In June, White Earth 4-H youth, families, elders, volunteers, community members and their partner, White Earth Public Health, joined together for two weeks to build a Birchbark Canoe.
The specific canoe style built is called an Ojibwe Longnose, which is designed for harvesting wild rice. The canoe's length ended up being 15 ½ feet.
It took youth and volunteers over four days to harvest the supplies and materials ahead of the canoe camp.
During the 12-day camp, 250 people stopped by or participated in the canoe build, including two schools holding summer programming.
In addition to canoe building each day, the camp included cultural activities, such as a Bootaagan demonstration, rice knocker making, art activities, learning about wild/traditional foods, fishing, smoking fish, language and games.
Youth continue to use the canoe and teach about it.
To learn more about the White Earth Tribal 4-H youth program, contact Dana Trickey at 218-289-1193 or tric0014@umn.edu.