Wild Rice and the Rouge? Remembering What the Wetlands Hold

Measuring Empire

​What are the ways you measure time and the changing of seasons? Perhaps schools starting, the changing leaf color, corn harvests or Halloween.
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Markers aside, we measure time with the “Gregorian” calendar. While this way of measuring time is unremarkable to us, the story of expanding this calendar, and other standards of measurement, around the world is fascinatingly the story of empire. The Gregorian calendar was introduced by the Catholic Church under Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 after the Spanish reconquered the Iberian peninsula and began expanding into the Americas.. The British empire only adopted the more accurate calendar in 1752 when the British and French began edging out Spain. Russia only adopted it formally in 1917. Today it’s the most widely used calendar in the world for business, civil affairs and trade. Yet, to this day, billions around the world use alternative calendars for traditional seasonal activities and religious events. The indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes, the Anishinaabe, measured the year based on the moon cycles, contrary to our solar calendar. They refer to each moon cycle based on the environmental, social and ecological activity of that moon.

Photo 1: The year in world calendars via The World in Maps, Photo 2: Anishinaabe Calendar by 14 First Nations of NW Ontario

The last moon cycle was the Manoomin (Wild rice) Moon. In Anishinaabe creation stories, the creator  instructed them, “to move west until they find the food that grows on water.”Manoomin is that sacred grain for Anishinaabe peoples. The state of Michigan actually just made manoomin the state grain in 2023. If you attended the Buffalo Soldiers and Blues Festival you may have observed me with a tarp-full of fresh wild rice! I had spent the previous few weeks harvesting up north. This ancient grain grows in clean, shallow, slow moving wetland ecosystems like in Tawas Lake. Historically, a profusion of wild rice could be found in growing coastal wetlands. A pristine example is the largest remaining coastal wild rice bed in the world, the Bad River reservation in northern Wisconsin. This is why the Bad River Reservation has been fighting mining and pipelines in their watershed, check out the documentary “Bad River.” ​

Photo 3: Wild Rice at the Buffalo Soldiers Fest, Photo 4: Antonio Harvesting Wild Rice in northern Michigan 
Photo 5: Bad River Wetlands and watershed z_Mining_Penokee_ExploratoryDrillSite_Map_2011.jpg

Wild rice is rare in Michigan because of wetland loss and environmental pollution, recurring themes in my articles. Wetlands are cornerstone ecosystems that prevent flooding, restore ground water levels, clean water, and provide essential habitat for wildlife. Wetlands loss in Wayne County exceeds 90%. It follows, our hyper-urbanized, drained and polluted watershed cannot sustain wild rice, the ecological context is almost the opposite of Bad River.

Photo 6: Wild Rice, Photo 7: DEQ Wetlands Loss

Rouge River is polluted by many sources; winter road salt; oil and grease drainage from streets; pesticides and fertilizers from lawns/golf courses; bacteria from pets and wildlife; heavy metals & PFAS from industry. One major ongoing source of pollution are the Combined Sewer Overflows(CSO’s) that continue to contaminate the river with human waste during large rain events. While much of the problem has been abated, the remaining CSO’s are very expensive to repair.. That unfortunately falls on  working-class Wayne County residents. This is why we have received hardship exemptions from the federal government as our CSO’s violate Clean Water Act protections for bodies of water like the Rouge River. Federal government investments in local water infrastructure peaked in the 1970s around the passage of the Clean Water Act. We shouldn't expect much support from the Trump administration on this issue. Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DSWD)  customers are not alone with our aging water infrastructure. Failing infrastructure is a national issue. The American Society of Civil Engineers graded  America water related infrastructure poorly; drinking water receiving a C-, wastewater a D+, and stormwater a D. If the influence of an empire is “measured” through standardizing measurement around the world, what does the quality of water and sewage infrastructure say about a civilization?

Combined Sewer Overflow’s are a big problem for the Rouge River. While there are many sources of pollution within our watershed; the road salt for winter safety; oil and grease from street drainage; pesticides and fertilizers from lawns/golf courses; bacteria from pets and wildlife; heavy metals &PFAS from industry. One major ongoing source of pollution are the Combined Sewer Overflows(CSO’s) that continue to contaminate the river with human waste during large rain events. The remaining CSO’s are very expensive to repair, particularly for the working class wayne county residents and Detroit Water and Sewage customers who will likely pay for these updates. This is why we have received hardship exemptions from the federal government as our CSO’s violate Clean Water Act protections for bodies of water like the Rouge River.

Photo 8: CSO Diagram by getty, Photo 9: Figure 2‐6: Combined Sewer Drainage Areas via Alliance of Rouge Communities
​Photo 10: Billions of dollars invested in water infrastructure National: Local by the CBO

While many in SE Michigan might not be able to participate in the Maanomin-Moon, our park features natural and man-made solutions for the shortcomings of our current water and sewage paradigm. 
Rouge Park houses some of the last remaining bits of wetlands, forested-flood plain, and the largest prairie in the county and watershed.
 
Our prairies and forests naturally store and sink upwards of 10’s of million gallons of water each year.  
Our Park also features the DSWD Far West Detroit Stormwater Improvement Project, construction you have surely noticed on the south western side of the park over the past few years. This project will reduce chronic basement flooding experienced by approximately 1,200 homes and will keep nearly 100 million gallons of stormwater out of the combined sewer system annually. 

You can be part of the solution too. A single individual can make a slight  difference in the watershed problems:

• Plant trees.
• ​Limit fertilizer use.
• Pick up pet waste. 
• Plant Rain gardens. 
• Disconnect downspouts.
• Reduce impermeable surfaces.
• Allow leaf litter to stay on your lawn. 
• Maintain your vehicle so it doesn’t leak into the drains. 
• Avoid hazardous disposing hazardous waste like paint, car fluids and chemicals into the storm drains. 

But unfortunately there are no individual solutions to collective problems of this scale.. you gotta join a community or organization to work on these issues! Come volunteer with us at Friends of Rogue Park (FORP) to help maintain these forests and prairies. Removing invasive shrubs helps these ecosystems hold water in the long term as native plants tend to have much deeper roots.

The Alliance of Rouge River Communities (ARC) to encourage watershed-wide cooperation and support to restore beneficial uses of the Rouge River, they create the tools, funding, and projects that residents, schools, and local organizations can plug into through local governments and other organizations. Many of you are probably engaged with Friends of the Rouge (the watershed or,  FOR). They’re an excellent partner to follow in this effort to revive the Rouge River… FOR has been helping support residents in the creation of more than 100 rain gardens all over the watershed.

​Also, be on the look out for forthcoming Coalition for a Clean Rouge, an effort between multiple organizations in the watershed to advocate for alleviating our river of her CSO problems. 
And who knows, maybe we’ll bring some wild rice activities to the park in the future!