In honor of wetlands month

 Until recently, I was unaware that May is American Wetlands Month. As a waterfowler, wetlands are one of my favorite places. Ducks, geese, swans, shorebirds, and others depend on wetlands. So do the rest of us who live on planet Earth. Someone whom I have been helping restore a nearby river shared an email a few days ago on videos of Wisconsin Tribes: Leading the way in protecting and restoring wetlands and watersheds. Today, as part of wetlands month, I want to pay forward that sharing. I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I have, even more, maybe. The summaries below the photo come from an Outreach Toolkit for the videos.

a neighborhood wetland->Sunrise River->St. Croix River

Photo by J. Harrington

Protecting our Waters: Wetland Conservation and the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, located on the southern shore of Lake Superior in the northernmost tip of Wisconsin, retains a strong cultural connection to the waters and lands of the region. Tribal members use a wealth of natural products from wetlands including fish (gigoonh), blueberries (miinan), cranberries (aniibinim, mashkiigimin), wild rice (manoomin), and many traditional medicines and plants used in ceremonies. Protection of tribal wetlands and the associated cultural resources and natural benefits like clean water and flood protection is critical for the health and welfare of tribal members. Learn how the Tribe recently increased its investment in these critical resources by establishing a wetland program to protect, monitor, and manage wetlands for future generations.

Keywords: wetlands, water, Bayfield, Superior, Red Cliff, tribes, watershed, Bayfield County, culture, tradition, Chippewa, Anishinaabe, flooding, water quality, protection

                             

Water is life: Wetland conservation and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

For the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Northern Wisconsin, water is life. Protecting water means protecting the watersheds that provide water for their Reservation and people from top to bottom, including uplands, floodplains, and globally important coastal wetlands along Lake Superior. It also means carefully monitoring their land and water resources and developing programs and policies to protect these resources for future generations. As a result of these efforts, the Tribe is protecting water quality, alleviating flooding, protecting habitat for fish and wildlife, and providing natural resources for their people’s sustenance and cultural practices.

Keywords: wetlands, protection, restoration, Bad River, tribes, manoomin, wild rice, flooding, water quality, habitat, Superior, Ashland, Chequamegon, Ashland County, Mashkiiziibii, Chippewa, Anishinaabe

 

Preserving a way of life: Wetland conservation and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

The ancestors of today’s Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Northern Wisconsin followed a prophecy telling their people to travel westward to seek a new home “where the food grows on water.” The vast beds of manoomin (wild rice) growing in what we now call the Kakagon-Bad River Sloughs on Lake Superior signaled to the travelers that they’d found this new home. Today, the Sloughs, which have received global recognition for their ecological and cultural importance, continue to provide the natural resources to meet the tribe’s physical and cultural needs.

Keywords: wetlands, protection, restoration, Bad River, tribes, manoomin, wild rice, migration, Superior, Ashland, Chequamegon, Ashland County, Mashkiiziibii, Chippewa, Anishinaabe

 

Managing watersheds in an age of climate change: Wetland conservation and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

Our climate is changing. Along the shores of Lake Superior in Northern Wisconsin, one signal of these changes is the intense storm events that in recent years have dropped many inches of water in just a few hours. The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians is working with nature to help manage these changes. By protecting wetlands within the watersheds on their Reservation, Bad River is helping manage water from these big storms. Wetlands help slow the flow of water, disperse its energy, and allow the water to soak into the ground, which replenishes groundwater. These areas also provide habitat for wildlife and a more resilient tomorrow for future generations.

Keywords: wetlands, restoration, climate change, Bad River, tribes, watershed, flooding, erosion, water quality, Superior, Ashland, Chequamegon, Ashland County, Mashkiiziibii, Chippewa, Anishinaabe

It’s truly unfortunate that in Minnesota, one of our congressional representatives [“mine" he typed in disgust] is putting at risk the wetlands and watersheds of the Boundary Waters and other watersheds in northern Minnesota in his efforts to toady to the mining interests up north. I wonder if there’s a way to make him watch the videos and follow the examples of Minnesota’s Ojibwe.

Praise the Rain

by Joy Harjo

Praise the rain; the seagull dive
The curl of plant, the raven talk—
Praise the hurt, the house slack
The stand of trees, the dignity—
Praise the dark, the moon cradle
The sky fall, the bear sleep—
Praise the mist, the warrior name
The earth eclipse, the fired leap—
Praise the backwards, upward sky
The baby cry, the spirit food—
Praise canoe, the fish rush
The hole for frog, the upside-down—
Praise the day, the cloud cup
The mind flat, forget it all—

Praise crazy. Praise sad.
Praise the path on which we're led.
Praise the roads on earth and water.
Praise the eater and the eaten.
Praise beginnings; praise the end.
Praise the song and praise the singer.

Praise the rain; it brings more rain.
Praise the rain; it brings more rain.

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