Neshnabék, or “the true humans” as Potawatomi refer to themselves, maintain a special relationship to water and continue to honor it through ceremonies, prayers, and women’s water walks to protect this sacred resource for future generations. The waterways surrounding this site, once known as “Pottowottomee Lake,” were historically much larger than they are today but were dredged and drained for American settlement, farming, and the development of harbors and marinas. These changes affected the lives of local Potawatomi and also relate to the name of Michigan, which derives from the Algonquian words Mzhigénak in Potawatomi and mzhigénêng in Odawa, both meaning “the place that has been clear cut.” That meaning reflects the changing landscape in the early years of the U.S., when extensive clear-cutting for farmland and development caused serious environmental harm, including the extinction of marine species and the near destruction of wild rice paddies, a traditional Neshnabék food source that grows on water. Today, the Pokagon Band is working to revitalize wild rice in Southwest Michigan to improve the health of their water, lands, and community.