Indigenous Traditional Knowledge

How to Harvest Manoomin (Wild Rice)

March 11, 2024

The late Joe Owen of Pauingassi First Nation often reminisced about harvesting, traveling and listening to stories from his dad. Below, Joe describes the process of harvesting manoomin (wild rice).

Identify Harvest Time

The wild rice plant needs to be above the surface of the water, with the branch extended, and pockets for the kernels formed. Once this occurs, it takes about 10 days for the heads to fill out. At that point, the kernels are ripe and need to be harvested. If this narrow time window is missed, rain or wind will cause the kernels to fall back into the lake.

Pankissinon
(Better pick them quickly before they fall)
Kwiipit (Joe’s Dad) often used this word

Manoomin looks like floating grass before it grows up and out of the water.

Drying Manoomin (Wild Rice)

Once the kernels are harvested, they are placed in a tall metal pail angled against the heat of the fire to heat and dry them. It is imperative that they be thoroughly dried for two reasons. First, the husking process follows the drying period and the husks won’t detach from the kernel if the kernels aren’t entirely dry. The heat needs to remove moisture and result in temperatures that cause the husk to burn, but not the rice. The second reason for needing high levels of dryness is to preserve the wild rice. Heating of the kernel is needed to prepare for storage.

In the pot, a paddle is used to continuously stir the rice for 10-15 minutes if the quantity of wild rice is 3-4 pounds. This process is repeated over and over again during the initial drying/stirring process if greater volumes are being dried.

Ahkihkan okii apichii’an (They used a pail)
Piiwapihk ahkihk (A metal pail)
Oki wanaweyaanan ima ahkihkwonk
(It was stirred in the pail)
Apwi oki aapachii’an (A paddle was used)

Separating Husks and Kernels

Once the drying is done, the rice is placed on a canvas in a shallow pit in the ground. Joe’s Dad would step into the pit wearing moccasins. He would stand on the rice and stir it in an agitator fashion, with his feet moving side to side, while holding a branch or stick to maintain his balance. The agitating action would separate the dry/burned husks from the rice kernels.

Once the husks and kernels were separated, Joe’s dad would lift out the canvas and throw the kernels up and down, allowing the wind to blow away the husks.

Ahkihkwaabpihk kii siikinaan oteshpiwepinaanan, wepash ikiweniwak (husks)
Kii pahkwachihsewak (they fall off)

Pimachiowin Aki is grateful to Joe for sharing his knowledge and Gerald Neufeld for recording Joe’s words.

6 Days of Cultural Experiences with Pauingassi First Nation Guardian Colin Owens

December 18, 2023

Notes & photos from nature photographer Ōtake Hidehiro

1. Thursday | Net Fishing, Sacred Rock & Plant Medicine

Colin and his wife Cora took me to set a fishing net. We boated for 4.5km to get to the netting point and put the net into water. The net was 40-50m long or so.

Colin took me to a sacred rock. He put tobacco under the rock. It should avoid the direct sunlight and wind so that it won’t blow away, he said. It is also a good hunting spot for geese. He showed me the blind made by rocks to hide the hunter from geese.

Along the shore Cora was collecting medicine plants. She took just the tip of the twig of the shrubs to get buds. “It is good for your heart,” Colin said. It has a minty, herby, refreshing taste!

Colin also tried to get a root of sweetflag from the muddy ground for medicine.

2. Friday | The Catch

Surprisingly, we caught many fish just for overnight! We kept 32 walleyes, two big northern pike and 14 whitefish. We put a net into water again. Colin and Cora were busy cutting fish even after dark! We went to get the net out from the water in the evening. We caught a few more fish to cut!

3. Saturday | Smoke House

Colin built a smoke house for whitefish with fresh green birch trees for poles. He carefully selected the right size of tree, which would easily bend and be strong enough at the same time.

Cora cooked fried bannock and fish (northern pike) for dinner.

4. Sunday | Smoking Fish

Colin started smoking whitefish around 11am. He needs old aspen trees for the smoke. He prefers almost-rotten logs, which produce a lot of smoke. He kept feeding the fire and checking the condition of the frame and temperature. It took 6-7 hours to finish. He was checking the colour of the fish meat to know if it is done or not.

