Grand Portage Research Articles

Indigenous co‐stewardship of North American moose: recommendations and a vision for a restoration framework

AbstractMoose (Alces alces; mooz [singular], moozoog [plural] in Anishinaabemowin, Ojibwe language) are an important species to many Indigenous rights‐holders and stakeholders throughout their circumpolar range. Management of moose can often lead to conflict when various perspectives of Indigenous nations are not recognized or appreciated. During the 55th North American Moose Conference and Workshop held in Grand Portage, Minnesota, USA, we held a workshop with 145 participants centered around co‐stewardship of moose among various Indigenous nations, federal, state, and provincial governments, academia, and non‐governmental agencies. Using a facilitator, the participants identified opportunities and challenges surrounding issues related to moose management. Participants then further identified priority improvements and action steps for co‐stewardship. Six core principles of Indigenous co‐stewardship were developed: 1) recognition of Indigenous Sovereignty, which specifies that co‐stewardship must begin with a recognition of the sovereignty of Indigenous nations and their inherent rights to manage, conserve, and preserve natural and cultural resources within their ancestral lands; 2) shared responsibility, where co‐stewardship is a shared responsibility between Indigenous nations, federal governments, and state governments; 3) cultural and ecological respect, which stipulates that co‐stewardship should honor the cultural significance of moose to Indigenous nations and recognize the ecological importance of moose within the broader ecosystem; 4) inclusive decision‐making, which details that co‐stewardship requires inclusive and equitable decision‐making processes that involve meaningful consultation and consent from Indigenous nations; 5) resource sharing and capacity building, where co‐stewardship involves the sharing of resources and knowledge between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous partners; and 6) adaptive management and sustainability, specifying that co‐stewardship should embrace adaptive management principles, where management strategies are continuously evaluated, adjusted, and improved based on new information and changing conditions. Some of the key takeaways from the workshop included that it will be essential to integrate Indigenous ways of knowing into an equitable and inclusive management system, there are existing models of co‐stewardship that can be built upon, it is critical to build trust among all key stakeholders and rights‐holders, and it will be important to establish formal and informal collaborative systems among all partners to support co‐stewardship at all levels. We discuss a study and synthesis on Indigenous co‐stewardship of moose and offer a synopsis and recommendations to advance restoration of moose in North America.

Absence of SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife of northeastern Minnesota and Isle Royale National Park.

We investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in free-ranging wildlife populations in Northeastern Minnesota on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and Isle Royale National Park. One hundred twenty nasal samples were collected from white-tailed deer, moose, grey wolves and black bears monitored for conservation efforts during 2022-2023. Samples were tested for viral RNA by RT-qPCR using the CDC N1/N2 primer set. Our data indicate that no wildlife samples were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Continued surveillance is therefore crucial to better understand the changing landscape of zoonotic SARS-CoV-2 in the Upper Midwest.

Spring black bear harvest and predation pressure on moose calves in a multi‐predator system

AbstractThe moose (Alces alces; mooz in Anishinaabemowin, Ojibwe language will follow scientific names) is a vital subsistence food source to Anishinabe people of the midwestern United States and has recently declined in Minnesota, USA, with poor calf survival as a contributing factor. Predation is the primary cause of moose calf mortality and we explored whether calf predation rates could be reduced through management of a single predator in a multi‐predator system. Thus, we examined predation rates and causes of calf mortality before (2013–2015) and during (2016–2018) implementation of a spring black bear (Ursus americanus; makwa) harvest season, using baits to attract black bears, on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation, Minnesota, where black bears and gray wolves (Canis lupus; ma'iinganag) are the primary predators of moose calves. We validated our early study findings for the 5 years following the initial study with intermittent spring bear hunting seasons, from 2019–2023. The spring bear hunt was canceled because of a pandemic lockdown in 2020, resumed 2021, and was closed in 2022 and 2023. Black bear harvest prior to adding a spring bear hunting season was 0.038 bears harvested/km2 from 2012–2015, whereas after initiating a spring hunting season (2016–2018) it was 17% higher at 0.046 bears/km2. We observed significantly lower bear predation (by 68%) in association with spring bear management and no compensatory change in the level of wolf predation. The validation years strengthened our findings that spring bear hunting seasons reduce moose calf predation rates, with an overall 68% lower proportion of bear predation on moose calves in the years when spring bear hunts were held. Mean proportion of calf predation attributed to bears was 4.9 times higher (30% vs. 6%) in the years when a spring bear hunt was not held. Despite an increasing wolf density during the study period, we did not observe a compensatory increase in wolf predation during spring bear hunt years. The results of this work suggest that the addition of a spring bear hunt, during a time when moose calves are most vulnerable to bear predation, has the potential to increase moose calf survival even in the presence of wolves.

