Wild rice & wild kids

Effective Compassion: Indian-led project aims to restore juvenile delinquents and an important environmental crop | Anthony Mator

MARQUETTE, Mich. — The grasslike blades speared the shallow edge of a small, secluded lake shaded by evergreens and stirred by a fisherman casting his line. The delicate stalks offered little hint of the human work and planning behind them—an agricultural experiment involving biologists, Ojibwa American Indians, and Michigan's Marquette County juvenile court.

The stalks are part of a fragile crop known by Ojibwa (or Chippewa) as manoomin, by scientists as zizania acquatica, and by the rest of us as wild rice. The experiment to grow them enlists teens from detention centers, youth homes, and foster care homes—mostly in Marquette County—who have committed offenses ranging from property crime to assault.