Ricing Reports from around the Region

SORA asked for updates on harvesting from those in the wild rice community. Below are the comments that I have received to date. Note - your area may be different, so use these resources as starting points but nothing beats going out and checking an area yourself.

Ricing is just getting started in the Tower Area (N St Louis County, 8/30/10 ). Heavy wind and rain have negatively impacted our rice crop. The rice crop looked pretty good on a number of lakes but weather has changed that. Ricers will need to get out and field check stands. Best place to start is the 1854 web site. - Tom

Aug 21 at Big Sandy Flowage north of McGregor. Poling was easy due to high water, but our take was small. Heavy rain and wind had stripped off most of the ripe grains, leaving slim pickings. The thicker patches had some green rice still left, but we haven't had a chance to get back. The beds there have much less rice than they did last year.- Jeff

We flew some MN waters last wednesday (8/25/10) - and now have about 5-6 pictures on our website. GLIFWC
I don't know what they were getting, but lots of boats - maybe 15+, on Mallard that day, and quite a few on the Big Sandy Complex of waters - which look pretty good in areas from the air. Lower Dean had one canoe out, but it looks like a crop failure due to brown spot - lake is full of rice, but it is not healthy at all, and seed production probably very poor.
Also looked at Kettle Lake near Cloquet, and though it looked good from the landing a few weeks ago, it looked quite poor from the air.
Although access is not available to the general public, Rice Lake NWR looked perhaps the best I have seen it, though some brown spot present. Wisconsin poor over all; lots of disease, and some sites never had much of a stand to begin with.- Peter, GLIFWC

Things in the northeast part of the state are looking O.K. for the most part. I think most places are getting pretty close to ripe. I was on the water early last week in a few places, and was guessing this past weekend or this week for harvesting. I flew some areas last Wednesday and saw some harvesters out.- Darren, 1854 Treaty Authority

Mallard Lake has only about a third othe rice of last year. Probably done for the year by Thurs. or Fri.(9/2/10) if the weather is good. Other local lakes are even worse. Very disapointing year! Too much rain!!! Every secret spot counts this year and so far they aren't very good either. I only have two left to try!- Lane

Wild Rice Camps

If you have the traveling bug, and some time on your hands - head over to Michigan for a 4 day camp on learning to harvest wild rice! Information on camps is available through the Native Wild Rice Coalition. Check them out at
Native Wild Rice Coalition

They are hosting a Rice camp Sept.3-6 at Tubbs Lake in Mecosta County Michigan. Instruction on making your own equipment provided!

Reports are coming in that the rice in Minnesota is not as early as originally thought -still have yet to see my first canoe...but I know they are out there somewhere harvesting ripe rice already. Good luck, may your canoes fill up with ripe wild rice. - Annette

SORA Wild Rice Gathering and Free Event

Wow - it's almost time to get the ricing equipment out, clean the canoe and prepare for some hard work! Ricing season is nearly upon us, but a reminder that ricing season now has an opening date of Aug. 15th for state lakes. That is the date for the season opener, however remember that it is illegal to harvest wild rice before it is ripe - so check it out first!

To kick off the season SORA and the Bemidji State University Biology Department are hosting a series of events for wild rice enthusiasts. Friday, Aug. 13th in Bemidji at Diamond Point Park, on the shores of Lake Bemidji, there is a free education event running from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m. for anyone interested. Come on down and talk to harvesters, check out resources, take a pontoon ride to look at rice, and learn about the equipment needed to harvest wild rice.

On Saturday, Aug. 14th from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm at the American Indian Resource Center on the BSU campus is the 2nd Annual SORA Gathering and Conference. Cost is $15, lunch is provided if pre-registered by Aug. 10th. Come hear about the latest research, talk to harvesters from across the region and share in the development of outreach materials for SORA. We hope you can join us for these events - check out the flier by clicking on the link from the home page of SORA. Hope to see you there!