Moose in wolf diets across northeastern Minnesota

AbstractThe moose (Alces alces; mooz in Anishinaabemowin, Ojibwe language) population has recently declined in Minnesota, USA, and gray wolf (Canis lupus; ma'iingan) predation is likely a contributing factor. We analyzed diet composition of gray wolves in northeastern Minnesota during 2011–2013 to evaluate the importance of moose as prey and seasonal and regional variations in wolf diet. We identified frequency of occurrence of prey items and biomass consumed in 1,000 wolf scats collected on and adjacent to the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and Voyageurs National Park and within the 1854 Ceded Territory (greater northeastern Minnesota). White‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; waawaashkeshiwag [plural]), moose, and beaver (Castor canadensis; amikwag [plural]) composed the majority of wolf diet, with moose as the primary prey in Grand Portage (35–54% of diet by biomass across seasons) and deer the primary prey in the 1854 Ceded Territory (46–62%) and Voyageurs (63–79%). Relative importance of prey species differed by study area and season. Moose calves were an important prey item in spring in the 1854 Ceded Territory (12% of diet by biomass) but not in Grand Portage or Voyageurs. Although calves were not a majority of wolf diet by biomass, many calves were preyed upon by wolves (30% of calves born each year in Grand Portage), thus affecting recruitment in a declining moose population. Deer fawns composed 12% of wolf diet in spring and 10% in summer in Grand Portage and 19% in summer in Voyageurs. Beaver composed 16% of wolf diet by biomass in spring and 14% in summer in Grand Portage and composed 22% of wolf diet in spring and 30% in summer in Voyageurs. At most prey densities, moose were preferred and deer avoided in Grand Portage and the 1854 Ceded Territory and beaver were preferred in Voyageurs. Our results can be used in conjunction with predation and prey studies to evaluate the effect of wolves on prey populations.

Spatial overlap of gray wolves and ungulate prey changes seasonally corresponding to prey migration

BackgroundPrey are more vulnerable during migration due to decreased familiarity with their surroundings and spatially concentrated movements. Predators may respond to increased prey vulnerability by shifting their ranges to match prey. Moose (Alces alces) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are primary gray wolf (Canis lupus) prey and important subsistence species for Indigenous communities. We hypothesized wolves would increase use of ungulate migration corridors during migrations and predicted wolf distributions would overlap primary available prey.MethodsWe examined seasonal gray wolf, moose, and white-tailed deer movements on and near the Grand Portage Indian Reservation, Minnesota, USA. We analyzed GPS collar data during 2012–2021 using Brownian bridge movement models (BBMM) in Migration Mapper and mechanistic range shift analysis (MRSA) to estimate individual- and population-level occurrence distributions and determine the status and timing of range shifts. We estimated proportional overlap of wolf distributions with moose and deer distributions and tested for differences among seasons, prey populations, and wolf sex and pack affiliations.ResultsWe identified a single migration corridor through which white-tailed deer synchronously departed in April and returned in October–November. Gray wolf distributions overlapped the deer migration corridor similarly year-round, but wolves altered within-range distributions seasonally corresponding to prey distributions. Seasonal wolf distributions had the greatest overlap with deer during fall migration (10 October–28 November) and greatest overlap with moose during summer (3 May–9 October).ConclusionsGray wolves did not increase their use of the white-tailed deer migration corridor but altered distributions within their territories in response to seasonal prey distributions. Greater overlap of wolves and white-tailed deer in fall may be due to greater predation success facilitated by asynchronous deer migration movements. Greater summer overlap between wolves and moose may be linked to moose calf vulnerability, American beaver (Castor canadensis) co-occurrence, and reduced deer abundance associated with migration. Our results suggest increases in predation pressure on deer in fall and moose in summer, which can inform Indigenous conservation efforts. We observed seasonal plasticity of wolf distributions suggestive of prey switching; that wolves did not exhibit migratory coupling was likely due to spatial constraints resulting from territoriality.

