Personalities of the Peninsula: Odawa Woman & Water Protector Kira Davis

Suttons Bay’s Kira Davis sees her role as an Anishinaabe kwe (Odawa woman) as a connector and a protector of water. She has dedicated her personal and professional life to taking care of the Great Lakes region for the next seven generations. A highlight reel of the past 20 years: establishing Tribally approved water quality standards for Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB); helping secure the first boat wash station in Emmet County (on Paradise Lake); restoring streams and relinking wildlife corridors by removing dams and improperly sized culverts as program director with the Conservation Resource Alliance (CRA).

This year, she stepped into a national role with The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). The nonprofit recently opened a new field office in Suttons Bay and appointed Davis as the new Great Lakes Senior Program Manager. Davis leads NPCA’s work to protect and enhance the parks of the entire Great Lakes region.

And while she’s just fine being an unsung superhero for the region’s waterways, Davis has a cameo in new documentary film debuting at noon this Sunday, October 2 on WCMU Public Television. Restoring Aquatic Ecosystems, produced by Nature Change and Crosshatch Center for Art & Ecology, shines a light on Michigan’s first Indigenous-led, multi-agency collaborative working in relative obscurity to restore and protect the ecology of streams and rivers across an entire region.

Led by the Grand Traverse Band (GTB) of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Tribal Stream and Michigan Fruitbelt Collaborative works to remove blockages to the natural flow of water in Michigan’s streams and rivers. Filmmakers Joe VanderMeulen and Bronwyn Jones of Maple City ask why and how these choked waterways can be revived.

Davis, who grew up in Petoskey — or in Anishinaabemowin, Bedaasige — makes an appearance in the film speaking as an Indigenous Odawa woman. Here Davis shares more with the Leelanau Ticker:

Leelanau Ticker: Right now, is protecting water resources the top environmental issue for you?
Davis: I think water is going to unite us. But I also think that the biggest problem is behavior and the way that we treat every living thing and each other right now. That’s why I say I’m an Odawa woman — not categorized as a citizen of one Tribe or another — and the reason is I want to be connected with what’s around me. There is so much classification of identity right now and I think it’s a big part of the problem that we’re having in politics in our nation — two groups that are so fixated on identifying with their core groups, that they’re forgetting their job is to do due diligence for the nation’s people and things of the earth. And we all have to stop doing it. I think our behavior and just revitalizing the spirit is really important.

Leelanau Ticker: When were you first called to work with water?
Davis: I’ve never looked at my career as typical. It’s more of my journey. It’s my responsibility in a way, and what I should be doing. I learned early on about women’s role to take care of the water. And, you know, when it really rooted me — when I really felt it — was when I got to meet Josephine Mandamin, who was one of the original Anishinaabe grandmother walkers. She came to LTBB when I started there, and she was walking around every single Great Lake at the time. And she started this when she was probably in her 70s.

Leelanau Ticker: In your new role with the NPCA, there are some incredible national parks you get to help protect:
Davis: Yes. The Apostle Islands. The Cuyahoga Valley where the whole investment into clean water began. Sleeping Bear Dunes. Pictured Rocks. And Isle Royale, which is one of my parks of emphasis. Michigan Technological University researchers just came out with their winter study on the moose and wolf populations on the island.

Leelanau Ticker: What’s the latest news?
Davis: Wolf populations were declining so they brought wolves onto the island, in part to help control the moose population. Now there are 28 wolves up there. They are acting like wolves; they are in two packs. So that’s a good thing. However, there’s more climate change induced impacts that are happening.

Leelanau Ticker: Like what?
Davis: What they’re seeing is more ticks. We’re having less severe winters, so the population soar, and ticks can take down a moose. When the wolves declined, the moose numbers went up…and their favorite food is balsam fir. So, they started eating too much of it and it wasn’t growing back at a pace, you know, to keep up with the amount of moose. But now, it’s the budworm larvae, a parasite, that is killing the balsam fir.

Leelanau Ticker: And how does NPCA fit in with the work on the island?
Davis: Michigan Technological University researchers have a big predator/prey relationship study they’ve been doing for 65 years, working with National Park Service, who are the managers of the land and responsible for all of its resources. At NPCA we look at the enacting legislation, and the general management plan. All parties need to stick to that because, really, the National Park Service is aimed to protect natural resources.

Leelanau Ticker: So, you are a sort of checks-and-balances?
Davis: We’re advocates. NPCA was created three years after the National Park Service was enacted — in 1916 for NPS, and 1919 for NPCA — knowing that the parks needed to be protected, and the NPS was unable to because they are a federal agency. So, for example, let’s just say a national park wants to do a multi-use trail in a high-quality wetland and that was never part of their general management plan. That would be something that we would oppose. But let’s just say the area for the trail was recreationally zoned. They may put it in, but if the impact to the environment is still bad, and couldn’t be reversed, then we might still intervene.

Leelanau Ticker: What thrills you about working in preservation?
Davis: Dam removal work and being able to see a change unfold. The removal of the Boardman Dam for example, if you go now to Brown Bridge Natural Area and compare it to some of those old pictures, it is amazing how fast Earth heals itself.

Leelanau Ticker: Are you excited about what's underway with restoring the Crystal River? 
Davis: Yes, and three of the road stream crossings are within the National Lakeshore. So, I’m very excited about that. And movie that they're doing about that work comes out October 2, at noon, on PBS.

Leelanau Ticker: Wow, will have to tune in.
Davis: It’s a really good story, and it’s happening up here!

Leelanau Ticker: What else has been a game changer for ecological restoration in northern Michigan?
Davis: Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). What I’ve been doing last seven months is tracking down success stories from Great Lakes National Parks utilizing GLRI money.

Leelanau Ticker: Any really compelling stories?
Davis: Indiana Dunes. They secured GLRI money to create corridors for pollinators … and  it's not just on the park lands. They know that bees don't see boundaries! Working with municipalities and land in and out of the park, they are trying to create a corridor of natural habitat. They’ve now created this pollinator task force and other national parks are duplicating the efforts.

Leelanau Ticker: What else has energized you lately?
Davis: I got to go wild rice harvesting recently. It grows in smaller shallower lakes, and you find the plants in the river outlets. That is a connection to who we are, it's part of our migration story, and there has been a big push to bring wild rice back within the Tribes in northern Michigan.

Leelanau Ticker: What pulls you to water?
Davis: Water is alive and it’s strong and it’s a spirit. Anishinaabe are the people of the water. It’s a part of who we are — and it’s a part of who we all are, being 90 percent water — so of course it’s something we are going to respect, as you respect your parents.

Leelanau Ticker: Did you learn this as a young person or later in life?
Davis: You know, my grandmother and grandfather were both in the boarding schools. My grandma and great uncle were dropped off in Harbor Springs and sat at a pew all day waiting but were never picked up. We are hard on ourselves for losing our culture, but people like my grandparents didn’t have a choice. I think we are now in the healing stage. I hope the Tribes and everyone can be in a healing stage right now, because if we can’t I am really worried. We are too busy thinking about ourselves and not thinking about the generations ahead of us. And we need to start doing that.

Leelanau Ticker: I can tell your “day job” is really part of you. How do you relax?
Davis: I am a crafter, and one of the ‘passer-downers’ I learned from is an elder named Ron Paquin. He’s 80 years old and is still teaching kids how to make birch bark canoes. When I am making quill boxes or working with sweetgrass — when I work closely with these resources — that’s when my soul is solidified. They say when you are making the piece, if you get grumpy or frustrated — and you will sometimes — that you put it down. That energy will go into your work because you are connected to it.