Rain and mist obscure the opposite lakeshore on Lake Lac Vieux Desert.
The lake along the Michigan/Wisconsin border is the headwaters of the Wisconsin River.
While it was fairly quiet on this rainy day, the lake is popular for boating and fishing.
It’s also culturally significant, especially for the Lac Vieux Desert Tribe in the Upper Peninsula.
In 2015, Rice Bay was put on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s in the northeast section of the lake where wild rice, or manoomin, grows.
“Manoomin is so important to the people. It's part of our migration story. It's part of our survival. It's part of that healthy, traditional diet that people require. It's part of our feasts. It's part of our ceremonies,” said Alina Shively, the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
Declining wild rice
The manoomin on Lake Lac Vieux Desert, as well as in other parts of the Great Lakes region, is in decline.
In this instance, Shively says it first became an issue when the dam went up at the headwaters of the Wisconsin River.
A wooden dam was first built by loggers around 1870. The current concrete dam that helps control the water flow for downriver hydro dams was built in the early 1900s.
Shively says the tribe saw improvements in the size of the wild rice in the 1990s/early 2000s, but it hasn’t lasted.
“Lately, we're combating issues with invasive species. The tribe is really trying to tackle those issues on our own, but I think there is a larger watershed issue that needs to be addressed too,” said Shively. “We have a lot of barriers, but we're doing everything that we possibly can and working with our partners to restore manoomin.”
Seeking solutions
The tribe is tackling the issue from multiple angles: fighting invasive species, reseeding wild rice, and now, it’s working with the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest to try and improve the water levels on the lake for the manoomin.
“The higher water levels are detrimental to the wild rice growth,” said Mark Beuning, the Technical Services Staff Officer on the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest.
Less than 1,500 feet south of the dam are two culverts where the Wisconsin River flows under West Shore Road.
“The current culverts are set higher than the natural stream bed which is causing water to pool up downstream of the dam and artificially raises the lake level,” explained Beuning.
The Lac Vieux Desert Tribe will be removing the culverts and replacing one of them with a bridge.
Wild rice likes shallow water and is typically found in lakes or rivers with six to 36 inches water depth. Prime depth for wild rice is 14 to 24 inches.
The Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa Community has seen success with replacing stream crossings to improve water levels for wild rice.
In 2016 and 2018, the Tribe put in new culverts south of Rice Lake in Forest County, replacing ones that were causing higher water levels on the lake.
It lowered the water levels as much as six inches during periods of high water.
Between improving the stream crossings and removing some of the other vegetation, the Sokaogon Chippewa Community has seen improvements in wild rice beds on the lake.
The Lac Vieux Desert Tribe has the extra challenge of the dam regulating water levels, but the Tribe is still hopeful removing the culverts and replacing one of them with a bridge, along with the other work they’re doing, will help improve the wild rice beds.
The Tribal Forest Protection Act
The tribe is able to do the bridge work through the Tribal Forest Protection Act, which allows the USDA to give special consideration to tribally-proposed stewardship projects on Forest Service land.
While signed into law in 2004, the Tribal Forest Protection Act has historically been underutilized, in part, because of a lack of funding.
This year, $18 million is going to 23 Tribal projects in 18 states funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“That's what makes a project a little unique, is that the federal government, through the Forest Service, provided the funds to the Tribe to execute the project, which is on Forest Service lands,” said Beuning.
The project is also meant to improve walleye populations in Lake Lac Vieux Desert by improving fish passages.
Shively says the walleye, or Ogaa, have not been naturally reproducing since the mid-2000s, the Tribe and lake association have been extensively stocking the lake.
Far reaching impact
“Hopefully it's understood that we're really trying to help. We're trying to help the rice, we're trying to help the walleye, and we're trying to help the people,” said Shively.
Shively is hopeful the project will have lasting, positive environmental impacts. She’s also hopeful for the impact it will have on the Lac Vieux Desert Tribe’s food sovereignty.
“Ojibwe people rely heavily on the forest for food sources. Everybody is in the mind frame of community gardens and food sovereignty programs on tribal lands, that is all equally important, but we also need to continue to care for those food communities that are on public and federal lands. We have the rights to co-manage those places. We have the rights to harvest and gather and secure our food from the forest still,” said Shively.
Construction on the bridge is expected to take place next year.
