Oral Histories of the Red Cedar Watershed

Now that we're a couple of weeks and a few conversations with local folks into the project, I can say that by the end of the summer I will have learned a lot about interview techniques, thorough transcribing, and efficient field note taking. But aside from the technical skills of this project, I will be learning a lot about the communities in the Red Cedar Watershed. For example, I'll be looking into how people have previously approached the lake health, the perceived causes of declining lake health, the relationships that people hold between themselves and the lake, and more. I'm excited to see how people answer these questions differently, and think I will be surprised by the emerging narrative.

As I begin investigating these aspects along with my peers, I want to look into the history of people's relationships with the Red Cedar Watershed, and especially narratives from Native People. I hope to get a fuller understanding of how the relationship between people and the lake has changed, and how our perceptions of our relationship have changed as well. In order to collect oral histories, we will coordinate interviews, engage in conversations with an open mind, and attend community meetings. I'm looking forward to learning more through connections to the people of the Red Cedar Watershed, both past and present.

New perspectives for a Stoutie

Last Sunday, I packed up my things and made the journey all the way to the UW-Stout Red Cedar Hall... from across town. I'm a Stout student, and I'll be a senior next year in the Applied Social Science program. When I was a freshman, I came to school in late August when the algae blooms were really quite something. The smell was overwhelming, but everyone just shrugged it off, saying that it was something that just happens every year, and you get used to holding your breath when you run by it. So when I heard about the LAKES REU, I knew it was something that I wanted to be a part of, but not just because I experienced the algae blooms every season. This experience will show me the many different aspects and figures that play into the health of Lake Menomin and the rest of the Red Cedar Watershed. Additionally, I've realized in the past year that one of my favorite things is people coming together to create genuine change. And, even though this is on a different scale than I'm familiar with, this REU is that: people coming together, across disciplines and backgrounds, to make a difference.

So when I moved into the dorm that will be my temporary home for the next seven weeks, I was excited. Excited to meet my peers, greet my professors again after the school year had ended, and really to get started. In our first week, we focused more on orienting ourselves to the community and to the projects themselves. We started with some background information, becoming familiar with the various software programs we'll be using, and getting a feel for what we'll be doing for the summer. Even though it's just the first week, I'm excited to work with my mentor and research partner to look into various policies and oral histories, as well as with the other research projects, and the community of the Red Cedar Watershed.