Moose and white‐tailed deer mortality peaks in fall and late winter

AbstractThe Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa manages for sustainable subsistence harvests of moose (mooz; Alces alces) and white‐tailed deer (waawaashkeshi; Odocoileus virginianus). Moose populations in northern Minnesota, USA, are declining, which may necessitate alterations to Indigenous subsistence practices. Moose and deer exhibit seasonal behaviors such as altered space use and movement strategies, to which gray wolves (ma'iingan; Canis lupus) and humans may adapt, resulting in seasonal mortality patterns. Identifying periods of increased moose and deer vulnerability is important for achieving tribal conservation objectives. We assessed seasonal cause‐specific mortality of adult moose (2010–2021) and deer (2016–2022) fitted with global positioning system collars on and near the Grand Portage Indian Reservation (Gichi Onigaming; GPIR) in Minnesota and hypothesized mortality risk would be influenced by species‐specific space use patterns and weather. We estimated survival rates and mortality risk using time‐to‐event models. We recorded 42 moose mortalities (17 health issues, 8 predations, 4 subsistence harvests, 13 unknown causes) and 49 deer mortalities (26 predations, 13 harvests, 4 other causes, 6 unknown causes). Mean annual moose survival was 83.2%, and mortality risk peaked during late winter (~25 April) and fall (~8 October). Mean annual deer survival was 48.0%, and mortality risk peaked during late winter (~25 March) and during their fall migration period (~11 November). Mortality timing coincided with transitions between space use states (i.e., periods of spatial stability), suggesting ungulates are at greater risk during these transitional periods, though movement strategy (i.e., resident vs. migratory) did not influence mortality risk. Further, increased winter severity corresponded with increased deer mortality. We observed similar temporal peaks in mortality risk when harvest mortalities were censored, suggesting our observed seasonal mortality peaks occur naturally despite harvest comprising most fall deer mortality. Our results can inform population models and harvest regulations by identifying periods of mortality risk on GPIR under Anishinaabe principles of seventh‐generation conservation planning.

Truthiness, Alternative Facts, and Ersatz Truths

In this paper, Truthiness, a mixed-media artwork by contemporary artist Andrea Carlson (Grand Portage Ojibwe), is utilized as a case study to illustrate the contexts for Carlson’s repeated artistic engagement with “cultural cannibalism.” Specifically, in Truthiness, from Carlson’s Windigo Series, the artist confronts settler colonizers’ historical labeling of Native Americans as “cannibals” and their own past and ongoing cultural cannibalization in the United States. As Carlson notes, this consumption ranges from opportunistic museum acquisitions to the roles of settlers in the 1862 Dakota Uprising. To analyze Carlson’s work, an iconographical and semiotics approach centered around the concept of symbolic anthropophagy is taken; as her utilization of many layered references demonstrates, Carlson herself engages in a form of cultural cannibalism through her appropriation and use of readily identifiable symbols and artworks in her work. As a whole, this paper aims to emphasize how, in Truthiness, Carlson flips visually the historical narrative that labeled Indigenous peoples as cannibals to label settler colonizers as windigos, insatiable monsters who consume without consequence.

Geophysical surveys and satellite imaging for the evaluation of near‐surface terrain dynamic – A case study on Grand Portage, MN, USA

