Traditional Knowledge

This is a written summary of the WRRB's Traditional Knowledge Technical Session held on October 13, 2020 via Zoom.

The Wolves of Heaven is a most unusual and challenging work. Published more than half a century after the classic Cheyenne studies of George Bird Grinnell and G. A. Dorsey, it is a singular reinterpretation of the Cheyennes’ world view, shamanism, and major cultural features.

In the creation story of the Ojibwe1, Original Man was created by Kitche Manitou; the Great Spirit. Original Man was given the task to walk across the world and name all the living things. While he was completing this task, Original Man noticed that all the other animals were in pairs. When Original Man mentioned this, the Great Spirit created a companion for him. Not a woman, as in the Christian story of

With the removal of the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) from the United States Endangered Species List in 2012 throughout most of the contiguous United States, several states legalized wolf hunting as part of wildlife management programs and the protection of livestock. However, the legalization of wolf hunting has created much conflict between indigenous and non-indigenous populations in the Great Lakes region.

Gray wolf (Canis lupus) policy is dynamic and involves multiple stakeholders. Attitudinal surveys have historically measured stakeholder attitudes, although Native American views have rarely been studied systematically. We sent a mail-back questionnaire to members of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians (Ojibwe) to assess attitudes toward wolves and Wisconsin wolf policy. We compared their responses to a sample of non-tribal residents of Wisconsin’s wolf range.