UWS students, staff used traditional tools to knock the manoomin into their canoes.
Mark Pero, left, of Solon Springs, uses knocker harvesting sticks to tap manoomin (wild rice) into his canoe as Valerie Ross Zhaawendaagozikwe, of Solon Springs, moves their canoe through the manoomin using a push pole on the Pokegama River in Superior Tuesday morning, Sept. 17.
SUPERIOR — Students and staff from the University of Wisconsin-Superior got a close look at harvesting and processing manoomin (wild rice) on Tuesday morning, thanks to local elders and community members.
The UWS Indigenous Cultures Resource Center, in collaboration with its Campus Recreation and the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve, hosted the daylong demonstration along the shore of the Pokegama River in Superior.
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Students and staff used traditional tools to knock the manoomin into their canoes. After harvesting, students and staff observed how the rice is dried and prepared.
Liza Shelquist, left, and T. Wainman, both staff members at UW-Superior, harvest wild rice Tuesday from a canoe along the Pokegama River in Superior.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
Mark McConnell, front, of Superior, paddles the canoe as Valerie Ross Zhaawendaagozikwe, of Solon Springs, uses a push pole as the duo harvests manoomin along the Pokegama River in Superior.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
Mark Pero, left, of Solon Springs, uses knocker harvesting sticks to tap manoomin into his canoe.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
Manoomin (wild rice) that was harvested from the Pokegama River dries on a tarp on Tuesday morning.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
Manoomin is dried in a large pot over a fire as elders and community members demonstrate the harvesting process.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
Mark McConnell checks a piece of manoomin as it dries in a large pot over a fire.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
The hand of Gabriel Sexton pops out from the Pokegama River after he and UWS co-worker Emily Winker, not pictured, underwater, fell from their canoe while trying to harvest wild rice.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
This story previously misidentified one of the hosts of the event. It was updated at 9:31 a.m. Wednesday to identify the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve as one of the hosts.
Jed Carlson joined the Superior Telegram in February 2001 as a photographer. He grew up in Willmar, Minnesota. He graduated from Ridgewater Community College in Willmar, then from Minnesota State Moorhead with a major in mass communications with an emphasis in photojournalism.
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