The Mashkiiziibii (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) commissioned a project to develop a wetland functional assessment of all the wetland resource within eight priority subwatersheds in northern Wisconsin. WSB assessed over 26,000 acres of wetlands to better understand the role that each wetland played within the watershed. The assessment is being used to help guide protection and restoration opportunities within each watershed based on a watershed wide framework.
The Mashkiiziibii reservation is located on the southern shore of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin and contains some of the most pristine wetlands in North America. The reservation’s conservation area contains almost 500 miles of rivers and streams, over 30,000 acres of wetlands, 38 miles of Lake Superior shoreline, and the Kakagon Sloughs. The Sloughs is an internationally designated Ramsar site. Ramsar sites are wetland sites designated to be of international ecological importance. The protection and maintenance of each wetland is crucial to the region’s precious ecosystem.
WSB compiled the condition scores into a large database for tribal staff so they would have a quantitative analysis of their wetlands. The data will help guide species management, water quality sampling and studies, and flooding protection for the Tribal staff, all part of the crucial restoration and mitigation efforts to ensure the wetlands are functioning at a high level. Additionally, the methodology will save the Tribal staff time and money because they can now manage their own data.