InterTribal Lake Winnebago Watershed Mapping

The Lake Winnebago waterways and watershed, and the land that is now known as Wisconsin are the ancestral territories of Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Oneida, Stockbridge Munsee and Brothertown. Wisconsin Tribes have historic and contemporary connections to, and responsibilities for, Lake Winnebago. This wild rice revitalization project honors relationships, leverages Tribal Traditions and local knowledge, and promotes responsibility for water and wild rice stewardship by Tribes and all watershed citizens.

Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin’s largest inland lake, connects major rivers to Lake Michigan. Historically this watershed supports diverse wetlands, wildlife, and fisheries. The waterways and connecting lakes have been altered by dams and other development.

Likewise, this project, in partnership with many Native Nations, seeks to revitalize and support impacted wild rice populations and to increase public awareness about such species. In doing so, it is also critical to honor and provide information about the Native Nations that call this region their ancestral home.

Below, you will find an interactive Indigenous place name map, historic Tribal occupancy maps of Wisconsin, and water level change maps of Lake Winnebago and the surrounding region.

Pinagigi, Waewaenen, Oneewee, a huge thank you to all of the contributing Tribal Nations' language departments!

As can be seen, many Indigenous place names are descriptive of respective regions, landforms, and activities that traditionally take place there. This information about the environment guides historic and current conservation work for water and wild rice.

Below is an overview of Indigenous story mapping found in current literature (taken from a case study written by H. Kuhn for the project):

Especially in recent decades, cartographers and Indigenous communities have explored community-based mapping techniques which support the promulgation of Indigenous Knowledge and culture. There are many names for similar forms of mapping, including narrative mapping, Indigenous mapping, counter-mapping, and decolonial mapping, and these processes are designed to share storytelling, Traditional language use, personal experiences and emotions, and the reimagination of landscapes (Caquard and Cartwright, 2014; Pearce and Louis, 2008). Memories, Traditional place names and descriptions, atemporal understandings, unique spatial orientations, and varied importance of various phenomena (natural processes, landforms, waterways, organisms) may be highlighted and/or form maps’ foundations. Furthermore, narrative-based maps are often invaluable for community planning, education, and development (Conaway & Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 2013; Bennett, 2017).

It is important when pursuing Indigenous mapping to consider which Western cartographic techniques are being utilized (such as geographic information systems, GIS) as well as the organizations responsible for promoting such technologies in order to avoid the perpetuation of colonial oppression (Caquard and Cartwright, 2014; Hunt and Stevenson, 2016; Pearce and Louis, 2008). Overall, counter-mapping supports Indigenous sovereignty and the assertion of land rights, in part through the use of Indigenous languages and place names which are historically and culturally meaningful and evocative (Hunt and Stevenson, 2016). This use of local language in Indigenous mapping supports the dispersal of Traditional Knowledge, including that of places, histories, traditions, culture, and ecosystems (Conaway & Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 2013).

Native American Villages

Hypothesized Extent of Lake Winnebago in 1876 vs Current Water Levels