As climate change impacts forests, tribes see nature under attack

Wayne White, a former Menominee tribal logger, recalled how upset he was when a sturgeon, highly revered by the tribe, was disparaged during a recent TV newscast.

The story was about heavy flooding in northeast Wisconsin, and a sturgeon was stuck in a pond near a road. It kept trying to swim north through the Wolf River toward the Menominee Reservation, as its species had for thousands of years.

A person being interviewed for a TV newscast called the fish stupid for continually trying to swim north when it obviously was stuck.  For a species 150 million years old, much older than humans, White believed the comment was inappropriate.

White told this story at the 49thannual National Indian Timber Symposium held last month on the Menominee Reservation. For White and the more than 350 tribal officials and forestry experts in attendance, the comment underscored a much larger issue: the apparent lack of respect for nature in non-tribal society, at a time when tribal communities are trying to deal with the profound changes to nature caused by non-tribal people through climate change. The title and theme of the conference, "Forestry in a Changing Environment", highlighted some of the impacts of climate change in tribal communities and how people and nature are adapting.

Carbon dioxide in the air has increased more than 50% since the Industrial Revolution. trapping heat and driving global climate change. Annual precipitation in the Midwest has risen 5% to 10% in the last 50 years. Rainfall during the four wettest days of the year is up 35% or more.

Researchers forecast storms will increase in intensity, and high winds will damage places like the Menominee Forest. In 2022 for example, a storm blew down or damaged about 41,000 acres of forest in northeast Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The tribal nation relies on the forest for its world-renowned sustainable lumber business.

More: 'Our spiritual home': Wisconsin's pristine Menominee Forest a model for sustainable living, logging

More: Menominee tribe uses fire to protect its healthy forest as neighbors worry

Increasing temperatures and shorter winters from climate change are also having an effect on the survival of native animals in the forest, such as the snowshoe hare. Speaker Ally Scott, who works for the College of Menominee Nation, said the hare's coat is transformed to a soft white as the days shorten. But with warmer temperatures meaning less snow on the ground, the hare's camouflage has the opposite effect.

"They're just getting absolutely nailed by predators," Scott said.

The shorter winter also affects the tribe's sugar camps, or maple tapping. Speaker Dan Grignon, a Menominee language advocate, said people are having to start their camps earlier in the year. Researchers also forecast maple tapping may not be possible in much of Wisconsin in the coming decades.

"Maybe, we'll have to switch from sugar camps to making orange juice," Grignon said, as many in the audience laughed. "Menominee are extremely adaptive."

The warmer temperatures also exacerbate the spread of invasive species, such as the Emerald Ash Borer, which is decimating the ash trees on the Menominee Reservation. Traditionally, the Menominee have ash trees to make baskets and other materials. Grignon said tribal members may have to start figuring out how to use the cedar tree for traditional crafts.

Grignon said his late uncle Jeff Grignon taught him a lot about the forest and how plant communities tend to have the power to reject what they don't want in the forest and allow what they do want.

"That gives me hope for our future," he said. "As people, we think we have the power, but really the power is in the trees and plants."

And Menominee know their forest is resilient like the Menominee people themselves.

White said he recalls how most of the elm trees were wiped out during the 1960s and '70s by Dutch elm disease. But he said a healthy elm stand was found in the Menominee Forest 20 years ago.

"That just proves there is hope," White said. "Just like the elm is coming back I hope the ash will."

More: The famed Menominee Forest was surrounded. How long could emerald ash borers be kept out?

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Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at  fvaisvilas@usatodayco.com  or 815-260-2262. Follow him on X at  @vaisvilas_frank .

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: As climate change impacts forests, tribes see nature under attack