By GRAHAM JAEHNIG

gjaehnig@mininggazette.com

BARAGA — At the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community 45th Annual Maawanji’iding Pow Wow last week, Erin McKenney was asking visitors if they were interested in taking a survey. The three-page survey asked respondents questions about their use of the land and its resources. McKenney’s questionnaire had a specific focus.

“I’m focusing on the importance of Indigenous Knowledge and Environmental Stewardship, specifically in manoomen restoration,” she said.

McKenney is a third-year student at Michigan Tech, majoring in Applied Ecology and Environmental Science.

“I am a SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) student,” she said, “which comes from Michigan Tech and it sponsors the research I’m doing in partnership with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.”

The KBIC has been conducting a program of manoomin restoration for more than a decade. Manoomin is the “food that grows on the water,” according to the KBIC Natural Resources Department webpage.

It is central to the Anishinaabe cultural identity, traditions and livelihood, states a 2020 draft report, Lake Superior Manoomin: Cultural and Ecosystem Characterization Study. The Manoomin harvest is critical to Anishinaabe culture and is part of longstanding traditions. The harvest is a major community activity that strengthens bonds within the community and within families.

Families and friends work together, and children and elders come together to harvest. This tradition is passed down through generations and links the past to the present, providing intergenerational connections and allowing young people to understand their heritage and history.

The study goes on to say that manoomim is also recognized as a preferred source of food for migrating waterfowl and has high ecological value for both wildlife and fish habitat. It can also help to maintain water quality by securing loose soil, tying up nutrients, and slowing winds across shallow wetlands. The amount of wild rice in the western U.P. has declined from historic levels due mainly to water fluctuations from hydro dams and degradation of water quality from logging and shoreline development over the past century.

To help combat that situation, Tribal Business News reported on March 28, 2022, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) Office of the Great Lakes on March 9 announced a $100,000 grant to the University of Michigan Water Center to support the creation of a collaborative wild rice stewardship plan. The call for the plan originated from the Michigan Wild Rice Initiative Team (MWRIT), which includes representatives from various state departments and each of the 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administation, one of the sponsors of the program, in a March 22, 2023 report titled Monitoring and Restoration of Coastal Wetlands Manoomin, stated that the first step was to convene a workshop that involved Lake Superior tribal communities, tribal agencies and federal, state and local partners to identify the issues surrounding wild rice restoration and monitoring efforts.

McKenney said that Indigenous Knowledge, which is important in environmental work, because it is applicable to the land, is knowledge that the tribe possesses. Indigenous Knowledge is being integrated with western science in order to raise awareness about the cultural and ecological importance of restoring local wild rice populations, stated Sea Grant in 2018.

Sea Grant and NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management joined efforts to fund an outreach project focused on wild rice in the Great Lakes region.