FLORENCE, Wis. — Roger LaBine, a Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa elder and rice keeper, will be featured at Florence County’s next monthly Outdoor Education program set for 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, in the lower level conference room at the Florence Natural Resource Center building, 5628 Forestry Drive at U.S. 2 and Highway 101/70 in Florence.

Participants can attend in person or sign up to attend virtually via a Zoom link by registering at www.ExploreFlorenceCounty.com — go to the events page, click on this event and then click on “click here for virtual Zoom meeting link.”

LaBine, of Watersmeet, is the current tribal delegate on the Michigan Wild Rice Initiative and co-chair on the MWRI Education and Outreach Subcommittee, co-chair of the Native Wild Rice Coalition and recipient of the 2019 Heritage Award from the State of Michigan and the Michigan State University Museum Board of Directors for his work with manoomin — the Ojibwe word for wild rice — restoration and preservation.

He is a member of the Three Fires Midewiwin Lodge. He is active in the preservation of manoomin through continued restoration efforts of rice beds for his community on traditional and historic tribal lands and in the surrounding area lakes and rivers. He shares his knowledge through conducting manoomin camps and workshops on his traditional homelands, Michigan, and throughout the Midwest. He was inspired by his Uncle Niigaanaash (knee-gone-nosh), who was also his teacher and mentor.

Manoomin is much more than just “an aquatic plant” to the Ojibwe. The public is invited to come learn how wild rice plays a vital role in tribal culture and how they can help restore its growth in the area.

The free monthly Outdoor Education programs are sponsored by the Friends of the Wild Rivers Interpretive Center and University of Wisconsin-Extension Florence County.