Partners celebrate "Changing Climate...Changing Seasons" exhibit
By Sue Erickson, Staff Writer
Gichi-wiikwedong (Ashland, WI)—The new 200 square-foot "Changing Climate…Changing Culture" exhibit at the Northern Great Lakes Visitors Center (NGLVC) visually presents a discussion of the potential impact of climate change on natural resources traditionally used by the Ojibwe, particularly manoomin (wild rice). However, it also includes scientific research and asks what impacts changing climate may have on all residents of the Lake Superior region and what we can do about it.
Featured as a learning tool, the exhibit is also a springboard for further development such as more interactive components as well as complementary curriculum and teacher training opportunities. The overall project, entitled Gikinoo'wizhiwe Onji Waaban (Guiding for Tomorrow) or G'WOW Initiative, has more work to do.
"This exhibit will serve as a catalyst for conversation. People will not only read it but leave here thinking about what it all means,' stated Forest Supervisor Paul Strong, Chequamegon-Nicolet Forest. "The Chief of the Forest Service has asked us to be an agency ready to address climate change. I think in seeing this exhibit, he would say that we are doing that through these words and the strong partnerships that made this all possible."
About 120 people gathered to join in celebrating the exhibit on October 11 at the NGLVC. The event, jointly emceed by Jim St. Arnold, GLIFWC program director and Jason Maloney, NGLVC director, opened with a prayer and pipe ceremony by Joe Rose Sr., Northland College professor and Bad River elder, followed by a water ceremony by Sue Nichols, Three Fires Midewiwin. Both acknowledgied the spirits and the sacredness of all the resources on which we all rely. Rose, who also shared traditional teachings, noted the need to protect the region's water. He pointed out that even now some people on the Bad River reservation must depend on bottled water to drink, because the water has become too polluted already.
Funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, UW-Extension, and the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, the exhibit is a product of a partnership between the US Forest Service, the US Park Service, UW-Extension, the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) and the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC).
Speakers representing the various partners briefly shared insights on the project and its significance.
Bad River Tribal Ch
airman Mike Wiggins emphasized the importance of the protecting the land and water and the rice beds from degradation—which is equivalent to protecting a culture and a lifeway. Similarly, Mic Isham, GLIFWC Board of Commissioners chairman and Lac Courte Oreilles tribal council member, noted that while he lives at LCO, this whole region is traditionally his homeland—the place where the natural resources have sustained the Ojibwe people for centuries. His concerns for the well being of the resources, therefore, extend through the entire region.
Isham also noted that the new exhibit was not only an important educational tool, but it was also accurate. "I have seen many exhibits and usually there is something that is not quite right, but not in this one."
Also speaking on behalf of their agencies and emphasizing the importance of education as well as collaboration were Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Superintendent Bob Krumenaker, US National Park Service; Paul Strong, Forest Supervisor, Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest; Rick Pifer, Director of Reference and Public Services, WHS; Ralph Garono, Director, Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve, UW-Extension, and GLIFWC Deputy Administrator Gerald DePerry.
A feast featuring manoomin, venison, Lake Superior whitefish and fry bread, plus numerous potluck contributions was followed by dancing to the sound and songs of the Anishinaabe Dawn drum.
Partners will continue to work together to develop G'WOW student learning curriculum for middle and high school age students. The curriculum will feature seasonal training modules demonstrating impacts on seasonal Ojibwe activities that have traditionally relied on resources, such as fishing, gathering maple sap, birch bark harvesting and wild ricing. The project will build a network of climate change educators, and teacher-training institutes will be developed to promote further networking and outreach on using the G'WOW climate change and culture model.
