Keweenaw Bay Indian Community | Wings and Seeds – The Zaagkii Project

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# Tag Archives: Keweenaw Bay Indian Community

# Kinomaage Workshop October 4

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Admin

You are invited to…
A 6th Native Plants Restoration and Pollinator Protection Workshop
~ For Native American Tribal Communities in Northern Michigan ~

Friday October 4th from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Keweenaw Bay Indian Community – Baraga, Michigan

Ojibway Community College

## Kinomaage

### Teachings from the Earth

- Fungi harvesting: identification, medicinal and eatable characteristics
- An overview of native plant restoration and pollinator protection efforts among Native American tribal communities
- A focus on establishing forest products: blueberry cultivation, cranberry harvesting, maple syrup and sugar processing, wild ginger gathering

### Special Presenters

Evelyn Ravindran
KBIC Department of Natural Resources
…along with KBIC Elders & Tribal Leaders

Scott Herron, PhD.
Ethnobotanist
(Odawa, Anishanaabe)

Jan Schultz
Botanist
U.S. Forest Service, Eastern Region

Martin Reinhardt, PhD.
Center for Native American Studies, NMU

### With invited representatives from:

- Keeweenaw Bay Indian Community
- Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
- Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians
- Hannahville Indian Community
- Bay Mills Indian Community
- Northern Michigan University’s Center for Native American Studies

Sponsored by The Cedar Tree Institute in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service and Keeweenaw Bay Indian Community

### For More Information:

Jon Magnuson
The Cedar Tree Institute, Director
magnusonx2@charter.net
(906)228-5494

~or~

Tom Biron
Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians
birontho@gmail.com

# Restoring Native Plants in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a Community Effort

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Admin

## LVD, KBIC join partnerships

By Charlie Otto Rasmussen

Watersmeet, Mich. – Scott Herron sees a bright future for native plants – one illuminated by the reddish, orange glow of firelight.

“Most invasive plants can’t handle fire,” said Herron, a Ferris State University ethnobotanist. “Native plants, however, have adapted to fire. We can restore some of these plant communities on a larger scale than what I see out there now.”

An organizer and featured speaker at the fourth Kinomaage Workshop, Herron said most Michigan restoration projects appear in the form of modest rain gardens, featuring just a few plants. Additional restoration is occurring on reclaimed brown fields – abandoned industrial sites – in places like Detroit. Land managers, he said, might go further, drawing from the well of traditional ecological knowledge to realize broader landscape restoration.

“If we use a holistic Anishinaabe model, we can move beyond single species restoration,” he said. That means the strategic application of fire on larger chunks of land, generating new growth across entire plant communities. “We’ve got firekeepers all across Anishinaabe Country. We can work together to revive some of those seed banks.”

Professor Scott Herron demonstrates manoomin parching at LVD’s Old Village during the Kinomaage Workshop. Pictured to right: Sue Rabitaille, Hiawatha National Forest native plants contractor, Ken Rabitaille, and LVD member Melissa McGeshick. (photo by Charlie Otto Rasmussen)

Herron said it’s not enough to rely on government programs like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to pay for restoration projects; organization and funding on the local level is essential to pool all available resources to help the ecosystems. Like reconstructing elements of native plant communities, interconnecting people is vital to restoration success.

To that end the Kinomaage (teachings from the earth) program is a working model. Launched by the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute, Kinomaage partners include the Lac Vieux Desert (LVD) Band, U.S. Forest Service and individuals from tribal communities across Upper Michigan.

In a pair of buckskin moccasins, Roger LaBine demonstrates manoomin jigging. (photo by COR)

“We exist in between organizations,” said Jon Magnuson, Cedar Tree Institute (CTI) Director. “We’re a catalyst, a trigger for an emerging vision: to return the caretaker legacy of Native American communities across North America.”

That legacy is on display at Rice Bay on Lake Lac Vieux Desert where many of the three-dozen Kinomaage participants witnessed the full richness of manoomin harvesting, processing and reseeding—all done by hand. The LVD Band, Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission and other partners are 10 years into efforts to rejuvenate ancient manoomin (wild rice) beds on the lake’s north shore. With assistance from Herron, on Kinomaage’s second day LVD’s Roger LaBine detailed the life cycle of manoomin and its journey from a seed in the lake bottom to a table-ready food.

Herron poignantly ran down a list of native species required to both harvest and process manoomin: rice knockers made from giizhik (cedar), mashkiigwaatig (tamarack) and aagimaak (black ash) push poles, nooshkaachinaagan (winnowing trays) utilizing wiigwaas (birch bark) and wiigob (basswood).

“We need all of these plants to do this one activity,” Herron said, adding that native plant stewardship is fundamentally “ethnobotanical driven—not just for the sake of having a restored ecosystem.”

## Giizhik and pollinators

Through the Cedar Tree effort, The Manitou Project volunteers planted 10,000 northern white cedar seedlings throughout the Upper Peninsula in early summer 2012. LVD Band members placed 1,000 of those trees into western UP soil and also assisted in other areas including the site of the Duck Lake fire, which torched more than 21,000 acres.