Cora cooked moose stew for dinner! It was so tasty!

5. Tuesday | Moose Call

Today Colin showed me how to make a moose call out of birch bark. Colin looked for the right size tree around town but most of the trees were too old or too small. The moose call we made became a bit shorter than usual. After we made the moose call, we drove Colin’s truck to the edge of the town and tested it on a hill. “It should work. We will try it in the bush tomorrow,” he said.

Pauingassi First Nation Guardian Colin Owens tests a moose call that he made of birch bark.

6. Wednesday | Boat Ride, Pictograph & Moose Call

Colin took me on a boat ride! We visited a pictograph. It was very interesting to see. Colin told me that looks like three turtles and some kind of animal below it.

He brought a shotgun and rifle in case we could see any ducks, geese or moose.

We tried to call a moose in two different locations and waited for quite a long time. Unfortunately no moose came out, but it was wonderful to learn the Anishinaabe way of life on the land.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with me, Colin!

Photos: Ōtake Hidehiro

How to Prepare Meat for Smoking

March 21, 2023

By Naomi Moar, Little Grand Rapids First Nation

Preparing meat for smoking takes days. After the quarters are prepared and cut up, and undesired pieces are cut off, the meat has lost approximately 1/4 of its weight. All the sinew and fat are cut away.

Cutting the Meat

Each chuck is cut down the middle and then along the ‘bottom’ to create a 1/8 inch thick slice. As you cut along the bottom, you are unfolding the meat to prepare a long piece for smoking.

Depending on how many sticks you have made for the smoke shack (I usually make five), you can smoke a whole hind quarter in about six hours depending on the thickness of your cut.
Naomi Moar, Little Grand Rapids First Nation

The smoke shack

This is where you will hang your meat. The smoke shack is made of red willow (after it turns white) for the frame and cooking rods.

The wood, fire and time

The wood to burn is poplar. The fire cannot be too high otherwise the meat will burn. Because we are removing the moisture from the meat, the session should take about six hours at a low burn.

Because of the cost of fire-retardant canvas, I have yet to procure one.

Everything I have learned, I learned from my grandmother.

Photos: Naomi Moar

Songmeter Project – First Results Are In

March 21, 2023

Thank you to contributors Councillor Eddie Hudson, Poplar River Lands Guardians Norway Rabliauskas and Brad Bushie, Dr. Jeff Wells, and Elisha Corsiga (writer)

Our Elders and their ancestors have cared for our Traditional Lands for over 6,000 years.

Protecting Pimachiowin Aki, which over 200 bird species rely on for survival, is an important example of how we care for the land,” says Poplar River First Nation Lands Councillor Eddie Hudson.

Since 2016, Poplar River Lands Guardian Norway Rabliauskas has been collaborating with scientists from Audubon’s Boreal Conservation program to better understand how songbird populations are changing in the face of climate change.

The first results of the ‘Songmeter Project’ are in.

“Songmeters record bird sounds,” says Guardian Brad Bushie, Poplar River Lands Guardians Program. Using knowledge of the land, Poplar River Lands Guardians placed the recording units at four sites across the traditional territory, he explains.

The number of bird species recorded allows us to analyze population changes over time,” adds Dr. Jeff Wells, Vice President for Boreal Conservation at National Audubon Society.

*Map of survey sites in Poplar River First Nation and its location within Pimachiowin Aki, courtesy Audubon*

Guardians placed Songmeters in four survey sites in Poplar River First Nation throughout the spring of 2016

71 bird species were detected

At least 18 of the species detected have more than 70% of their breeding range confined to the Boreal Forest biome, meaning their survival relies heavily on healthy landscapes like Pimachiowin Aki

Two species were detected on more than half of all recordings:
- White-throated Sparrow
- Swainson’s Thrush

Five species were detected on more than 30% of all recordings:
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Ovenbird
- Song Sparrow
- Bald Eagle
- American Crow

At least 20 species listed as special concern, threatened, or endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) are believed to occur within Pimachiowin Aki. The Songmeter project captured recordings of three of the bird species listed by COSEWIC:
- Common Nighthawk
- Eastern Whip-poor-will
- Canada Warbler

Common Nighthawk
Photo: Christian Artuso

National Audubon Society’s recent study, Survival by Degrees, found that over two-thirds of North American birds are moderately or highly vulnerable to a global average temperature increase of 3°C by 2080. This includes many species detected at Poplar River First Nation, such as:
- Bay-breasted Warbler
- Cape May Warbler
- Canada Warbler
- Blackburnian Warbler

How the collaboration began

“We first talked with the Guardians and community, and asked if they would be interested,” says Jeff.