AbstractFlooding, erosion and increases in the water level in Lake Superior have contributed to changes in the stem location and width of the Grand Portage Creek. Those events threaten parts of the Grand Portage National Monument, a historically significant site on the North Shore of Lake Superior, Minnesota. We performed geophysical surveys to investigate these dynamic effects. We studied the near‐surface geological deposits, the mechanisms associated with creek stem dynamics and sediment transport, as well as deposition along the lakeshore in Grand Portage Bay. We deployed ground‐penetrating radar (GPR), sub‐bottom profiler, side scan sonar, Geoprobe coring and Van Veen grab samplers and evaluated time‐lapse satellite images to assess the interaction of the Grand Portage Creek with the Grand Portage Bay. The onshore GPR surveys next to the national monument, the creek and the shoreline showed the presence of a complex deposition with eroded ground surfaces and sediment layers across the creek valley. Results from the offshore geophysical campaigns and the interpretations of satellite images also document a heterogeneous deposition sequence environment with fine‐grained sediment deposits present south and southwest of the creek mouth. In addition, we documented an exposed boulder bed towards the east of the creek mouth that was exposed by the current and wave‐driven erosion process in the Grand Portage Bay. Time‐lapse satellite images and hydraulic current velocity simulations validate these observations and provide insight into how anthropogenic activities and natural events interact and might contribute to the long‐term stability of a site of historical and cultural importance.

Health of wild fish exposed to contaminants of emerging concern in freshwater ecosystems utilized by a Minnesota Tribal community.

Fish serve as indicators of exposure to contaminants of emerging concern (CECs)-chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, hormones, and personal care products-which are often designed to impact vertebrates. To investigate fish health and CECs in situ, we evaluated the health of wild fish exposed to CECs in waterbodies across northeastern Minnesota with varying anthropogenic pressures and CEC exposures: waterbodies with no human development along their shorelines, those with development, and those directly receiving treated wastewater effluent. Then, we compared three approaches to evaluate the health of fish exposed to CECs in their natural environment: a refined fish health assessment index, a histopathological index, and high-throughput (ToxCast) in vitro assays. Lastly, we mapped adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) associated with identified ToxCast assays to determine potential impacts across levels of biological organization within the aquatic system. These approaches were applied to subsistence fish collected from the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and 1854 Ceded Territory in 2017 and 2019. Overall, 24 CECs were detected in fish tissues, with all but one of the sites having at least one detection. The combined implementation of these tools revealed that subsistence fish exposed to CECs had histological and macroscopic tissue and organ abnormalities, although a direct causal link could not be established. The health of fish in undeveloped sites was as poor, or sometimes poorer, than fish in developed and wastewater effluent-impacted sites based on gross and histologic tissue lesions. Adverse outcome pathways revealed potential hazardous pathways of individual CECs to fish. A better understanding of how the health of wild fish harvested for consumption is affected by CECs may help prioritize risk management research efforts and can ultimately be used to guide fisherymanagement and public health decisions. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;20:846-863. © 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Mineral licks as a potential nidus for parasite transmission

Discrete landscape features can concentrate animals in time and space, leading to non-random interspecific encounters. These encounters have implications for predator-prey interactions, habitat selection, intraspecific competition, and transmission of parasites and other pathogens. The lifecycle of the parasitic nematode Parelaphostrongylus tenuis requires an intermediate host of a terrestrial gastropod. Natural hosts of P. tenuis are white-tailed deer, and an aberrant host of conservation concern is moose, which are susceptible to high levels of mortality as a naive host to the parasite. Intermediate hosts become infected when P. tenuis larvae are shed in deer feces, then consumed or enter the gastropod through the foot. Incidental (or perhaps intentional) ingestion of infected gastropod intermediate hosts by aberrant or dead-end hosts often results in mortality of that animal. We present photographic evidence depicting a potential mechanism for transmission from infected white-tailed deer to moose, heretofore not examined in the literature. We deployed remote cameras at mineral licks around Grand Portage Indian Reservation in northeastern Minnesota, USA. We observed white-tailed deer defecating at mineral lick sites and geophagous moose at the same sites. We hypothesize that mineral licks may act as a nidus for P. tenuis transmission between deer and moose in this system and call for further research into the potential role of mineral licks in parasite transmission.The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is a federally recognized Indian tribe in extreme northeastern Minnesota, USA, and proudly exercises its rights to food sovereignty through subsistence hunting and fishing. Mooz (Moose) are a primary subsistence food used by the Anishinaabeg (people) of Grand Portage Band historically and presently. Management for and research on maintaining this moose population as a vital subsistence species thus sets the context for this paper examining potential for disease transmission between white-tailed deer and moose through shared use of mineral licks.

