
New Story: Decades After It Disappeared, Wild Rice Is Booming Again on the Upper Mississippi River
January 03, 2025 | Source: AG & WATER DESK | by Avisory for editors
SHELBY, Wisconsin — If she closes her eyes, Danelle Larson can still remember how the stretch of Mississippi River in front of her looked as recent as a decade ago: nothing but open, muddy water.
Today, it’s covered with impressively tall and thick beds of wild rice.
Larson, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, and Alicia Carhart, Mississippi River vegetation specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, surveyed the plants by airboat in mid-September. Summer floods on the river delayed growth somewhat, but the tall green shoots still waved in the breeze in almost every direction off the shores of Goose Island County Park near La Crosse.
“It’s one of the most dramatic changes on the upper Mississippi,” Larson said. “It’s everywhere.”
In the past several years, wild rice has exploded on this part of the upper river, particularly on a section of it called Pool 4, near Alma, and Pool 8, near La Crosse. Historical records show it was common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but poor water quality and other problems caused widespread aquatic vegetation die-offs in the 1980s.
For some, the resurgence is a source of wonder. For others, it’s more of a nuisance, making it hard to maneuver boats through areas that were once easily passable.
But what’s driving the substantial increase in growth is still largely a mystery.