Wild rice, Zizania palustris, has been a central component of the culture of indigenous people in the Great Lakes Region for thousands of years. Unfortunately, wild rice populations have declined throughout much of the plant’s historic range, due in large part to human impacts. Based upon the 2008 report Natural Wild Rice in Minnesota, there are still many unanswered questions related to wild rice. The coauthors are incorporating traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into their wild rice research, education, and management efforts to help answer some of the remaining questions. In March of 2007, a regional wild rice strategic planning session was used to identify cultural and ecological restoration opportunities related to wild rice. Session attendees participated in a facilitated group process to identify priority regional wild rice initiatives. Participants identified regional sharing of a wild rice camp experiential learning model, creation of regional wild rice restoration and management plans, and development of wild rice small-scale harvesting and processing training programs as important priorities. In response to these results, a program was developed to fund regional participation in a fall 2007 Minnesota traditional wild rice camp and thereby foster further dissemination of wild rice cultural and ecological knowledge.

Results/Conclusions

Participant evaluations indicate that our regional efforts have increased participants’ knowledge level related to wild rice ecology, the role of wild rice in indigenous culture, traditional methods of harvesting rice, traditional methods of processing wild rice, and methods of conserving wild rice from “limited” or “basic” to “significant” or “comprehensive”. The majority of participants (86%) also indicated that our cross-cultural efforts provided them with many opportunities to exchange information with people from different cultures or communities. A 2008 rice camp hosted by one of the co-authors’s tribal community and other coalition partners demonstrated comparable results on the same learning outcomes by using a TEK framework. By listening to stakeholders, asking experienced tribal elders to assist with guiding efforts, and using innovative partnerships we are recruiting a new multigenerational and multicultural contingency that can help lead wild rice management and restoration efforts. In closing, wild rice populations are beginning a slow rebound under current substantial financial, social, and political investments into the long term viability of this critical primary producer of Great Lakes aquatic food webs.