The Combined Impacts of Climate Change and Intensive Agriculture on Wild Rice, a Culturally Critical Resource and Relative for Indigenous Communities
Wild Rice is an important piece of Indigenous culture for tribal communities in the Upper Midwest. However, given the high vulnerability of this aquatic plant to climate change, tribal communities have seen a significant decline of Wild Rice in the past century. Despite the expansion of monitoring and restoration efforts, intensified agriculture has also contributed to the decline of Wild Rice. Researchers supported by this Midwest CASC project will address the question of how climate change exacerbates agricultural impacts to Wild Rice by fostering a tribal-university partnership to conduct water quality measurements and hydrological monitoring as well as integrate indigenous knowledge. The results of this research will inform improved agricultural practices and water quality policies to protect this cultural resource.
Public Summary
Wild Rice is a sacred and profoundly important component of Indigenous culture, well-being, and tribal sovereignty in the Upper Midwest. Highly vulnerable to climate change, this aquatic plant has widely declined in the past century, threatening Indigenous lifeways. Although efforts to monitor and restore Wild Rice in northeastern Minnesota and Wisconsin have expanded, the western-edge prairie range (northwestern MN), which has experienced intensified agriculture, has received less attention and fewer resources. As a result, tribal harvesters there are already reporting a sharp decrease in Wild Rice due to the expansion of croplands.
The proposed project addresses the urgent question posed by the White Earth Nation (in northwestern MN): how does climate change exacerbate agricultural impacts to Wild Rice? This tribal-university partnership will examine the combined impacts of climate change and agriculture on Wild Rice lakes in the Otter Tail Watershed (northwestern MN) through a combination of water quality measurements, hydrological monitoring and modeling, and interviews with cultural knowledge holders. The team will assess whether agricultural pollutants are transported to lakes through surface runoff and groundwater pathways that are accelerated by climate change, and whether this polluted water impacts Wild Rice.
The results of this work will be synthesized in maps indicating which areas are vulnerable to climate-driven water quality impairments, which will then be shared during exchange sessions at White Earth as well as with a wider collaboration network across the Upper Midwest. Tribal resource managers will use results to guide the development of water monitoring protocols, improving agricultural practices, and water quality policies that may anticipate and mitigate the effects of climate change. This holistic and forward-looking approach will enable tribes to build resilience to both climate and land-use change as they protect their cultural and ecological resources.
- Source: USGS Sciencebase (id: 683879d2d4be022176549c01)
Wild Rice is an important piece of Indigenous culture for tribal communities in the Upper Midwest. However, given the high vulnerability of this aquatic plant to climate change, tribal communities have seen a significant decline of Wild Rice in the past century. Despite the expansion of monitoring and restoration efforts, intensified agriculture has also contributed to the decline of Wild Rice. Researchers supported by this Midwest CASC project will address the question of how climate change exacerbates agricultural impacts to Wild Rice by fostering a tribal-university partnership to conduct water quality measurements and hydrological monitoring as well as integrate indigenous knowledge. The results of this research will inform improved agricultural practices and water quality policies to protect this cultural resource.
Public Summary
Wild Rice is a sacred and profoundly important component of Indigenous culture, well-being, and tribal sovereignty in the Upper Midwest. Highly vulnerable to climate change, this aquatic plant has widely declined in the past century, threatening Indigenous lifeways. Although efforts to monitor and restore Wild Rice in northeastern Minnesota and Wisconsin have expanded, the western-edge prairie range (northwestern MN), which has experienced intensified agriculture, has received less attention and fewer resources. As a result, tribal harvesters there are already reporting a sharp decrease in Wild Rice due to the expansion of croplands.
The proposed project addresses the urgent question posed by the White Earth Nation (in northwestern MN): how does climate change exacerbate agricultural impacts to Wild Rice? This tribal-university partnership will examine the combined impacts of climate change and agriculture on Wild Rice lakes in the Otter Tail Watershed (northwestern MN) through a combination of water quality measurements, hydrological monitoring and modeling, and interviews with cultural knowledge holders. The team will assess whether agricultural pollutants are transported to lakes through surface runoff and groundwater pathways that are accelerated by climate change, and whether this polluted water impacts Wild Rice.
The results of this work will be synthesized in maps indicating which areas are vulnerable to climate-driven water quality impairments, which will then be shared during exchange sessions at White Earth as well as with a wider collaboration network across the Upper Midwest. Tribal resource managers will use results to guide the development of water monitoring protocols, improving agricultural practices, and water quality policies that may anticipate and mitigate the effects of climate change. This holistic and forward-looking approach will enable tribes to build resilience to both climate and land-use change as they protect their cultural and ecological resources.
- Source: USGS Sciencebase (id: 683879d2d4be022176549c01)