LANSING — Building on longstanding partnerships with Indigenous nations, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is increasing efforts to restore native wild rice, or manoomin, across the Upper Peninsula and beyond — part of a broader, statewide movement among Michigan’s tribal nations to revive the sacred “food that grows on the water.”
The DNR’s Wildlife Division has worked with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community for more than a decade to seed thousands of pounds of manoomin in western U.P. waters and recently expanded projects to the east. This year, the DNR finalized a seeding agreement with the Bay Mills Indian Community and is working toward a similar agreement with the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, according to the department.
Fifty-eight participants from multiple state departments attended a two-day August manoomin camp at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center in Roscommon, the DNR reported. Tribal instructors from Bay Mills, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Cree Nation and the Gun Lake Tribe led sessions on ceremony, harvesting tools, seed care and processing.
“The goal of the camp was to raise awareness of the ecological importance of manoomin on the landscape, as well as the cultural and spiritual significance of wild rice,” said organizer Bill Scullon, a U.P.-based field operations manager for the DNR’s Wildlife Division. “We want to work with our tribal partners whenever we can.”
Manoomin — Ojibwe for “the good berry” — is a native aquatic grass that thrives in shallow, slow-moving waters, provides energy-rich food for migrating waterfowl and remains central to Anishinaabe culture and food sovereignty.
“With the continued decline of wild rice across many of our lakes and rivers, I often reflect on the teaching, ‘If we don’t use it, we lose it,’” said Kathleen Smith of…
Hugh Kane/The Williams Record 
Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans and other tribal people will be attending an inaugural powwow at Darrow School. 
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Returning to their homeland is a transformative act of reconnection, healing, and spiritual renewal, Homelands PowWow board members said in a recent interview. 