Norway says the project is a good fit for his community. “One of our goals is to develop new research partnerships. Plus, the project builds on the monitoring work we have already been doing.”

Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science come together

The Songmeter project relies heavily on Guardians, and the process of collaborating starts with listening and respect.

Listening to Guardians’ advice is crucial in a project like this, where Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science combine to create strong, respectful conservation efforts, says Jeff. “Things always overlay with Indigenous knowledge.”

Guardians serve as stewards and scientists and are central to a program that pairs data collection with Indigenous ecological knowledge to track changes across the site over time.
Chad Wilsey, Vice President and Chief Scientist, National Audubon Society, in his blog about his work and experience in Poplar River First Nation

Guardians have a good understanding of the land and decide where to install Songmeters.

“Our Guardians’ hard work and understanding of the land have contributed to the project’s success,” says Councillor Eddie Hudson. “We are proud of the work they do.”

*Guardian Norway Rabliauskas installs a Son*gmeter.

The project continues

This past year, Guardians installed Songmeters in the same four locations as 2016. The 2017-2021 recordings have yet to be formally processed but since the start of the project, the number of species the team has identified has “greatly expanded,” Jeff says.

Thousands of hours of song

Analyzing bird sounds can be a difficult and time-consuming task.

“What happens with this kind of work is that you can get thousands of hours of recordings, and you can imagine someone sitting down and listening… You can only get through so much,” says Jeff.

The relatively small team picked random samples, listening to four 10-minute recordings from each day collected in 2016.

187.3 hours of recordings were sampled between May 27 and July 1, 2016
Birds of Poplar River Project – First Results

New technology to speed up the process

Recently, the team implemented BirdNET in their identification process. BirdNET is an artificial intelligence algorithm developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This bird identification machine can quickly go through recordings to identify specific bird species.

The team will use BirdNet to help identify the recordings taken in Poplar River First Nation from 2017–2021.

Looking forward

In the upcoming year, National Audubon Society and Poplar River First Nation Lands Guardians Luke Mitchell, Brad Bushie and Youth Guardian Aiden Heindmarch will work together to expand the areas where Songmeters are placed. They plan to set up Songmeters in deeper and more remote areas of the forest.

“One place takes a couple of days to get to by boat,” Jeff says. “It’s exciting to see what we might find in these places.”

He hopes that over the years more First Nation communities can use Songmeters when developing their monitoring programs. He also hopes for more collaborative initiatives with communities in Pimachiowin Aki.

“If that’s what communities want to be a part of,” he says, “there are a lot of interesting things to discover.”

A Year of Connections for Pimachiowin Aki

December 14, 2022

As 2022 draws to a close, we look back at a stellar year of connections. A traditional medicine workshop brought together community members, an art installation shared Anishinaabeg traditional knowledge, and a PhD thesis and documentary film spread word of Pimachiowin Aki around the globe. Here are eight highlights from our special year:

1. What We Do to the Land We Do to Ourselves

Filmmaker Michael Zelniker joined the Pimachiowin Aki Directors and members for a special screening of his documentary film The Issue with Tissue – a Boreal Love Story. Michael’s film features First Nation Elders and leaders from across the boreal, including Bloodvein River First Nation Elder Leslie Orvis Sr. and Pimachiowin Aki Director William Young, along with leading scientists and activists. It was an emotional experience to see and hear stories of the devastating impacts of colonization and damage done to Mother Earth as the world’s boreal forest is clearcut to manufacture toilet paper.

More than one million acres of boreal forest are lost to clear cutting in Canada every year.