Refining the moose serum progesterone threshold to diagnose pregnancy.

Pregnancy determination is necessary for sound wildlife management and understanding population dynamics. Pregnancy rates are sensitive to environmental and physiological factors and may indicate the overall trajectory of a population. Pregnancy can be assessed through direct methods (rectal palpation, sonography) or indicated using hormonal assays (serum progesterone or pregnancy-specific protein B, fecal progestogen metabolites). A commonly used threshold of 2ng/ml of progesterone in serum has been used by moose biologists to indicate pregnancy but has not been rigorously investigated. To refine this threshold, we examined the relationship between progesterone concentrations in serum samples and pregnancy in 87 moose (Alces alces; 64 female, 23 male) captured from 2010 to 2020 in the Grand Portage Indian Reservation in northeastern Minnesota, USA. Pregnancy was confirmed via rectal palpation (n = 25), necropsy (n = 2), calf observation (n = 25) or characteristic pre-calving behavior (n = 6), with a total of 58 females determined pregnant and 6 not pregnant; 23 males were included to increase the non-pregnant sample size. Using receiver operating characteristic analysis, we identified an optimal threshold of 1.115ng/ml with a specificity of 0.97 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.90-1.00) and a sensitivity of 0.98 (95% CI = 0.95-1.00). Progesterone concentrations were significantly higher in cases of pregnant versus non-pregnant cows, but we did not detect a difference between single and twin births. We applied our newly refined threshold to calculate annual pregnancy rates for all female moose (n = 133) captured in Grand Portage from 2010 to 2021. Mean pregnancy rate during this period was 91% and ranged annually from 69.2 to 100%. Developing a reliable method for determining pregnancy status via serum progesterone analyses will allow wildlife managers to assess pregnancy rates of moose without devoting substantial time and resources to palpation and calf monitoring.

Terrestrial gastropod species-specific responses to forest management: Implications for Parelaphostrongylus tenuis transmission to moose

Landscape management can influence the distribution, abundance, and diversity of the terrestrial gastropods that host known parasites of managed species of ungulates. Multiple taxa of terrestrial gastropods are important intermediate hosts in the lifecycle of the parasitic nematode Parelaphostrongylus tenuis, for which white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are definitive hosts. Moose (Alces alces) become infected with P. tenuis when they incidentally ingest gastropod intermediate hosts, leading to morbidity and mortality. Populations of moose in Minnesota have declined and P. tenuis infection has been identified as a leading cause of mortality. We investigated the role of forest management disturbance on the terrestrial gastropod community, and specifically known intermediate host species of P. tenuis, on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation in northeastern Minnesota, USA, where moose are an important subsistence species to the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Field crews surveyed gastropods through timed searches of soil and litter, and opportunistic collections from browse and pellets of white-tailed deer and moose. We digested all identified gastropods to determine prevalence of P. tenuis infection. We examined gastropod community responses to management and forest cover type using multivariate regressions. We additionally used regressions to examine total gastropod richness and abundance, as well as P. tenuis intermediate host responses to cover type, soil moisture class, canopy cover, treatment, and years since treatment. Digestions detected no infected gastropods from the 621 identified specimens. Gastropod community assemblages differed with recent understory treatment, but no other predictors. Total gastropod abundance, richness, and host abundance (liberal definition, including Deroceras spp.) were lower in sites treated within the last five years. For known intermediate host taxa, we observed species-specific responses to forestry treatments through time. Specifically, Deroceras spp. recolonized sites post-treatment (0–30 years), Discus cronkhitei were higher in abundance immediately following treatment, and the Succinea ovalis group, along with pooled intermediate hosts, displayed no discernable patterns. Our results underscore the complexity of P. tenuis lifecycles and transmission dynamics to moose, the importance of management disturbance and disturbance frequency in regulating gastropod populations, and the potential of forest management treatments to reduce P. tenuis infection in moose.

