Historical Abundance and Extent of Wild Rice: Environmental Drivers Leading to its Decline in Minnesota Waters

The migration of the Ojibwe people to the upper Great Lakes region was guided by the purpose to find “the place where food grows on water.” This food, called manoomin in Ojibwe and wild rice in English, holds immense cultural and dietary significance for native peoples in Minnesota to this day. The health and abundance of wild rice across the region is in decline due to multiple environmental stressors including lake water levels, increasing organic matter inputs, warming winter temperatures, and an increase in the frequency and intensity of storms. 

In this study, the project team will examine the impacts of damming and organic matter accumulation on the abundance of wild rice on Red Lake and Lake of the Woods. Oral history from the Red Lake community tells of abundant wild rice in these areas that were severely impacted by damming, which raised water levels and, as a result, altered their basin morphology. 

By examining historical changes recorded in sediment cores, we will be able to reconstruct past environmental conditions such as nutrient levels, organic matter inputs, lake level, and wild rice abundance. The relationships between environmental variables and wild rice allow us to characterize the factors contributing to wild rice decline and inform decisions on lake management. 

A key aspect of this study is the use of wild rice environmental DNA to quantify historical abundance. The project team's use of this technique will help demonstrate its effectiveness in future studies, as long as they are tribally led. The main goal of the study is to quantify the historical abundance of wild rice and its relationship with lake level rise in Red Lake and Lake of the Woods. 

The project teams expects that the study outcomes will inform future research practices as well as lake management strategies for the protection and restoration of wild rice in Minnesota.

This project supports Minnesota Sea Grant's focus area on Healthy Coastal Ecosystems through:

• Advancement of environmental knowledge to support coastal ecosystem management.
• Development of methodology that supports water quality improvements.
• Ecosystem service evaluations of wild rice restoration approaches.

Principal Investigator:
Lienne Sethna
lsethna@smm.org
Postdoctoral Fellow
Science Museum of Minnesota 
St. Croix Watershed Research Station
Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota

Co-Principal Investigators:

• Trinity Hamilton
• Shane Bowe
• Joshua Jones
• Adam Heathcote
• Mark Edlund

Support for this project is provided by Minnesota Sea Grant’s 2024-2026 Biennial Request for Proposal program. Every two years MNSG awards approximately $2 million in research grants through a rigorous, competitive, peer-reviewed process. Researchers based in Minnesota, who are not federal employees, are invited to apply. Grant awards average about $45,000 per year for two years, plus a graduate research associate whose cost does not count against the project budget.