Ottawa Partners with Tribes to Restore Wild Rice

By Linda Sybeldon on Sep 9, 2007

Ottawa National Forest partnered up with local tribes to establish wild rice beds in several small lakes on the Forest in an effort to restore the valuable native plant to the area.

Wild Rice (Zizania aquatica) is a very valuable native aquatic plant, with high value as both wildlife and fish habitat, and for its cultural value to area tribes. Wild Rice once occurred extensively throughout much of Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and the Western U.P. of Michigan. Over time, many wild rice beds in our area have been lost, partly due to water level changes associated with old logging dams. The Ottawa Forest Plan has an objective to "maintain or expand the quantity and ecological health of wild rice beds" on the Forest, in an effort to help restore this important aquatic plant species to some of its former range.

In 2007, the Ottawa National Forest partnered with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (LVD), the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to seed wild rice in several small lakes on the Ottawa determined to be suitable for its growth. Public input was sought on five areas initially selected for consideration, and three areas were ultimately selected for wild rice seeding. On September 6th, members of the Ottawa National Forest staff met with members of KBIC and LVD to do the seeding. Seeding efforts will continue over approximately the next 2 years in these areas, in order to have the best chance for success. We are hopeful that self-sustaining beds of wild rice can be established in these lakes, to help restore this valuable native aquatic plant to portions of the Ottawa.