Developing an Ethnographic Community‐Based Participatory Research Dementia Study with Diverse Indigenous Populations: Indigenous Cultural understandings of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias – Research and Engagement (ICARE) project

AbstractBackgroundDementia diagnoses have been increasing in Indigenous populations for over a decade and have now surpassed rates in non‐Indigenous populations in both Canada and the U.S. Prevalence rates of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) are approximately 3 times higher in Indigenous populations compared to White populations, with a 10‐year earlier onset . The ICARE project (NIH –5R56‐AG‐62307‐2) qualitatively explores the impact of ADRD in Indigenous populations across four diverse sites in Canada and the United States.MethodWe used a community‐based participatory research (CBPR) approach and a two‐eyed seeing framework to establish research partnerships with four Indigenous communities/regions: 7 Anishinaabe First Nations on Manitoulin Island, Ontario Canada; Red Lake Tribal Nation, Minnesota; Grand Portage Tribal Nation, MN; and the Oneida Nation, Wisconsin. The community engagement strategy supported the infrastructure needed to conduct dementia research in a culturally safe and appropriate way that respects Tribal Sovereignty.ResultIndigenous community‐based researchers were hired at each site and each underwent research training designed by the ICARE team. With guidance from local leadership, we established 8–12‐member community advisory groups at each site to serve as partners to guide the research. We collected preliminary ethnographic data on social determinants of health, demographics, community health, aging and dementia specific services. We demonstrated feasibility with pilot data collection of key informant interviews with Traditional Knowledge Keepers, Administrators, and Providers (n = 54) and sequential focus groups with local health care staff and formal caregivers that work with Indigenous older adults (n = 17).ConclusionNIH/NIA R56 funding resulted in the establishment of the community‐based infrastructure to support on‐going ADRD research in the four diverse communities. We demonstrated the feasibility of supporting community‐engaged dementia research partnerships with Indigenous communities who have differing cultural, political and historical contexts. This foundation is supporting the expansion of ICARE into a 5‐year ethnographic research study aimed at creating a foundational ethnographic database of AI/FN lived experience of ADRD across the disease trajectory that can be examined to inform the creation of culturally appropriate and safe approaches to improve dementia diagnostics, care, and outreach (NIH‐R01‐AG‐62307‐2).

Walking the Old Road: A People's History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe by Staci Lola Drouillard (review)

Reviewed by: Walking the Old Road: A People's History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe by Staci Lola Drouillard Katrina Phillips (bio) Walking the Old Road: A People's History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe by Staci Lola Drouillard University of Minnesota Press, 2019 THE CITY OF GRAND MARAIS, nestled along the North Shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota, sits two hours north of Duluth, less than an hour south of Grand Portage and the Grand Portage Reservation, and an hour and a half south of Thunder Bay. It is often called the gateway to both the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and to the Gunflint Trail. Grand Marais has been a popular destination for tourists, particularly those from the Twin Cities, since the early twentieth century. As someone who grew up in the region, I should note that the less charitable among us might say it's overrun with tourists, especially during the summer months. However, as Staci Lola Drouillard explains, not many of the people driving along Highway 61 would notice as they drove though Chippewa City, the small town just to the north of Grand Marais. In the nineteenth century, though, Chippewa City was an Anishinaabe community where its residents lived and worked, celebrated and mourned, worshipped and played. The Chippewa City Church—formally known as St. Francis Xavier, now under the domain of the Cook County Historical Society—played a central role in the community, a long-standing fixture alongside what locals called the "Old Shore Road," a well-trodden path to and from Grand Marais (10, 17, 1). Walking the Old Road includes a mixture of oral history and memoir, tracing Drouillard and her family's connections to the area while also including the voices of elders she began interviewing in the late 1980s. Her first interview with artist George Morrison, part of a class assignment at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, led to more questions and interviews and research. Drouillard's research, driven by the oral interviews, is like her search to find the road between Chippewa City and Grand Marais (2). Her goal, as evidenced by the book's subtitle, is to tell the story of the people of Chippewa City through the voices of those who lived there. The book reads like a conversation, the kind of conversation you have when you're sitting around a bonfire along the shores of Lake Superior, the words intertwined with the crackle of the firewood and the rhythm of the waves on the rocks. From recounting the history of the Ojibwe arrival [End Page 175] at what is known as the Pigeon River and intermarriage with French fur traders, through treaty signings and the Dawes Act to the Nelson Act and eventual Ojibwe dispossession, Drouillard underscores what Chippewa City meant to those who lived there. While its title might suggest that the book is simply a hyperlocal history, Drouillard draws on broader narratives of federal Indian policies while highlighting the devastating effects those policies had on the residents of Chippewa City. Drouillard and her sister do not meet the blood quantum requirement the federal government forced upon the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, and so they could not inherit their father's parcel of reservation land at Grand Portage. "Not unlike our ancestors before us," Drouillard muses, "we had land only to have it taken away" (50). Drouillard's interviews—and the way she weaves them throughout the book—offer a rich recollection of Chippewa City. Jim Wipson, born in Chippewa City in 1918, shared stories of his grandmother, Kate Frost, and how the two of them would walk the Old Road. "Everybody in Grand Marais knew Kate Frost and her little grandson," he recalled (100). Others shared stories of old traditions like "Happy New Year-ing," of church services sung in Ojibwe and visits to medicine men, of selling homemade crafts to tourists along Highway 61 or in local shops and stands. People who lived in Chippewa City worked in Grand Marais or went to town for medical services, while Grand Marais proprietors relied on Chippewa City labor and wilderness skills to keep their businesses running. "So where...

