Building Up Tribal Capacity for Natural Resource Management

LAC COURTE OREILLES BAND OF LAKE SUPERIOR CHIPPEWA INDIANS OF WISCONSIN

Building up the Lac Courte Oreilles Band’s capacity for natural resource management aids in monitoring and conserving culturally important native species such as wild rice, and promotes community awareness and education around the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Just over a century ago, the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe lived off the land as they had for generations: spearing ogaa–walleye–in shallow waters at night during spring spawning and gently harvesting manoomin–wild rice–from canoes day after day in the fall. Walleye and wild rice are two of three staple Ojibwe foods found in northern Wisconsin. “There was maple sugar, walleye, and wild rice,” says Melissa Lewis, wetland specialist of the Lac Courte Oreilles Conservation Department and Tribal member. “If you have those three things, you knew you weren’t dying of starvation,” she chuckles wryly.

Then, in 1921, despite vehement protestations from the Tribe, the federal government approved a dam along the Chippewa River. The resulting impoundment flooded their village, a gravesite, and the plentiful manoomin beds. And though the people of the village moved and recovered, the wild rice beds never did.

For decades, tribal members traveled miles off-reservation to harvest manoomin. “When we started the wild rice program, it was to try to build our rice beds back up within the reservation so our community members didn’t have to travel very far to get to them,” Lewis says. Now, they monitor 10 beds: 260 acres on-reservation and 985 acres off-reservation. According to Lewis, all the beds are currently viable, but it may be some time yet before they become a sustainable food source for the Tribe. “They can’t sustain a large harvest at this moment,” she says. “Eventually, they’ll be able to get there–at least we hope, depending on climate change.”

In the last year, thanks to increased funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Lewis and her team were able to spend hundreds of hours monitoring the manoomin beds: checking for fungal growth; measuring water quality, sediment, and biomass; sending samples off for laboratory analysis. The funds have allowed Tribal conservation staff to host meetings, attend trainings, and host workshops at schools around their community.

GLRI funding has helped address some conservation needs, but not all. Lewis dreams of a day when the Conservation Department is fully staffed. She knows what it would look like, too. “We would have two people in each of the major programs,” she says without hesitation. “Two in wetlands, two in forestry, two in wildlife, two in water resources.”

Resource Challenges Addressed

• Lack of conservation capacity

• Lack of access to staff training

Key Partners

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, Lac Courte Oreilles Conservation Department, Lac Courte Oreilles Fish Hatchery, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University.

Cost

$60,868

Types of Jobs Supported

Water resource technicians, wetland specialists, wetland technicians

Results and Accomplishments

Increased capacity at the conservation department has allowed staff to develop and maintain wild rice beds, attend trainings and meetings, and share knowledge with the local community.

*This story is part of a GLRI success story packet that was used in the Coalition’s 2023 Great Lakes Days, with one story from each state in the region. Read the full packet

WILD RICE BEDS

Manoomin—wild rice—is a culturally important food to the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and members are working to restore beds that were damaged by damming.

Credit: Wisconsin Wetlands Association