Contact your Senators and urge them to support SF 1247, the Wild Rice Act.
Wild rice, called Manoomin by the Ojibwe/Chippewa Nations and Psíŋ by the Dakota Nations, is both Minnesota’s state grain and a critical keystone species. It is important to the food web for Minnesota wildlife, including our famed waterfowl. And it is a popular and healthy Minnesota food product, rich in protein, fiber, and other nutrients.
Wild rice is of fundamental cultural significance to Minnesota’s Tribal Nations and to their exercise of usufructuary rights to hunt, fish, and gather plants. Treaties that have reserved those rights to Tribal Nations are the law of the land, and Minnesota and the United States are responsible for upholding them and protecting wild rice.
Unfortunately, wild rice is vulnerable to increasing levels of sulfate pollution in Minnesota waters, invasive species, and climate change-related disruptions in our seasonal temperatures and precipitation. The Wild Rice Act is an important step forward to protect this precious food.
Contact your MN Senator today!
