On-Line Resources
Minnesota Natural Wild Rice Harvester Survey: A Study of Harvester’s Activities and Opinions
A survey of wild rice harvesters in Minnesota conducted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2006.
Native American Ethnobotany Database March 1, 2009 University of Michigan-Dearborn 2003.
This website has ethnobotanical uses of plants tribes in the United States. You can enter the name of a tribe or the name of a plant for information. Also available as a book.
Ricing with Tommy Sky Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission 2007
This supplement of the Mazina’igan newsletter from Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission is a good beginning for teaching on the ethnobotany of the Ojibwe and wild rice. It includes information on harvesting and management along with Ojibwe creation stories, games, educational material, and recipes.
Wild Rice Ecology Harvest Management A brief overview of wild rice ecology produced by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.
Wild Rice Establishment
USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), April 2001 – This is a brief scientific explanation of wild rice including description, growth characteristics and growing conditions. It also includes seed sources and information for planting wild rice.
Ojibwe Wild Rice – website with information on harvesting, processing, sales and ecology.
Books and articles
Vennum Jr., Thomas. Wild Rice and the Ojibway People. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988. ix + 357 pp. This book has ethnobotanical, historical, and scientific information concerning the Ojibwe people and their relationship with wild rice.
Regguinti, G. (1992) The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering. Lerner Publications
Company, Minneapolis. A children’s book on gathering wild rice. Lots of photos.
Gilmore, Melvin. Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region.
This book gives an ethno-historical reference on plants and how they were used by the Dakota, Omaha, Winnebago and Pawnee tribes. The introduction has an explanation of what happened when wild rice was unavailable on the plains.
Stickney, Gardner P. Indian Use of Wild Rice. American Anthropologist 9.4 (April 1896) pp.115-122. This journal article is a good resource for those interested in ethnobotanical information concerning wild rice harvesting practices documented at the Bad River Indian Reservation located in Wisconsin.