Wild Rice Conference

August 7-10, 2006
Watersmeet, MI

Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have significant populations of wild rice, or manoomin, as the Ojibwe Indians call it. Wild rice populations, however, have declined throughout much of the plant’s native range, due in large part to human impacts.

The wild rice restoration and preservation conference will bring together Native American communities, universities, community colleges, nonprofit groups, tribal and local governments, and federal and state agencies to share information and ultimately restore rice populations.

This joining together brings hopes that each person will share knowledge and take away new knowledge about wild rice. Topics will include identification, harvesting, restoration and management of abundant and threatened species of wild rice; wild rice processing; recipes; and culture and the role wild rice plays in Ojibwe spirituality.

	Conference Collaborators
	Bois Forte Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Environmental Leadership Program Ferris State University Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission Great Lakes Regional Water Program Indigenous Environmental Network Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Menominee Indian Tribe Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance	Michigan State University-Extension Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc. Muskegon River Watershed Assembly Northern Michigan University Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service University of Minnesota-Extension University of Wisconsin-Extension White Earth Land Recovery Project Wisconsin Wetlands Association