As part of the Zaagkii project, tribal youth have constructed 18 butterfly houses for monarchs to rest and shelter from severe weather. In this 2008 photo, KBIC's Janelle Paquin applies a coat of primer to a butterfly house. (photo by Greg Peterson)

The CTI also developed Zaagkii, the Wings & Seeds Project, with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and other Upper Michigan collaborators. Supporting the priceless work of insects—which are responsible for pollinating a great many wild plants—is the core of Zaagkii. Insects make contact with pollen dust as they visit plants to feed on nectar. As they move along, insects distribute pollen to plant reproductive systems across the landscape.

In Upper Michigan, the program has keyed in on two conspicuous pollinators: monarch butterflies and bees. Volunteers, tribal youth, and additional kids from the Marquette County Juvenile Courts program constructed and installed 36 bee shelters and 18 butterfly houses. The structures provide protection from severe weather. “Monarch butterflies are very fragile,” CTI’s Magnuson said. “They ride the thermal winds on incredible migrations across the continent, but access to adequate shelter is critical for them.”

Jan Schultz, the principal US Forest Service Zaagkii partner, frames the work ahead in pragmatic terms. “Every third bite of food (Americans consume) comes from pollination,” said Schultz, Region 9’s top botanist. “It’s jaw dropping.”

She said restoring native communities is a game of keeping as many “parts” as possible. That includes inventorying and preserving the original plants found on the landscape. Some plants represent the sole food source for native pollinators. For monarch butterflies, milkweed is a crucial host plant. Without nutrition from the leaves of milkweed, monarch larvae cannot develop into a butterfly.

“Keeping the pieces is huge,” Schultz said. The Sault Tribe is slated to host the next Kinomaage workshop in April 2013.

# Kinomaage Success Story

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Admin

## KINOMAAGE

### Celebrating Native American Tradition

### Restoring and Recovering Native Plants

On September 13-14, 2012, representatives from four American Indian tribes in the Upper Great Lakes Basin met with US National Forest Service staff to continue sharing skills and experiences for use in collaborative efforts to restore and preserve native plants and protect pollinators.

Giiwegiizhigookway (Giiwe) Martin

The Lac View Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (LVD) hosted the event in Watersmeet, Michigan with the second day of the workshop held at the Old Village Round House, a traditional ceremonial and gathering place for the LVD tribal community. Key presenters included Scott Herron, PhD, ethno-botanist and Odawa tribal member, Giiwegiizhigookway (Giiwe) Martin, Director of LVD Historic Preservation, and Roger LaBine, LVD tribal Conversation committee and an oversight supervisor for wild rice harvesting. Hands-on sessions for the 39 participants involved practical sessions on seed cleaning, seed storage, invasive species, and native seed harvesting. Sue Rabitaille provided technical insights from her role as greenhouse manager for the Hiawatha National Forest.

Tribes represented at the event included the Sault Ste Marie Band of Chippewa Indians, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), the Forest County Potawatomi Community, and the Lac View Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. Evelyn Rivandren, KBIC tribal member and Kelly Constantino, Director of Youth Activities and Education for the Sault Ste Indian Community were designated as key leaders for this ongoing native plants initiative.

The 4th such gathering since 2010, the event was coordinated by The Cedar Tree Institute and Jan Schultz, USDAFS Botanist, Eastern Region of the USDAFS. The title for these workshops, rooted in the language of the Anishinaabe, is Kinomaage meaning “teachings from the earth.” The intention of these workshops is to assist indigenous leaders in affirming and reclaiming key roles as traditional caretakers and protectors of the Great Lakes botanical ecosystem. The next workshop is scheduled for April 2013.

The Kinomaage Talking Circle, Lac Vieux Desert Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Indians

The Kinomaage series is part of the Wings and Seeds Project (Zaagkii) first launched in 2008 by the Cedar Tree Institute, the USDA Forest Service, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Northern Michigan University’s Center for Native American Studies, and Michigan’s Marquette County Juvenile Court.

Scott Herron, Anishinaabe ethno-botanist, addresses workshop participants at the Old Village Roundhouse, Watersmeet, Michigan

# Kinomaage Workshop September 13 & 14

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Admin

You are invited to…
A 4th Native Plants Restoration and Pollinator Protection Workshop
~ For Native American Tribal Communities in Northern Michigan ~

Thursday September 13th from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and
Friday September 14th from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa – Watersmeet, Michigan

## Kinomaage

### Teachings from the Earth

- An overview of native plant restoration and pollinator-protection efforts among Native American tribal communities
- Native seeds and components of restoration: harvesting, cleaning, storing
- Insights into traditional Native cultural teachings, medicinal plants & wild rice seeding and harvesting

### Special Presenters

giiwegiizhigookway (giiwe) Martin
Director of Cultural & Historic Preservation
(Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa)
…along with L.V.D. Elders & Tribal Leaders

Scott Herron, PhD.
Ethnobotanist
(Odawa, Anishanaabe)

Jan Schultz
Botanist
U.S. Forest Service, Eastern Region

### With invited representatives from:

- Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
- Keeweenaw Bay Indian Community
- Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians
- Hannahville Indian Community
- Bay Mills Indian Community
- Northern Michigan University’s Center for Native American Studies

Sponsored by The Cedar Tree Institute in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service and Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

### For More Information:

Jon Magnuson
The Cedar Tree Institute, Director
magnusonx2@charter.net
(906)228-5494

~or~

Tom Biron
Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians
birontho@gmail.com

> The Earth Shows Us the Way.

