Wild Rice and Native Vegetation
How the MFA protects wild rice and native plants as a core commitment in every management decision we make.
The Minong Flowage is home to wild rice (manoomin) beds that hold both ecological and cultural significance in this region. Wild rice provides critical habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife, and it represents a native species that the MFA is committed to protecting as part of any management activity on the Flowage.
A Design Constraint, Not an Afterthought
The MFA has mapped wild rice beds on the Flowage since 2008. Every management decision we make is evaluated with wild rice protection as a design constraint. Our treatment planning explicitly excludes wild rice areas from any herbicide application zones, and we have conducted chemical concentration testing every year we have treated. In every treatment year, sampling near wild rice beds confirmed that herbicide levels remained below detection thresholds.
A Track Record of Shared Stewardship
When EWM began encroaching on wild rice beds east of Smith Bridge in 2010, the MFA worked with St. Croix Tribal Resources to plan a carefully timed fall treatment — applied after wild rice had completed its growing season. Tribal Resources donated herbicide for that treatment. It was a tangible act of shared interest: both the MFA and tribal resource managers understood that controlling EWM in that location was an act of protection for the rice.
What the Data Show
The clearest evidence of the relationship between EWM control and wild rice health comes from the 2014 monitoring season. Following a period of dramatically reduced EWM coverage, a survey conducted with input from Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) rice experts documented wild rice distribution and density at the highest levels in the MFA's monitoring record — approximately 87 acres at moderate-to-dense levels. When invasive and competing vegetation recedes, wild rice responds. Controlling EWM is, in this sense, also an act of protection for the native species that belong here.
The herbicide proposed for 2026 was specifically registered by the EPA for use in rice-growing operations — evaluated and approved in precisely the context most relevant to the Minong Flowage. Tribal communities in northern Wisconsin hold treaty rights that include a voice in how lakes within ceded territories are managed. Wild rice is central to that relationship. The MFA takes that responsibility seriously.
How the DNR Regulates ProcellaCOR Near Wild Rice Waters
Wild rice is classified as a protected species under Wisconsin Administrative Code s. NR 19.09(1)(b), and the Wisconsin DNR reviews every ProcellaCOR permit application in wild rice waters individually under NR 19 and NR 107. In January 2026, Madison Johansen — Aquatic Plant Management Team Leader at the Wisconsin DNR's Bureau of Water Quality — formally communicated the program's permitting standards to lake management consultants and applicators statewide.
The DNR's framework is clear: ProcellaCOR will not be permitted for use in a waterbody where wild rice is present unless the applicant can demonstrate through flow data that treated water will not reach wild rice. Where wild rice exists downstream of a proposed treatment area, the applicant must provide herbicide concentration calculations — both lake-wide and at the nearest known wild rice location — and demonstrate that the projected concentration upon arrival at wild rice remains below the State Lab's detection threshold of 0.05 ppb. Applications projecting concentrations above that threshold will not be considered. The DNR is also required to consult with the Voigt Task Force prior to final permit review for any activity that may affect wild rice abundance or habitat within the Ceded Territory.
The MFA's proposed 2026 treatment zones are designed to satisfy these requirements. Dye studies conducted over the past decade have consistently documented that current flow on the Flowage moves away from wild rice beds and toward the proposed application areas — not the reverse. That hydrological data, combined with our historical record of sub-detection herbicide levels near wild rice, provides the evidentiary foundation the DNR requires.
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