Introduction

Greetings!

I'm wandering into this blog thing just as I wandered into the wild rice - a goal in mind, but few clues on how to get there! SORA Serenade is an attempt to hold myself accountable to those who have committed time and interest to the development of a wild rice conservation organization (SORA). Here you will find weekly updates and thoughts on the journey of webbing together people and resources for the conservation of natural wild rice (Zizania palustris). Follow along, offer suggestions or suggest connections that help us to strengthen our ability to expand understanding of this declining natural resource of the Upper Great Lakes Region (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ontario [CA] and Michigan).

SORA update 1 - We are coming to the end of our initial two-year grant from the National Forest Foundation. To date we've created a website (www.saveourrice.org), developed a display and facilitated our first official SORA gathering (August 1, 2009). As SORA Director I am also participating in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Wild Rice Education and Outreach committee. We are in the process of identifying both short and long term goals for this committee, your input is always welcome (adrewes@saveourrice.org). Prior to the SORA gathering we also established our first official Board - check out the SORA website to see who they are and what they do!

Looking ahead - SORA is eligible for a second round grant from the National Forest Foundation. We will be putting together a work plan and budget to be submitted for review by the end of the year. In addition, National Geographic Conservation Trust grants are available and we will be looking at those to potentially fund a research project. Global climate change and changes in harvesting patterns make us question whether or not wild rice lakes are seeing a shift to earlier ripening dates. Partnering with long-time harvesters we hope to develop an historical landscape perspective of wild rice ripening built on lake specific data from individual harvesters. Other grant opportunites are being sought for development of education and outreach materials, particularly involving collaboration with other agencies/organizations.

Until next week...stay warm and if you don't know what a Sora is (hint: its a bird) check it out through Cornell's "All about birds!" website (www.allaboutbirds.org).

annette