# Hannahville Indian Community hosts U.S. Forest Service, Cedar Tree Institute April 2012 Workshop on Pollinator Protection and Native Plant Restoration

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Admin

Representatives of 5 tribal communities attended an April 2012 pollinator protection and native plants restoration workshop at the Hannahville Indian Community.

Hannahville Indian School students planted apple and cedar saplings as part of the U.S. Forest Service-funded Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Coordinated by the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute, the Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project partners with Northern Michigan and Wisconsin tribes to restore native plants and protect pollinators like bees and butterflies.

Hannahville Indian Community hosts U.S. Forest Service, Cedar Tree Institute April 2012 Workshop on Pollinator Protection and Native Plant Restoration

### 2012 Zaagkii Project: U.S. Forest Service, Native Americans guard pollinators, restore native plants

With smiles on their faces and dirt on their hands, the students had fun planting the apple tree and cedar tree saplings.

### 2012 Zaagkii Project USFS, tribes share tech, protect native plants/pollinators: Bumblebees/Monarchs

Jan Schultz offers perspectives from the U.S. Forest Service on grant possibilities and technical support

# Kinomaagewin-aki, Teachings from the Earth

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Admin

You are invited to…
A Native Plants Restoration and Pollinator Protection Workshop
~ For Native American Tribal Communities in Northern Michigan ~

Thursday April, 12th from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Hannahville Indian (Potawatomi) Community in Wilson, Michigan

## Kinomaagewin-aki

### Teachings from the Earth

- Insights into traditional Native cultural teachings, medicinal plants & challenges facing native plants restoration efforts in Indian country
- An overview of native plant restoration and pollinator-protection efforts among Native American tribal communities
- Perspectives from the U.S. Forest Service on grant possibilities & technical support

### Special Presenters

Earl Meshigaud
Cultural Director, Historian
(Hannaville Indian Community)

Scott Herron, PhD.
Ethnobotanist
(Odawa, Anishanaabe)

Jan Schultz
Botanist
U.S. Forest Service, Eastern Region

### With invited representatives from:

- Keeweenaw Bay Indian Community
- Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians
- Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
- Hannahville Indian Community
- Bay Mills Indian Community
- Northern Michigan University’s Center for Native American Studies

Gathering Grounds Harvest 2010, Hannaville Indian Community

Sponsored by The Cedar Tree Institute in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service and Hannahville Indian Community

### For More Information:

Jon Magnuson
The Cedar Tree Institute, Director
magnusonx2@charter.net
(906)228-5494

~or~

Tom Biron
Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians
tom@reinhardtassociates.net

> The Earth Shows Us the Way.

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### US Forest Service Links

- Celebrating Wildflowers
- Ethnobotany
- Native Plant Program
- Pollinators Page

### Recent Zaagkii News

- Chocolay Township Intertribal Native Plants Workshop
- Chicago Intertribal Native Plants Workshop
- Choosing Between Your Money and Your Soul
- Maamaadizi II – 2015
- Intertribal Native Plants Workshop

### Categories

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### Tags

- An Overview of Just How Far We've Come in the Battle against Invasive Species
- Bay Mills Indian Community
- Bees
- Benchmarks
- Butterflies
- Celebrating Native American Tradition
- Charlie Otto Rasmussen
- Chocolay Township
- CTI
- Earl Meshigaud
- Evelyn Ravindran
- Fighting Invasive Weeds in Midwest
- Forest County Potawatomi Community
- giiwegiizhigookway (giiwe) Martin
- Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission
- Greenhouse
- Hannahville Indian Community
- Indian Country Today
- Jan Schultz
- Jon Magnuson
- KBIC
- Keweenaw Bay Indian Community
- Kinomaage
- Kinomaagewin-aki
- Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
- Manoomin
- Martin Reinhardt
- medicinal plants
- Native Plants
- Native Plants Workshop
- Native seeds
- Northern Michigan University's Center for Native American Studies
- Plant Restoration
- Rapid Response Invasive Plant Intervention Team of the U.P.
- Restoring and Recovering Native Plants
- Restoring Native Plants
- Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians
- Scott Herron
- Solar Power
- Success Story
- The Manitou Project
- traditional Native cultural teachings
- USFS
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