We at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service see human safety as paramount to our mission to conserve, protect and enhance wildlife for future generations. Please be advised that the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and White Earth Nation have closed reservation wild rice waters to waterfowl hunting for the state of Minnesota’s experimental early teal and early goose seasons due to the annual wild rice harvest that is happening across the same geography. Wild rice waters will be closed to waterfowl hunting through the end of September.
The early teal season is set to take place September 3 through 7, 2022, which coincides with peak harvest for wild rice on active wild rice beds by harvesters in non-motorized canoes. The closure of wild rice waters within the Leech Lake and White Earth Reservations will continue to be enforced for the duration of the early teal and goose seasons.
For additional information about this closure, please contact tribal resource management entities, as appropriate:
- Leech Lake Division of Resource Management, 218-335-7400
- White Earth Division of Natural Resources, 218-935-2488
Original source can be found here.