Achievement

Eight trainees, one faculty member and the coordinator wrote a whitepaper, in partnership with the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, entitled Preserving the Integrity of Manoomin in Minnesota. The whitepaper stemmed from a symposium entitled People Protecting Manoomin: Manoomin Protecting People held on the White Earth Indian Reservation in Mahnomen, Minnesota August 2009. This whitepaper, which states a policy position, and provides the rationale for and a means of accomplishing the policy will be used by several American Indian Tribes in their efforts to protect wild rice from genetic modification. The team documented the need to refocus research efforts on wild rice toward conservation and away from genetic modification for scientific, cultural and spiritual reasons. The project allowed trainees to learn economic, historical, and policy aspects, as well as the ecological aspects of protecting wild rice. This broad range of expertise makes for a convincing and highly useful whitepaper.