Northern Wisconsin sees low wild rice production for 2025 season

This year’s wild rice crop in northern Wisconsin continued a pattern of low production seen in recent years, reported the Wisconsin DNR.

Annual wild rice production across the region is strongly linked to climate and weather events over the previous year.

“The 2025 season has brought a mix of conditions, including several notable storm systems,” said Kathy Smith, Ganawandang manoomin (she who takes care of wild rice) with the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC). “A fast-moving windstorm in mid-June produced widespread wind damage and heavy rainfall across the upper Midwest. In late June, some areas saw 6-7 inches of rain in a short period, contributing to temporary high-water levels on seepage lakes.”

Remote sensing using satellite imagery is a new tool for evaluating annual wild rice abundance across the region. According to GLIFWC, the imagery suggests that, across northern Wisconsin, the surface area coverage of wild rice is 18% less this year than last year’s crop.

These tools do not provide insights into local wild rice production, bed densities or seed production. Early scouting reports for known wild rice waters show a mixed bag of production, with some top-producing lakes seeing declines in the crop from last year, while others appear to be rebounding.

GLIFWC states on its manoomin harvest page that for each water, the crop is listed as either Poor, Fair, Average, Good or Very Good; these relative terms compare the crop to other recent years for that individual water. A “fair” crop on a lake that generally supports large beds may represent more rice than a “good” crop on a smaller water.

Most of the lakes in Vilas County are already closed for the season due to “poor” survey results. While Island Lake opened for the season on Sept. 3, Allequash, Aurora, Irving, Little Rice, Nixon and West Plum lakes all are closed.
GLIFWC noted that remote sensing on West Plum Lake in Sayner has shown improvement from past years, but that information has not been verified on the ground as of yet.

In Oneida County, Big Lake Thoroughfare’s survey showed “average” production, also opening Sept. 3. Big and Spur lakes are closed as well.

According to the DNR, in addition to climate-related factors, wild rice production can be hindered by several human-induced factors. One of the most impactful activities is boating from late spring through the summer. Waves created by boats will uproot growing rice plants during vulnerable stages of growth when they are just below or above the surface of the water. Boaters on known wild rice lakes are encouraged to practice slow/no wake near shallow areas that might have wild rice growing.

GLIFWC maintains the Annual Harvest Outlook webpage, which includes helpful information for harvesters and wild rice production conditions for some historic wild rice waters in Wisconsin. Harvesters should check to make sure lakes remain open for harvest before heading out.

Wild rice harvesters may notice a new look to this year’s webpage. The webpage may offer some insights on relative wild rice production for certain waters, but GLIFWC and the DNR advise harvesters to explore different waters to find the most productive rice beds each year.

Wild rice harvesting is open to all Wisconsin residents with a wild rice harvester license and provides the opportunity to forage a highly nutritious, natural food source unique to the upper Midwest. Wild rice maturity typically ranges from late August through mid-September across the state and varies by waterbody and rice bed.

Jason Fleener, DNR wetland habitat specialist, stresses the importance of waiting to harvest wild rice until it falls with relatively gentle strokes while “flailing” or “knocking” using ricing sticks.

“If little to no rice is falling, it is best to try harvesting a few days later. Kernels toward the top of the seed head tend to mature and fall first. Harvest efforts on immature beds inhibit the maturation of the rice kernels, negatively impacting the harvest experience for others and the long-term sustainability of wild rice production,” Fleener added. “Some lakes might be ready to harvest up to two weeks before other lakes.”

More information on harvesting wild rice, licensing and harvest regulations is available on the DNR’s Wild Rice Harvesting webpage.