By Anthony Hatcher, Public Lands Ecologist
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s July, 2023 Newsletter edition.
As many of you know, wild rice is a significant food source for migrating waterfowl in the fall. Wild rice beds offer great opportunities for waterfowl hunting, especially in northern Wisconsin. It is also an important food source for humans, and a plant of great cultural significance for Native American Tribes of Wisconsin and the upper Midwest.
Kernels of harvested northern wild rice from Little Rice Lake, Forest County. Photo by Jason Fleener WDNR.
However, the abundance and distribution of wild rice in Wisconsin has decreased significantly in the past century due to many changes in land and water use including waterway alteration, water quality degradation, loss of wetlands, and shoreline development. To help increase wild rice abundance and aid in the recovery of this important natural resource, WWA has been partnering with the WDNR and Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) over the last ten years to collect and seed green wild rice seed on appropriate waterbodies in Northern Wisconsin with public access.
Beginning this year, WWA entered into a new contract with WDNR to continue to provide staff and volunteer support for wild rice collection and seeding with a focus area on priority waters in the Wisconsin’s Ceded Territories (roughly the northern third of the state). In the past volunteer groups from local high schools and WWA chapter members have been a huge help in collection and seeding. This year, we could use your help again.
A past successful seeding in Oneida County where the rice is in transition from its floating leaf to emergent life stage.
Wild Rice is collected via canoe with one person pushing the canoe through the rice beds with a push pole while the other person in the canoe carefully bends the stalks over and taps the rice to knock the seeds into the boat. Seeding is done by broadcasting seed by hand over appropriate areas of waterbodies at a rate of at least 40 lbs/ac.
Last year, green seed collected by WWA was seeded by WDNR staff, but there may be an opportunity to help in seeding this year. Regardless of seeding, we will need help with collection. It is too early yet to know which lakes will be most productive for rice collection and where we will target our efforts. GLIFWC conducts aerial surveys in early August to identify productive waterbodies. After this occurs we will know exactly where to collect seed. In the past, we have collected seed mostly in Vilas, Forest, and Oneida counties.
The time frame for seed collection and seeding is from the last week in August through the second week in September, but that could be extended depending on the weather and ripening time of the seed. If you would be interested in helping out or would like more information, please contact WWA Public Lands Biologist Anthony Hatcher at ahatcher@wisducks.org or (262) 370-6860.