The Fond du Lac Band lives on a 101,000-acre reservation in northeast Minnesota about 20 miles inland from Lake Superior in the far western corner of the lake.
Low water levels may mean it's not safe to get canoes into the waters and hand-harvest rice in the traditional manner, she said, pointing to a rice operation by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa that had to shut down in 2007 after drought made it too difficult to maneuver canoes. The rice itself is at risk of being phased out by other native species, she said, noting that the rice is "very sensitive to hydrologic changes."
Though tribes in this area are doing what they can to invest in clean energy and study local water temperature trends to help plan future adaptation strategies, "there's still really fundamental questions remaining" about what the future environment will look like, she said.
A 'cultural identity' at risk of being transformed
"Will there still be wild rice? Will there still be birch bark to harvest? Will there still be a sugar bush?" she asked. "Right now, we certainly don't have those answers."
While there is a certain amount of uncertainty in predicting climate change impacts, the various models forecast that the Great Lakes region may see lower lake levels "on the order of 1 to 2 feet, said EPA's Davis.
In February, the Obama administration rolled out a five-year Great Lakes Action plan dedicated to adapting to some of these effects and restoring the area.
The plan, which would cost more than $2 billion to carry out, lays out five central goals it hopes to address in the coming years: restoring lost wetlands, controlling invasive species, tackling runoff pollution, addressing toxics like mercury, and promoting accountability and education efforts.
As water levels decline, toxics need to get cleaned up, and "fast," said Davis. "The reason is that with climate change scenarios starting to kick in, we have to get those areas cleaned up so we aren't unwittingly circulating more contaminants than we need to," he said.
To adapt to the warmer temperatures, "The most important thing we can do is to use the best science in all the initiatives that are under way," added Andy Buchsbaum, the Great Lakes regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation.
"Don't just look at the way things are now, but the way they are likely to be in the coming years, and use all the resources we have now in the service of preparing for climate change," he said.
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500
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10 Comments
Add CommentYet another "canary" that can be ignored or speciously denied - until it is too obvious and too late.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe "Tribes" that depend on the Great Lakes? Would that be the Chicago tribe or the Toronto Tribe, or maybe the Cleveland Indians?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTime to trade in the canoes for zodiacs. They've learned to supplement their harpoons with .50 cals on the left coast.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWith all due respect to the Fond du Lac Tribe and the Bad River Tribe, what about the rest of us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo, this Climatewire story is not reporting any newly published research findings but merely some interviews with a couple of attendees of "a public meeting of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force last week, pointing to recent data trends."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWere they discussing average surface water temperature from five location on the lake? How long have these temperature measurements been keep? The record goes back to 1998 - was that the first year of data collection?
This 'news' contains more hidden agendas and questions than information.
P.S. - I'm not denying anything, but this is B.S.
Lake Superior is not the largest fresh water lake, Lake Baikal in Russia is, shame on you S.A.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisrichardebridges@aol.com
And shame on you for poor reading comprehension. The article says "Lake Superior, which is the largest, deepest and coldest of the five lakes", not "the largest fresh water lake in the world"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe article also says "the world's largest freshwater system". Again, not the largest individual lake.
I'm not sure which you were referring too, but unless the article has been edited in the last half hour, You might want to show your embarrassment appropriately.
Just saying.
I live near Duluth, and I know of no place in Lake Superior itself where Wild Rice ever grew. Some members of the Fond du Lac Band no doubt harvest Wild Rice in nearby inland lakes and marshy bottoms of tributaries such as Saint Louis River, but the temperatures of Lake Superior are irrelevant. Even if I am mistaken, and there are shallow flats in Lake Superior with Wild Rice, I am extremely skeptical that the temperatures are anywhere near the intolerable range for the plant species. Lake Superior is much colder than the inland lakes where Wild Rice flourishes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe fantastic "scientific" reporting is unbelievable. Such "scientific" statements such as:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Total ice cover on the lake has shrunk by about 20 percent over the past 37 years"
and "This year, the waters in Lake Superior are on track to reach -- and potentially exceed -- the lake's record-high temperatures of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, which occurred in 1998" just are undeniable truths - fit right in with Al Gore's statements about New York city being under water soon!
If there are any real scientists with ethics out there let them know that I have studied the Great Lake's water temperatures and they "vary" but show NO pattern of warming over the past 83 years!
This proves to me, since I know the "truths" reported here are false, that Global Warming is just another scare tactic wherein fraudulent scientists merely want more government handouts for their "research"!
Ken Kodger
The fantastic "scientific" reporting is unbelievable. Such "scientific" statements such as:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Total ice cover on the lake has shrunk by about 20 percent over the past 37 years"
and "This year, the waters in Lake Superior are on track to reach -- and potentially exceed -- the lake's record-high temperatures of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, which occurred in 1998" just are undeniable truths - fit right in with Al Gore's statements about New York city being under water soon!
If there are any real scientists with ethics out there let them know that I have studied the Great Lake's water temperatures and they "vary" but show NO pattern of warming over the past 83 years!
This proves to me, since I know the "truths" reported here are false, that Global Warming is just another scare tactic wherein the fraudulent scientists merely want more government handout for their "research"!