The Five Freshwater Seas

Our Community
Written By Shayenna Nolan

The Healthy Headwaters Lab team members are from waters around the world that have come together and now call the Great Lakes home. We are privileged to do research in this area and hope to improve the health of the lakes for years to come. 

FiveFreshwaterSeas.jpg

 

This digital artwork is by Anna Heffernan from @miskwaadesigns and these are her words: 

Home. So far I have travelled to 12 different countries, and one of the things that I always think about when I think of home are the beautiful lakes and rivers we have. I have never been anywhere with more beautiful bodies of water than Nishnaabe-aki, Ojibwe country. There are far more than I could draw on a map, but here are the five big ones. In Nishnaabemwin they are called the five freshwater seas. There are different names for each of them depending on where you go, but these are the ones I have heard.  

 
Nishnaabewi Gichigami - Nishnaabe Sea (Lake Superior) 
Odaawaawi Gichigami - Odawa Sea (Lake Huron) 
Niigaani Gichigami - Leading Sea (Lake Ontario) 
Waabshkiigoo Gichigami - Neutral Sea (Lake Erie) 
Ininwewi Gichigami - Illinois Sea (Lake Michigan) 

You can check out Anna’s work at MiskwaaDesigns.com and order limited edition prints of the five freshwater seas on her website.  

Miigwetch Anna for your permission to share this beautiful art. 

Shayenna Nolan

Shayenna is the Director of Communications for the Healthy Headwaters Lab as well as a PhD student. She is currently researching carbon and microbes in settler and Indigenous landscapes across the Great Lakes Basin.

Previous

I am one with everything
Next

Freshwater Mussel Research: Shifting with the seasons