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Photos: Great Lakes Intertribal Harvest Gathering invites CALS researchers to share work

Photos: Great Lakes Intertribal Harvest Gathering invites CALS researchers to share work

November 24, 2025

The 2025 Great Lakes Intertribal Harvest Gathering was held earlier this fall at Ho-Chunk Nation’s House of Wellness in Wisconsin Dells. The event took place October 2-3 in the House of Wellness, at their outdoor kitchen and in a demo field nearby. CALS faculty and graduate students collaborating with Native Nations were able to share their research and stories and also learn more about Indigenous food systems and knowledge. CALS presenters included:

  • Dan Cornelius, research and outreach program manager with CALS and the UW Law School’s Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center
  • Paul Amauta Lema, graduate student in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering
  • John Shutske, professor and extension specialist in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering
  • Insect Ambassadors, graduate student-led organization hosted by the Department of Entomology

The Wisconsin Rural Partnerships Institute (RPI) helped coordinate and fund part of the event through the Indigenous Food Systems Resilience Project. RPI is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Lema’s graduate training is supported by a separate USDA NIFA grant to the UW–Madison to support Native American food traditions and food sovereignty for Great Lakes Tribal Nations.

See below for photos from the event. All photos taken by Michael P. King/UW–Madison CALS.

Paul Amauta Lema, a biological systems engineering graduate student, gives a keynote address at the 2025 Great Lakes Intertribal Harvest Gathering on Friday, Oct. 3. Lema has helped lead collaborations involving Ho-Chunk Speckled corn between UW–Madison, the Ho-Chunk Nation and his Kichwa community in the Madison area.
Hinu Smith, executive director of the Ho-Chunk Nation Department of Agriculture, welcomes attendees to the 2025 Great Lakes Intertribal Harvest Gathering.
Dylan Bruce MS’22, right, co-founder of Driftless Seed Supply and CALS agroecology alum, gives a seed-saving demonstration for attendees.
Paul Amauta Lema introduces other members of his Kichwa community of Madison before a field demonstration.
Paul Amauta Lema, right, walks with his father Fabian Lema, center, and Hinu Smith, left, before a field demonstration.
Paul Amauta Lema, right, works with other members of his Kichwa community to give a field demonstration of traditional Kichwa corn planting techniques.
An attendee drops a corn seed into broken soil during a field demonstration of traditional Kichwa corn planting techniques.
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