DNR PSA | Expanding tribal partnerships to restore native wild rice

In addition, the Wildlife Division hosted its first-ever manoomin camp in mid-August to educate employees from the DNR and other state departments on the cultural, spiritual, ecological and economic significance of manoomin to Indigenous communities. Tribal nations have been working for decades to restore manoomin, which became Michigan’s official native grain in 2023.

Fifty-eight people attended the DNR’s two-day manoomin camp at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center in Roscommon, where tribal instructors led sessions focused on ceremony and traditional teachings that included harvesting tools, seed care and processing. The instructors represented the BMIC, KBIC, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Cree Nation and Gun Lake Tribe.

“We want to work with our tribal partners whenever we can,” Scullon added. “It’s important to create these types of collaborative opportunities – to tear down barriers and open doors.”

‘The good berry’

Native to the Great Lakes region and parts of Canada, manoomin – which translates to “the good berry” in Ojibwe – is a grain-producing grass. It grows to 6-10 feet tall in the shallow, quiet waters of marshes, inland lakes and slowly moving streams.

Manoomin is a culturally significant plant to the Anishinaabe (Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi) and is directly linked to their migration from the northeastern U.S. coast to the Great Lakes region several hundred years ago, according to Native News Online, an American Indian news publication. In the Great Lakes region, manoomin plays a major role in the Indigenous food sovereignty movement.

Kathleen Smith is with the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, where she serves as Genawendang Manoomin – or “She who takes care of the wild rice” – for tribes across Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

“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,’” Smith said. “That truth echoes louder each year. Our wetlands and the manoomin that grows within them are truly important to our people.”

Power of partnerships

In 2025, the Wildlife Division sowed about 2,200 pounds of manoomin seed, continuing its annual efforts to help restore or establish wild rice within state-managed rivers, creeks and wetlands in the U.P. Once manoomin matures in early fall, the rice grains provide energy-rich food for migrating waterfowl and are harvested by Anishinaabe communities.

The DNR obtains wild rice through formal agreements with tribal communities. Through these collaborations, tribal partners request manoomin seed from their network of vendors in Wisconsin and Minnesota, ensuring the wild rice is sourced responsibly, aligning with cultural teachings and ethics.

“We recognized early in the partnership that KBIC has the cultural expertise, historic knowledge and resources to be a guiding partner in this process,” Scullon said. “KBIC, working in conjunction with the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, has the technical knowledge on where, when and how to restore manoomin. They have helped us to select, evaluate, seed and monitor sites for rice restoration.”

DNR wildlife biologists Kristie Sitar, Brian Roell and David Jentoft have played key roles in expanding the partnerships with other tribal nations in the eastern U.P. Sitar helped develop a memorandum of agreement between the DNR and the Bay Mills Indian Community.

“These partnerships are critical in maintaining the quality of rice used and are helpful to us working together to select the most appropriate places and desired efforts,” Sitar said.

Sitar and Roell received a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant in 2021 to reestablish wild rice in northern floodings along Lake Superior. The goal was to seed manoomin for three consecutive years at four locations – three in Marquette County and one in Luce County – at a rate of at least 50 pounds per acre in suitable flooding habitats.

“We started to see success as rice seed germinated and grew and then began to self-seed in successive years,” Sitar said. “We had to adapt by dealing with some wildlife browse issues that commonly occur during this process. Wild rice can take many years to become established, and we are on our way to hopefully long-term success. “

Scullon noted that in Michigan, anyone can harvest manoomin, while in Wisconsin the practice is illegal for the general public without a permit. The Michigan Wild Rice Initiative – which consists of tribal nations, the DNR and other agencies and groups – is working to develop a cooperative framework to regulate the responsible and ethical harvest of manoomin in Michigan.

Learn more about the history of manoomin in a brochure from the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.