We are grateful for the hospitality of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, whose space in which we will be gathering, and the Bay Mills Indian Community for welcoming us to the shared ancestral homelands and meeting place of the Anishinaabe.
Planning Committee
The core planning team for the 2025 Great Lakes Manoomin (Wild Rice) Gathering is composed of co-hosts representing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Consortium for Cooperative Ecological Resilience (CCER), and multiple members of the Michigan Wild Rice Initiative (MWRI) – including members of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy, Great Lakes Indian Fish and WIldlife Commission (GLIFWC), and Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan.
This collaborative effort has been further supported by a planning committee that includes representatives from a variety of Tribal Nations, entities, and agencies, as well as federal and state agencies, academic institutions, and private organizations. We are thankful for the knowledge, time, and advice they are generously contributing to this effort to prepare us to gather in a good way and reach our shared objectives.
About Our Co-Hosts
The Michigan Wild Rice Initiative (MWRI) stems from a collective understanding among State and Tribal governments that the protection and restoration of wild rice in Michigan should be elevated in importance. It brings together specialists and managers from all 12 federally-recognized tribes, multiple state departments and others to share information, coordinate approaches, and elevate awareness about Wild Rice conservation and restoration. The MWRI seeks to protect, preserve, and restore manoomin/mnomen culture in Michigan through collaboration, education, research, policy, and stewardship, to enhance ecosystem health, and benefit present and future generations. A priority of the MWRI over the past couple of years has been the development of a Tribal-State Manoomin/Mnomen Stewardship Plan, We all live Together in a Good Way with Manoomin: Stewardship Guide.
Established in 2024, the Consortium for Cooperative Ecological Resilience (CCER) is a research institute led by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. CCER’s mission is to strengthen the capacity of Tribal Natural Resource Agencies by fostering collaboration with universities and government agencies through applied research. This research emphasizes adaptive co-management and the engagement of Anishinaabe knowledge systems and Western ecosystem science. CCER is also committed to creating pathways for advanced education, offering meaningful opportunities for tribal undergraduate and graduate students. Funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, GLRI Distinct Tribal Program, CCER is developing a Midwest Region Manoomin Stewardship Plan in partnership with the Tribes of the Midwest Region, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University.
NOAA’s Supporting the Development of System Resilience Indicators for Wild Rice in Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron project, funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, focuses on the protection, monitoring, and restoration of Wild Rice and its habitat in the upper Great Lakes basins of the U.S. The project is a multi-year effort between NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities, academia, and tribal, state, and federal agencies. In its third and current phase, the project is taking a holistic look at Wild Rice in the region to better understand the Gaa-izhiwebak (past), Ezhiwebak (present), and Waa-izhiwebak (future) dynamics and stressors that impact Wild Rice distribution and resilience in the Great Lakes. Past phases of the work are summarized here: Collaborative Great Lakes Manoomin (Wild Rice) Project
Thank you to our additional sponsors:
Contact:
If you have questions, please send us an email.