Friends of Grand Rapids Parks is thrilled to announce the award of a grant from The Wege Foundation for The Restoring Native American Foodways in the Owashtanong (Grand River) Valley, Michigan. This new project for Friends is growing out of existing work related to conservation and natural resource management in partnership with Miigwech.
The project aims to continue habitat restoration in at least three parks, Aman, Riverside, and Garfield, to improve environmental resilience, forest health, and food security by ensuring access to forageable crops. This grant will allow Friends and Miigwech to increase the number of forageable crops growing in these parks in the same way they were before European intervention in the area. Foraging access is guaranteed to Native American community members throughout public lands in Michigan and Grand Rapids by the 1821 Treaty of Chicago.
“Restoring our (Anishinaabe) Foodways is a testament to the power of collaboration and honoring Indigenous knowledge.
These resources from The Wege Foundation provide us a start to restore habitats, enhance food security, and ensure Indigenous community members have access to our land rights as guaranteed by the 1821 Treaty of Chicago.
McKenna Kiogima,
We are collaboratively taking meaningful steps toward Mino-Bimaadiziwin (The Good Life) for the Grand Rapids community. As a youth, being part of this community collaboration gives me hope for the next generation.”
Bear Clan Waganiskissing Odawa,
administrative coordinator for Miigwech Inc.
Images from community revitalization event in Garfield Park. Images courtesy of Miigwech Inc.
There will be numerous opportunities for residents and visitors to the greater Grand Rapids area to participate in this work through community and corporate volunteer opportunities to help remove invasive species, plant anew, and receive education on how to forage and what to do with foraged crops.
The grant allows Friends to continue its partnership with the Emma Cole Project at the Calvin University Biology Department to expand the work of floral quality assessments (FQA) in these parks. A FQA helps understand plant life in the park and creates a management plan that will allow for smart invasive species control and replanting.
Educational components will cater to a wide range of audiences and encompass food life cycles, understanding of forageable crops, supporting the education of police officers and legal professionals to enforce treaty rights, as well as improving up to 500 acres or more of parkland that will improve stormwater management, habitat quality, while also increasing carbon storage and improving air quality. This work will also lower the long-term cost of park management by up to 40%.
This project builds on funding Friends of Grand Rapids Parks received from the Bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act, the United States Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry, which awarded $5 million to support the planting of nearly 5,000 trees, floral quality assessment, and invasive species control in other parks throughout Grand Rapids.