Forests take care of us. But we are cutting down the world’s oldest living trees and flushing them down the toilet, Michael warns.

In early December, he spoke with CBC about his film and how the logging industry has affected the boreal forest and the life it supports. Indigenous Peoples have protected millions of acres of boreal forest in Pimachiowin Aki from destruction from human activity for over 7,000 years.

A Little Paper Creates a Big Problem

See the trailer for The Issue with Tissue – A Boreal Love Story

2. A Tiny Bird on a Tremendous Journey

For World Migratory Bird Day, Bloodvein River First Nation Guardian Melba Green helped the National Audubon Society remind the world that birds connect us all.

Melba joined Audubon’s Dr. Jeff Wells in a video to discuss the Canada Warbler, a vulnerable species that finds refuge in Pimachiowin Aki.

“Pimachiowin Aki is [committed] to protecting wildlife, birds, and land from mining and forestry, and all other things that harm the land,” Melba explains.

Millions of birds migrate to and from Pimachiowin Aki each year, including the Canada Warbler. Contrary to its name, this bright yellow songbird sets out on a heroic, international voyage – it leaves the forest wetlands of Pimachiowin Aki in August for woodlands on the Texas coast, its first stop on the way to La Semilla, a natural reserve in Colombia.

Conservation of these areas, from the boreal forest of Pimachiowin Aki to South America, is critical to birds’ survival.

“Without strong, large, intact protected areas in the boreal forest, [birds’ migratory] cycles could shut down,” says Jeff.

“It’s really important for us to maintain these areas,” Melba adds.

64 % of Canada Warblers rely on Canadian Boreal Forest for their breeding grounds.

Birds are indicators of our changing climate. Global warming is the biggest threat to their natural habitat, and shifting migratory patterns demonstrate this.

See the full video featuring Melba: http://surl.li/ebgvp

3. Women Turn Out for Trapping Education Course

Pimachiowin Aki, with financial support from the South East Resource Development Council, organized a week-long trapper education course at Little Grand Rapids First Nation.

An instructor from Red Lake taught the group of mainly women how to create muskrat boxes, a skill required to obtain their trapping licences.

Did you know?
Traplines in Little Grand Rapids span both Manitoba and Ontario. Manitoba recognizes Ontario trapper training programs for licensing in Manitoba, but you must receive training from a qualified instructor in Ontario to get a licence to trap there.

Bloodvein plans to hold a trapper training course in January 2023. The course is full, but the Bloodvein River First Nation Guardian will share information if space becomes available.

4. Pimachiowin Aki Provides Global Inspiration

If you close your eyes and think about Pimachiowin Aki, what do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel?

Dr. Gemma Faith had never been to Pimachiowin Aki, but three years ago, as a PhD researcher at Ulster University in Northern Ireland, she noticed that this special place came to life online with “rich and stirring content” that made her feel like she was here. Gemma was so impressed with Pimachiowin Aki’s online presence and values-based approach to management that she chose to use Pimachiowin Aki as a case study for her thesis: Evaluating World Heritage Interpretation in Online Spaces and its Potential to Prime the Development of Eco-Cultural Tourism Experiences (Virtual and Onsite): A Case Study on Pimachiowin Aki, Canada’s First Mixed World Heritage Site.

Dr. Faith studied Pimachiowin Aki over a three-year period, capturing and analyzing information, including:

pimaki.ca
Facebook page
Official documents
Zoom interviews with Pimachiowin Aki Directors and members
Insights shared by community members through written submissions

Dr. Gemma Faith graduated with a degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Ulster University in Northern Ireland in December 2022. Pimachiowin Aki’s contribution is acknowledged in her PhD thesis.

What is the purpose of the study?

With technology at our fingertips, people can explore any place in the world with a few swipes and clicks. It’s important for mixed World Heritage sites like Pimachiowin Aki to carve out a place on the internet, so that people learn about Outstanding Universal Value and why it is preserved for the benefit of all humanity.

Gemma’s study explores how Pimachiowin Aki communicates the unique bond that Anishinaabeg have with the land to people around the world through social media and our website. It also looks at ways that online communication can be used to develop eco-cultural tourism.