The Brokenhearted Sovereigntist

The Brokenhearted Sovereigntist

Reconstructing landscapes of ungulate parturition and predation using vegetation phenology

Enhanced vegetation index (EVI) data can be used to identify and define the space in which ungulates practice parturition and encounter predation. This study explores the use of EVI data to identify landscapes linked to ungulate parturition and predation events across space, time, and environmental conditions. As a case study, we used the moose population (Alces alces) of northern Minnesota in the USA. Using remotely sensed EVI data rasters and global positioning system collar data, we quantified how vegetation phenology and moose movement shaped the births and predation of 52 moose calves from 2013 to 2020 on or adjacent to the Grand Portage Indian Reservation. The known sources of predation were American black bears (Ursus americanus, n = 22) and gray wolves (Canis lupus, n = 28). Satellite-derived data summarizing seasonal landscape features at the local level revealed that landscape heterogeneity use by moose can help to quantitatively identify landscapes of parturition and predation in space and time across large areas. Vegetation phenology proved to be differentiable between adult moose ranges, sites of cow parturition, and sites of calf predation. Landscape characteristics of each moose group were consistent and tractable based on environment, suggesting that sites of parturition and predation of moose are predictable in space and time. It is possible that moose selected specific landscapes for parturition despite risk of increased predation of their calves, which could be an example of an "ecological trap." This analytical framework can be employed to identify areas for future ungulate research on the impacts of landscape on parturition and predation dynamics.

Anthropogenic factors associated with contaminants of emerging concern detected in inland Minnesota lakes (Phase II)

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) include a variety of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and hormones commonly detected in surface waters. Human activities, such as wastewater treatment and discharge, contribute to the distribution of CECs in water, but other sources and pathways are less frequently examined. This study aimed to identify anthropogenic activities and environmental characteristics associated with the presence of CECs, previously determined to be of high priority for further research and mitigation, in rural inland lakes in northeastern Minnesota, United States. The setting for this study consisted of 21 lakes located within both the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and the 1854 Ceded Territory, where subsistence hunting and fishing are important to the cultural heritage of the indigenous community. We used data pertaining to numbers of buildings, healthcare facilities, wastewater treatment plants, impervious surfaces, and wetlands within defined areas surrounding the lakes as potential predictors of the detection of high priority CECs in water, sediment, and fish. Separate models were run for each contaminant detected in each sample media. We used least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) models to account for both predictor selection and parameter estimation for CEC detection. Across contaminants and sample media, the percentage of impervious surface was consistently positively associated with CEC detection. Number of buildings in the surrounding area was often negatively associated with CEC detection, though nonsignificant. Surrounding population, presence of wastewater treatment facilities, and percentage of wetlands in surrounding areas were positively, but inconsistently, associated with CECs, while catchment area and healthcare centers were generally not associated. The results of this study highlight human activities and environmental characteristics associated with CEC presence in a rural area, informing future work regarding specific sources and transport pathways. We also demonstrate the utility of LASSO modeling in the identification of these important relationships.

