Ferris-Based
MRWA Coordinates
Wild Rice Planting
Last
November, more than 140 volunteers and students met at Muskegon
Lake to help re-establish wild rice into the area’s eco-system.
The planting of wild rice (as well as other native
species such as bulrush and arrowhead) is being coordinated by
the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly, which works out of offices
at Ferris State’s Victor F. Spathelf Center, along with
the Muskegon Conservation District with a grant from the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
“In the last 200 years, we’ve drastically
changed the eco-system by doing things like filling in wetlands
and building hydro-electric plants,” said Scott Herron,
Ferris State professor of Biology, who is a consultant for the
project.
During those last two centuries, first the lumber
boom and then industrialization took a toll on the natural systems
of the entire Muskegon River watershed. The actual planting of
wild rice is only part of the effort to undo some of that damage.
On the first day of the project, the casting of wild
rice and planting of bulrushes and arrowhead at the Grand Trunk
Railroad site was preceded by a blessing and pipe ceremony conducted
by the Little River Band of Odawa Indian Nation, one of several
partners in the project. The next day saw a more extensive planting
conducted at a number of sites around the lake.
Herron commented on the appropriateness of such a
blessing by pointing out the role the plant has played in Native
American culture. “Wild rice is part of the origin myths
of the Great Lakes Indians,” he said.
The success of the project will depend in part on
restoring balance to the eco-system. Money from a Department of
Environmental Quality grant will go toward eradicating purple
loosestrife and other non-native plants from the area.
According to MRWA’s mission statement, the group
seeks to “preserve, protect and enhance the natural, historic
and cultural resources of the Muskegon River Watershed while supporting
positive economic development, agricultural and quality of life
initiatives of organizations working in the watershed.”
The 2,350-square-mile watershed has its headwaters near Higgins
Lake and empties into Lake Michigan through Muskegon Lake.