New tourism development is in its infancy at Pimachiowin Aki, but exploring pimaki.ca or browsing its social media is like having a local, online tour guide:

Someone to show you what makes this mixed World Heritage site special (through text, photographs, video storytelling and descriptions)
Someone to share and explain the values that preserve and sustain this protected area
Someone to answer your questions or comments

By presenting Pimachiowin Aki’s online presence as a global exemplar (a good example to the world), it is hoped that the findings of the study will aid the management of online heritage interpretation at future mixed sites in Canada and the world, Gemma says. Pimachiowin Aki thanks Dr. Gemma Faith for her gift of curiosity, and the Elders, knowledge keepers and community members who share stories and bring Anishinaabeg cultural heritage to life for our social media followers, newsletter subscribers, and web visitors from across the globe.

5. Elders Share Knowledge of Traditional Medicines

Ka mashkawak mashkiski (sage) means ‘the strong medicine’ and has a very strong scent. This traditional knowledge was shared during a discussion with Elders in Pauingassi First Nation this fall.

The community event, sponsored by Pimachiowin Aki, focused on traditional medicines.

Participants discussed traditional plant names, when to harvest them, parts of plants used for medicines, symptoms they treat, how to prepare them, and how they’re used today.

Joe Owen, Pimachiowin Aki Board member and knowledge keeper from Pauingassi First Nation, says, “The important thing is I’m trying to encourage Elders, whatever they still know, to exercise using that knowledge about medicines. The medicines help with some illnesses. It is nice to share with the people from other communities too. If Elders have any young people who come around to their houses, it is good to talk with them about some of the medicines we still have out there.”

Organizers are currently working on a document to share teachings from the workshop with community members. Watch for it in our future eNews.

6. Wildfire Sparks Art at an International Festival

Pimachiowin Aki was excited to be a part of an art installation of dancing trees created by artist Jonathan Green. The installation, which appeared during Nuit Blanche Winnipeg, was inspired in part by Pimachiowin Aki’s fire cycle graphic.

“I found the graphic when I was looking for an image to explain the idea of a fire cycle,” says Jonathan. “I scrolled down to Pimachiowin Aki’s version of the cycle and immediately loved its clarity, and the way it explains details such as wild berries becoming abundant, animals migrating, and how the land changes.”

“I’ve been researching wildfires for years, but I didn’t know former burn sites make for good hunting,” says Jonathan. “The graphic is so rich in local Anishinaabeg knowledge and practice it felt like something I could trust innately.”

Jonathan credits Pimachiowin Aki’s fire cycle graphic, adapted from work by Dr. Andrew Miller, with inspiring him to include trees from the boreal in his installation, which he designed to help visitors get a better understanding of how wildfires impact habitats.

“I hope it allows us all to consider the human impact on the environment and the ways in which many recent large-scale wildfires are a direct result of extreme climate change due to this human impact.”

7. Making Strides in Digital Map Project

Fieldwork for the much-anticipated digital habitat maps, in partnership with ECOSTEM, continued this year, with tours around Aikens Lake and Fishing Lake.

ECOSTEM is now in the process of creating a preliminary version of the habitat map, which we expect to release in March 2023, followed by detailed maps of cultural features.

Elders, Pimachiowin Aki Guardians and other knowledge keepers are contributing data and information to the maps, such as knowledge of wildlife-habitat relationships, and will be able to use the maps to preserve important habitats and keep an eye on the health of the land.

“The maps won’t just show us the land; they will show us what the land can sustain,” says Alison Haugh, Executive Director of Pimachiowin Aki.

Learn more about the digital maps and how they’re created.

The challenges of mapping

It takes thousands of photos, drone and satellite imagery, and physical samples to create the maps. In the development stages, the mapping team faced multiple challenges getting what they need. Wildfires had swept through the land in 2021, accompanied by COVID-19 restrictions and a months-long drought, which made floatplane and boat travel nearly impossible.

Drones were prohibited from flying due to NAV Canada restrictions to avoid conflicts with firefighting aircraft.

These challenges postponed ECOSTEM’s image collection process to this year, when they were able to continue their fieldwork.

