ONAMIA — Jordan Williams wouldn’t go so far as to call this year’s wild rice a bumper crop, but he will say the rice is looking really, really nice.
Williams is a wildlife biologist for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Department of Natural Resources. The agency monitors many lakes in and around the reservation and throughout the 1837 ceded territory, which stretches west into Wisconsin.
“[Lake] Onamia’s always really efficient, always has lots of rice, so that’s not really any surprise there ... really thick, tall rice,” he said.
“I think if you know of any other place that typically has wild rice, it’s probably going to have just a little bit more this year.”
Lots of Minnesota’s rice beds have struggled in recent years. Wild rice is sensitive to changes in water level, so the summer cycles of flooding and drought haven’t lent themselves to abundance.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ wild rice outlook points to favorable conditions for successful harvests. High water and summer storms did impact some stands, and conditions are spottier near Bemidji and in Cook, Lake and northern St. Louis counties.
Wild rice actually thrives in low water, Williams said. But then access for ricers becomes the challenge.
“This year is something that I haven’t really noticed before ever in my experience, where we have enough water to get just about anywhere you need to, and then you still have just a really, really thick rice bed,” Williams explained. “So, I'd say it’s just kind of a unique year.”
Wild rice season technically opened over a week ago on Aug. 15, but harvesting is likely still some time out.
In Minnesota, it’s illegal to harvest green or unripe rice. So when the month-and-a-half-long season really kicks off varies a bit each year.
Williams said some rice is starting to ripen, but things will really get going around Labor Day.
Like every year, the Minnesota DNR encourages scouting beds to ensure a successful harvest. The full licensing requirements, rules and regulations can be found on its website.
Williams also had a couple of reminders.
“Make sure you come prepared with all your safety equipment, life jackets and cellphone, make sure people know where you’re at,” he said.
“And then making sure you’re going out there and harvesting in a respectful way. So not harvesting green rice and making sure that we’re taking care of the rice that’s there. Because it is honestly a unique area, and we really want to preserve it for the future.”
