United States

Discover nature and history

National wildlife refuges in the U.S. are laced with Native American heritage

by Kirsten Armleder

In late August when birds begin to gather over the lakes at Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern Minnesota, it is a sign the wild rice is ripe. Hundreds of migrating ring-necked ducks are among the waterfowl that come to Tamarac’s 21 lakes to feast.

Just as the birds are drawn to the lakes, so are the local Ojibwe people. The Ojibwe have been gathering wild rice, known as manomin, at Tamarac Refuge for hundreds of years. Birdwatchers are sometimes surprised to see their canoes among the flocks of birds. While one person steers the canoe with a pole, another uses a pair of cedar sticks to guide the stalks over the boat and gently shake the grain free.

A canoe can hold up to 500 pounds of rice, if the ricer is very industrious. A ricing party may take one to three loads a day. Yet the Ojibwe take only 15 per cent of the total crop, leaving plenty for the birds.

Signs mark historic native American sites throughout the refuge and visitors can walk the same trails the Ojibwe used to travel from their spring sugarbush (maple sugar collecting sites) to their fall wild ricing sites. Many of the refuge’s trails and roads are open for hiking in the summer and snowshoeing or cross country skiing in the winter. The refuge also has a five-mile auto route.

An historical exhibit at the visitor center includes information on ricing.

Directions: The refuge is 18 miles northeast of Detroit Lakes, MN, at the junction of County Roads 26 & 29. It is open during daylight hours. Tamarac’s visitor center is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. during summer and fall weekends.

The relationship between birds and Native Americans has played out in other ways at other national wildlife refuges.

Wapato harvesting

The Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge near the mouth of the Columbia River in Washington State was once the location of the village of Cathlapotle, inhabited by Chinookan peoples. They harvested salmon and a wetland tuber called wapato, food for wintering tundra swans and other water birds protected by the refuge.

Residents of Cathlapotle lived in large, communal buildings made of cedar planks. In 1805, the Lewis and Clark explorers observed 14 houses in the village and estimated that 900 people lived there. A 78-foot-long plankhouse of the sort used by residents of Cathlapotle has been recreated and is open to the public on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons during the summer and available to groups by special arrangement. Call 360-887-4106 or visit http://plankhouse.org/ for more information.

There are several hiking trails and an auto route on the refuge, which is open during daylight hours seven days a week. Information can be obtained at refuge headquarters at 28908 NW Main Avenue in Ridgefield, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 360-887-3883 or visit www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/RNWRCulture.

Directions: Take the Ridgefield exit from Interstate 5 approximately 20 miles north of Vancouver, Washington. Drive three miles west to Ridgefield, where you will see signs directing you to the refuge.

Tepee Rings

Lake Ilo National Wildlife Refuge in western North Dakota is managed to promote waterfowl nesting and brood rearing. But in the 1980s, when the man-made lake was lowered because of a dam problem, refuge personnel were amazed to discover an intact tepee ring on the lake floor. The ring of stones used to hold down the edges of a tepee turned out to be the first of 58,000 stone artifacts recovered from the lake bed, some of them rare Folsom spear tips belonging to Paleoindians 10,500 years ago.

Today, the tepee ring can be seen on the refuge’s Lake Ilo walking trail displayed along with some tepee poles. The refuge also has several kiosks that tell the history of the area. And there is a small display in the refuge office, which is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.

In addition to the tepee ring, refuge manager Kory Richardson said tourists make their way to the remote refuge to see grasslands species birds such as Baird’s sparrow and Sprague’s pipit. He said birders have come from as far away as England, California and Texas to see the little brown birds. A 1-mile self-guided interpretive trail winds along the north lake shore and meanders through planted tree belts and native prairies. The trail passes a great blue heron rookery. For more information call 701-548-8110 or visit http://lakeilo.fws.gov.
Directions: The Lake Ilo NWR office is located one mile west and 1.5 miles south of Dunn Center, North Dakota. The office is on the south shore of the lake.

Ancient mounds

The rich Mississippi delta bottom land at the Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge is a magnet for pied-billed grebes, moorhens, wading birds and wood ducks. But two thousand years ago this rich land was cultivated by people who built flat-topped mounds that were centers of life from 200 - 1400 AD. Sometimes one large flat-topped mound dominated a village or ceremonial centre, but usually several mounds surrounded a plaza, with the village at its edges. The mounds had political, social and religious functions.

The Swan Lake Mound Complex is the largest of several mound sites at Yazoo Refuge.

Retired refuge manager Tim Wilkins said the Swan Lake Mound is 24 feet tall and covers a quarter of an acre. Located off of Yazoo Refuge Road, the area around the mound is kept mowed for visitors.

Yazoo’s birds can be seen from two new wildlife observation areas. A quarter mile boardwalk leads to an observation platform at Lizard Lake and at Alligator Pond, an open-sided observation tower provides excellent views of wildlife.
There is a small exhibit in the visitors office which is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. Located 28 miles south of Greenville, the refuge is open during daylight hours year around. For more information, call 662-839-2638 or visit http://www.fws.gov/yazoo/.

Directions: From Greenville, take Highway 1 south to the refuge sign. Turn east on Yazoo Refuge Road, and proceed to the Headquarters sign. From Vicksburg, travel north on Highway 61. Turn west onto Highway 436 and proceed approximately 5.5 miles to the refuge sign at Beargarden Road. Turn right on Beargarden Road and follow the signs to Refuge Headquarters.

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