A chemical prioritization process: Applications to contaminants of emerging concern in freshwater ecosystems (Phase I)

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and hormones, are frequently found in aquatic ecosystems around the world. Information on sublethal effects from exposure to commonly detected concentrations of CECs is lacking and the limited availability of toxicity data makes it difficult to interpret the biological significance of occurrence data. However, the ability to evaluate the effects of CECs on aquatic ecosystems is growing in importance, as detection frequency increases. The goal of this study was to prioritize the chemical hazards of 117 CECs detected in subsistence species and freshwater ecosystems on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and adjacent 1854 Ceded Territory in Minnesota, USA. To prioritize CECs for management actions, we adapted Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Aquatic Toxicity Profiles framework, a tool for the rapid assessment of contaminants to cause adverse effects on aquatic life by incorporating chemical-specific information. This study aimed to 1) perform a rapid-screening assessment and prioritization of detected CECs based on their potential environmental hazard; 2) identify waterbodies in the study region that contain high priority CECs; and 3) inform future monitoring, assessment, and potential remediation in the study region. In water samples alone, 50 CECs were deemed high priority. Twenty-one CECs were high priority among sediment samples and seven CECs were high priority in fish samples. Azithromycin, DEET, diphenhydramine, fluoxetine, miconazole, and verapamil were high priority in all three media. Due to the presence of high priority CECs throughout the study region, we recommend future monitoring of particular CECs based on the prioritization method used here. We present an application of a chemical hazard prioritization process and identify areas where the framework may be adapted to meet the objectives of other management-related assessments.

Occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern in aquatic ecosystems utilized by Minnesota tribal communities

Pharmaceuticals, personal care products, hormones, and other chemicals lacking water quality standards are frequently found in surface water. While evidence is growing that these contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) – those previously unknown, unrecognized, or unregulated – can affect the behavior and reproduction of fish and wildlife, little is known about the distribution of these chemicals in rural, tribal areas. Therefore, we surveyed the presence of CECs in water, sediment, and subsistence fish species across various waterbodies, categorized as undeveloped (i.e., no human development along shorelines), developed (i.e., human development along shorelines), and wastewater effluent-impacted (i.e., contain effluence from wastewater treatment plants), within the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and 1854 Ceded Territory in northeastern Minnesota, U.S.A. Overall, in 28 sites across three years (2016–2018), 117 of the 158 compounds tested were detected in at least one form of medium (i.e., water, sediment, or fish). CECs were detected most frequently at wastewater effluent-impacted sites, with up to 83 chemicals detected in one such lake, while as many as 17 were detected in an undeveloped lake. Although there was no statistically significant difference between the number of CECs present in developed versus undeveloped lakes, a range of 3–17 CECs were detected across these locations. Twenty-two CECs were detected in developed and undeveloped sites that were not detected in wastewater effluent-impacted sites. The detection of CECs in remote, undeveloped locations, where subsistence fish are harvested, raises scientific questions about the safety and security of subsistence foods for indigenous communities. Further investigation is warranted so that science-based solutions to reduce chemical risks to aquatic life and people can be developed locally and be informative for indigenous communities elsewhere.

Faces in the Wilderness: a New Network of Crossdated Culturally-Modified Red Pine in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Northern Minnesota, USA

New dates from culturally modified red pine rediscovered in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota provide an opportunity to merge tree-ring records of human land use with archaeological records, historical travel accounts, and traditional knowledge to enhance understanding of Anishinaabeg land tenure in the Wilderness. Records from 244 culturally modified trees (CMTs) demonstrate varying intensities of human use along historical water routes, notably the Border Route that connected Grand Portage to Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods during the North American fur trade. Crossdated modification years from 119 CMTs provide direct evidence of human-landscape interaction along historical travel routes utilized by Anishinaabeg and Euro-American traders from the mid-1700s to the early 1900s. This CMT network preserves a fading biological record of fur-trade-era cultural history that contributes to a growing cross-cultural conversation on the storied traditional use of a cultural landscape that is now the most visited federal wilderness area in the United States.