Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Watch: How tree rings and community conversations are bringing fire back

On: May 1, 2025

In: burn, dendrochronology, Duluth, Evan Larson, fire, indigenous, Melonee Montano, Minnesota Point, pine, prescribed burning, scar, sea grant funded, Superior, TEK, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Wisconsin Point, wood

Research into centuries-old fire-scarred trees in northern Wisconsin is helping shape current fire management practices for tribal and state partners. The project, We are all gathering around the fire, or Nimaawanji’idimin giiwitaashkodeng in Anishinaabemowin, combines dendrochronology, Native Experiential Knowledge (NEK), and community engagement to uncover the intertwined ecological and cultural history of this Lake Superior coastal landscape.

The two-year Wisconsin Sea Grant-funded project, featured in a new video, confirmed something long known in Indigenous communities but rarely acknowledged in scientific literature: the beloved red pine forests on Wisconsin and Minnesota Points were not shaped by nature alone, but by people who used fire to care for the landscape. Red pine struggles to produce new generations without fire.

Aerial photo of Wisconsin and Minnesota Point, two peninsulas in Lake Superior.

Wisconsin and Minnesota Points are Lake Superior coastal peninsulas off the shores of Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin.

Evan Larson uses a belt sander in his workshop.

Dendrochronologist and Professor Evan Larson sands a wood sample to get it ready for the microscope.

The exclusion of Indigenous perspectives and burning practices in the forest management has led to reduced ecosystem resiliency, biodiversity, and a drop in the pine tree population. In order to prove that people, and not natural phenomena like lightning, set fires to the landscape, the team looked for centuries-old fire scars from tree samples collected on the Points. The data confirm what the team expected.

“The fires on both Points ceased abruptly after the signing of the 1842 and 1854 treaties,” said Evan Larson, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. “It is undeniable that the reason that we love the Points and protected the pine forest is because of the fires that people were setting,” Larson said. “That act of ‘protecting’ – moving people out of that space – is literally dooming the things that we’re hoping to protect.”

After two years of research, engagement, and outreach, the team has shown the importance of fire and NEK to Wisconsin and Minnesota Points. This has allowed them to take important steps to return cultural fire to the landscape.

Melonee Montano, project leader and University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Forestry Department graduate student, talks about the deep significance that Wisconsin and Minnesota Points hold to the Anishinaabe people.

Fire helps red pines, like the ones pictured here on Wisconsin Point, regenerate.

“One thing that has made this research extremely successful is the funding from Wisconsin Sea Grant, because that’s been our starting point for all of this,” says project and tribal leader Melonee Montano. Throughout the project, Larson, Montano, and their students talked to local residents about the history of fire and the possibility of returning it. “The funding made it possible for us to go out and actually build these relationships on the ground, in people’s homes, at their kitchen tables, and at the city meetings.”

Larson and Montano have been surprised by the amount of support they’ve gotten from the community. “Through this work, we’re seeing, in ways that I can’t put into words, that it’s time for fire to come back,” says Montano. The city of Superior is now in advanced discussions with fire experts from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa about burning practices on Wisconsin Point.

“A lot of this really has only been possible because of this grant, which is really weird for my mind to process,” reflects Montano. “It’s strange to think that it took a grant – a piece of paper, some money – to bring these folks together to actually start tearing down through the layers of trauma to figure out what is at the base and what really happened.”

While the Sea Grant funding has come to a close, the team continues their work supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. They will be broadening their research to encompass the whole Great Lakes region.

Watch the video here.

The post Watch: How tree rings and community conversations are bringing fire back first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/watch-how-tree-rings-and-community-conversations-are-bringing-fire-back/

Bonnie Willison

An Indigenous Story Map Experience About Water

On: November 18, 2021

In: Anne Moser, Brenna DeNamur, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, water is life

A new website is available that details what Indigenous communities in the Upper Midwest are doing to conserve and protect water. Named Bimaadiziwin Nibi, Water is Life, the story map is divided into sections, each centered around a different environmental issue. These include wild rice, fish, nonlocal beings (invasive species), mining, contaminants and beach sampling. Within each section are photos, reports and videos from tribal natural resource departments and a summary of interviews with scientists.

The project was created by Brenna DeNamur during her internship with Wisconsin Sea Grant in 2020. DeNamur, a recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, partnered with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) to develop the content in a culturally responsive manner.

Image courtesy of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission

“It’s my hope that visitors to the site will gain a better understanding of the challenges faced in the intersection of conversation efforts and tribal culture, and that they be introduced to the diverse voices working in this area,” DeNamur said.

For instance, in the nonlocal beings section, DeNamur writes, “Although Indigenous science teaches respect and consideration for all, these nonlocal beings still pose a threat to biodiversity and the individual species, such as manoomin (wild rice) and ogaa (walleye), that Native Americans have had deep relationships with for generations.”

In response, GLIFWC has taken action against nonlocal beings. They conduct surveys, control actions and follow up monitoring for both terrestrial and aquatic species. The web page details how the commission divides its efforts into prevention, early detection and rapid response, control and management, research, and cooperation and coordination.

“This story map is a great tool for understanding how the collaboration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Science methodologies can produce strategic and respectful conservation efforts concerning water throughout the Ceded Territories and beyond,” said Hannah Arbuckle, GLIFWC Outreach Coordinator.

Anne Moser, Wisconsin Sea Grant senior special librarian/education coordinator and DeNamur’s mentor, hopes to see the story map grow in the coming years. “I am grateful and honored to collaborate with GLIFWC on this project. It helped me gain a deeper understanding about Great Lakes literacy and how to incorporate Indigenous approaches into my work in education and outreach.”

“Ultimately, teaching Indigenous science is about understanding the world from different perspectives. If more people lived by this, we could sustain a healthier, more prosperous world,” DeNamur said.

To access the story map, visit go.wisc.edu/4n6n3n.

The post An Indigenous Story Map Experience About Water first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/an-indigenous-story-map-experience-about-water/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=an-indigenous-story-map-experience-about-water

Marie Zhuikov