image courtesy of Huntinfool

On Nov. 26, the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Native American tribe hosted members from the University of Hawai’i Maui College. This was to share knowledge of how to properly harvest deer with their islander friends to return a favor to Ikaika Nakahashi, a lecturer of ethnobotany, and his colleagues for hosting students from the University of Wisconsin Stevens-Point every year. Tribal Elder, Wayne Valliere, was the one to pass this knowledge to their Pacific friends, which was an education in harvesting, tanning and a demonstration of the tribe’s culture, joining the education of the sixth graders at the Lac du Flambeau tribal school.
By sharing the knowledge of deer management and harvest that the tribe possesses, Nakahashi and his colleagues can educate others on the islands to help turn an invasive axis deer species, which is estimated to be from 20,000 to 60,000 deer on Maui alone, from a force that is destroying the island, into a valuable resource for the people that live there.