Field Notes on Climate

Ami Eckard-Lee: Our connection to food is a lot deeper than just eating to survive.

Food invokes memories.

It is a way to express ourselves, where we come from, and what we believe in.

Food is part of cultural identity for people all over the world.

For example, wild rice, known as manoomin in the Anishinaabe language, is a significant part of Anishinaabe culture.

But it’s becoming harder to find and harvest due to climate change and other human impacts.

But how exactly does climate change impact culture and community?

And what can we do to protect these traditional foods?

[bright music] Northern wild rice, or manoomin, is a species native to the Great Lakes region.

For hundreds of years, this species has grown in the shallow waters of lakes and slow-flowing rivers, and has been a traditional food source for First Nations people.

However, climate change has impacted wild rice habitat and is making it difficult to grow and harvest.

As people lose access to foods that were once abundant and a significant part of their diet, they begin to lose their food sovereignty.

Food sovereignty is a person’s right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods.

It is the power to have control over your food, where it comes from, and how it is grown.

But why is food sovereignty so important?

Sagen Quale: Food is medicine.

What we put into our bodies and the way in which we harvest and grow it is really important.

Manoomin is just so central to Anishinaabe or Ojibwe identity that really with, like, a loss of manoomin, people have felt, like, a loss in that identity.

I always think back to our migration story.

Ojibwe people were originally on the east coast of Turtle Island.

They were given a prophecy to say that in order to continue to, you know, survive and thrive and live, you need to go to where the food grows on water.

People say it took a couple hundred years to move all the way from the East Coast to the Great Lakes region.

And once we got here is when Ojibwe people came to find manoomin, the good berry, wild rice.

So, I was taught that that rice is really special.

Passing along the knowledge of manoomin is something that was done for me, and that is what I need to do for others.

– Wild rice plays a significant role not just in Anishinaabe culture, but also within its own ecosystem.

It helps stabilize the banks of lakes and rivers by holding sediment in place with its root system.

It filters the water.

It provides habitat for fish and waterfowl and food for birds, insects, and people.

It’s a vital part of the ecosystem.

But as the ecosystem changes, this species is having a hard time growing where it used to thrive.

So, what exactly is causing this decline?

Let’s get down in the weeds and talk to some researchers from the UW-Madison Center for Limnology, who are working up at the Trout Lake Station in northern Wisconsin.

What does your research focus on?

Gretchen Gerrish: I think our project started on wild rice, with the more recent declines.

So, for the last five years, we’ve been surveying populations to look at which populations are doing well, which ones have experienced decline, and which ones may be threatened.

There’s a lot of questions about the seed storage.

So, rice that falls one year can actually fall into the mud and sit there for many years before it germinates.

Ami: Oh!

– Yeah.

A lot of annual plants have seed banks.

– What does annual plant mean?

– The difference between an annual and a perennial plant is that annual plants grow from seed each year.

A perennial plant can actually have a root that stays in the dirt or in the lake, and then it’ll start growing out of that existing root structure.

So, based on that seed bank question, and we’ve also been taking sediment cores.

And so, this is where you just take a tube and shove it down in the mud, cap it off.

You pull it up and you sieve it.

And then you look at how many seeds are in a section of sediment, how deep they are in that sediment.

And that gives you an idea of how much seed goes from one year to the next, or how much goes from fall to summer.

So, it’s common in a sparse population like this, where your core might contain no seeds.

– So, what changes are happening in the environment that threaten wild rice growth?

– Climate’s threatening the wild rice.

Water level rise and fall is definitely one.

And those are two big ones.

But the other ones are herbivory.

And then, of course, wave action.

You know, if you have rice on a lake where there’s boats creating big waves, it can uproot the plants.

Ray Allen: And I think there has been worries about people because you can get a state permit to harvest wild rice.

You don’t have to be a tribal member to do it.

Is that, people just don’t know the techniques.

And yet, since it’s, like, such a delicate plant.

And it’s, as Gretchen mentioned, it’s annual.

Like, if you lose that seed that one year, you’re not gonna have it the next year.

– Yeah.

– And you’d have to rely on your seed bank.

– Yeah, I think when we get into discussions about loss of wild rice too, the loss of human connection to the rice over the years, there’s a lot of knowledge about harvesting.

So, if you harvest rice before it’s ripe, the seed that falls can’t actually germinate for the next year.

And so, there’s a timing for harvest that’s very, very important to think about.

And so, having that deeper understanding of when it’s ready to harvest is knowledge that needs to come forward to help protect the rice.

Ami: Climate change and other stressors, such as human impact, are causing wild rice beds to decline.

But losing manoomin isn’t an option for those dedicated to protecting this species.

Let’s meet up with Kathy Smith, a strong advocate for wild rice, to learn why the species is so important for its ecosystem and how we can help protect it.

Can you tell me a little bit about the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission?

Kathy Smith: So, what we do is we help our 11 member tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan with their hunting, fishing, and gathering rights for off reservation only.

– Manoomin, it’s wild.

But you are stewarding it.

What does that look like, and how do you monitor it?

– What we also do at GLIFWC, is we do aerial photos.

We fly over, you know, parts of Minnesota, parts of Michigan and northern Wisconsin here within the ceded territories.

So, we continue to monitor, you know, rice from the air.

We have all these tools that are given to us to be able to, you know, work alongside that Ojibwe knowledge.

– What changes have you seen?

– I’ve seen some beds really decline where they were not doing too well.

It’s a indicator species that really tells us what’s going on, you know, within this natural environment.

If it’s not doing so well, something could be impacting it by pollution, invasive species, or even water quality.

But that’s what happens, you know, when we have the shifting of the seasons or of the climate, you know, just really impacting some of these rice beds.

– What kinds of restoration projects do you do?

– So, the types of restoration projects that we do is we get the seed from the rice and then go and spread it in areas that, where it’s sparse to help things along.

So, that’s what the purpose of reseeding, you know, today is to be able to, you know, put the rice where there was a little bit sparser, maybe build up the density for the rice.

So, for our future, I hope our kids get really excited about good, clean food, and food sovereignty, I think, is a big thing.

This is our grocery store right here.

You know, we got a lot of wonderful foods and medicines.

– You just have to know what you’re looking at.

Climate change is a threat to food sovereignty everywhere, not just for Indigenous food systems.

But there are ways we can support and protect these resources.

Be conscious of where you get your food, and make sure you’re obtaining it from a sustainable source that prioritizes the health and care of the ecosystem as a whole.

Participate in restoration efforts, such as reseeding events, in the places that you live or visit, and advocate for regulations that protect sensitive habitats and encourage others to learn about the species that live and grow in their communities so that they can be better stewards of these areas too.

Food is part of cultural identity.

By protecting our environment, we’re also preserving heritage, traditions, and communities.

So, know where your food comes from, how it’s harvested, and ways that you can help protect it so you can continue eating it for years to come.

[bright music] – Videographer: I’m rolling.

– Okay.

What’s the vibe?

Casual?

Producer: There’s a snake.

[water splashes]