98th ESA Annual Meeting (August 4 -- 9, 2013)

August 03 - 09, 2013

FT 15

Bdote Mni Sota: Environment and Culture At the Confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers

The mouth of the Minnesota River where it flows into the Mississippi is, according to Dakota oral tradition, a place of creation. It is also midway between the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. There are many individual sites considered to be part of this sacred district. Of these, this field trip will visit Ft. Snelling, which is of particular Dakota cultural and spiritual significance for reasons that will be explained during the field trip. During this trip, the concept of Bdote will be explored in the context of the floodplain forests that are part of the confluence of these two dynamic rivers.