Though easier on their team, 2022 presented its own hurdles. For starters, massive snowfall led to record-breaking high water levels throughout Manitoba.

In addition, “drones have been grounded more than expected due to rain and high winds,” reports ECOSTEM’s Dr. James Ehnes. Despite this, the team was able to complete all of the planned fieldwork.

At times, Pimachiowin Aki Guardians couldn’t do groundwork because roads were covered with water and rapids were so strong that some areas were too dangerous to visit.

If weather concerns weren’t enough to stand in the way of the project, Transport Canada established new restrictions for transporting lithium-ion batteries on commercial flights.

“We now have to discharge the battery, get a third party to certify that they’re discharged, and ship them separately on a cargo flight,” says James. “This process has not only added time prior to getting in the field; it then takes the rest of the day to recharge the batteries.

A team effort

Miigwech to Guardian Colin Owens of Pauingassi First Nation, who travelled great distances by boat to capture images and was very helpful in transporting the crew and gear around the community each day and shipping generators to Winnipeg.

8. Happy Birthday to World Heritage!

2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, which Canada joined in 1976, becoming a part of an international movement to safeguard the world’s cultural treasures.

“The purpose of the World Heritage Convention is to identify, protect, and preserve cultural and natural places across the world that are deemed to have Outstanding Universal Value, and should therefore be protected and recognized internationally for current and future generations,” says Rebecca Kennedy, Manager of International Affairs for Parks Canada.

“Canada is blessed with a diversity of natural and cultural heritage from coast to coast to coast, including 20 sites that have been inscribed on the World Heritage List,” she adds.

There was no better time than 2022 for Canadians to learn about these 20 incredible places. Many of Canada’s World Heritage Sites, including Pimachiowin Aki, offered special in-person and virtual activities to highlight this landmark year.

Take a cross-Canada video tour to celebrate the shared heritage of humankind:

Boreal Woodland Caribou: Fast Facts

December 20, 2021

Anishinaabeg in Pimachiowin Aki generally do not hunt boreal woodland caribou—they are smaller than moose and harder to find as they are always on the move
Caribou hair is hollow, providing insulation in winter and buoyancy while swimming in summer
Boreal woodland caribou spread out to calve alone in remote areas, unlike barren ground caribou who calve in groups of females
Woodland caribou have a wide-ranging lifespan of eight to fifteen years
Caribou are the only deer species among which both males and females have antlers
Male antlers are broader and larger in size. Female antlers are generally shorter and slender and typically have only one point
Males shed their antlers in late winter and start re-growing them in spring
Females shed their antlers after calving
Caribou make a characteristic clicking sound when they move which is caused by tendons slipping over bones in their feet
Boreal woodland caribou have crescent shaped hooves that are wide and long— ideal for swimming (they act as paddles), walking on top of snow (they’re like snowshoes) and traveling across soft ground like bogs
Boreal woodland caribou prefer winter foods—throughout winter, they use their sharp-edged hooves to uncover and feed on Pimachiowin Aki’s abundant ground lichens
In summer, boreal woodland caribou thrive on Pimachiowin Aki’s diverse plant species, including grasses, lichens, shrubs and sedges
Boreal woodland caribou have been on the threatened species list in Manitoba since 2002. They were listed as a threatened species across Canada in 2003
Four groups of boreal woodland caribou live in Pimachiowin Aki

Historical Uses for Caribou

When thousands of caribou roamed, First Nation communities hunted them for a variety of reasons:

Clothing

“Some people use the hide for clothing,” explains Pimachiowin Aki Guardian Dennis Keeper. “It’s softer than moose hide.” Antlers are used to make buttons for clothes. Caribou hides were used for moccasins (makizinan). Caribou dew claws, adikwaganzhiig, were used in ceremonial regalia.

Drum-making

“Many years ago, the only reason we would hunt caribou would be for drum-making,” Dennis Keeper says. Caribou hide is thin and makes an excellent cover for a drum.

Tools

Antlers found in the forest are used to make scrapers, needles, and knife handles. Caribou bones are used to scrape off fat from beaver, otter and moose hides.

Learn more > Species of Conservation Concern: Boreal Woodland Caribou

Feature image: Bruce Bremner