean.”

Good water quality and habitat are vital to the survival of this annual grass. Sulfate is one component being investigated because of its observed effects on wild rice. Schuldt said they are pushing for enforcing the state’s existing 10-ppm maximum of sulfate in the water, which the Band also has in its approved water quality standards. However, this can be a tough goal to achieve due to cost factors that arise for companies and wastewater treatment plants in treating their effluent. A lot of emphasis has been put on costs for the companies, but Schuldt believes the benefits of wild rice outweigh the costs.

A member of the audience asked why the water body sulfate specific standards were so important when cultivating wild rice. Schuldt delved deeper into the subject by explaining how sulfate turns into sulfide in the sediments surrounding the roots of the wild rice, which, over time, becomes toxic. The seeds then become less abundant and smaller, meaning less rice grows as the sulfide accumulates.

The next River Talk will be held at 6:30 p.m. on March 3 in conjunction with the St. Louis River Summit at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. The topic will be “Akinomaage: Teaching from the Earth,” presented by photographer and Fond du Lac tribal member Vern Northrup. He will discuss how he uses photography as a tool to educate both himself and viewers about the rhythms of nature, the preservation of tradition, and the relationship between resilience and sustainability.

 

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Wisconsin Sea Grant

The River Talk series continues at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at the Lake Superior Estuarium (3 Marina Drive, Superior, Wisconsin). Nancy Schuldt, water protection coordinator with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, will present, “Promoting Tribal Health by Protecting and Restoring Manoomin (Wild Rice) in the St. Louis River and Beyond.”

Nancy Schuldt. Image by Marie Zhukov, Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Manoomin and all the health benefits and wealth it creates are under threat from a variety of stressors. This native grain has declined substantially in its historic range on the St. Louis River and beyond. Due to the importance of manoomin to tribal health, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the state of Minnesota developed a health impact assessment to convey the importance of wild rice to Ojibwe people. Schuldt will speak on the assessment and share reflections from her career spent studying and protecting water.

The Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Minnesota and Wisconsin Sea Grant programs offer this series of informal evening talks about the St. Louis River Estuary. Everyone is invited and refreshments are provided.

Other River Talks will be held on March 3, April 8 and May 13. The March 3 talk will be held in conjunction with the St. Louis River Summit.

For more information, visit go.wisc.edu/4uz720. If you miss a talk, visit Wisconsin Sea Grant’s blog for a summary

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/promoting-tribal-health-by-protecting-and-restoring-manoomin-wild-rice-in-the-st-louis-river-and-beyond/

Marie Zhuikov