Wild rice is both a natural component of shallow water ecosystems of the upper Midwest, and a crop of significant economic and cultural importance. As an annual, wild rice can respond extremely quickly to changes in the physical, biological, and economic environment, and there are a wide variety of concerns about the long-term fate of the species and the ecosystems in which it grows. Two complementary bodies of knowledge can be tapped to address these concerns. Academically trained ecologists bring a quantitative, Western science perspective to the subject, based on short-term intensive studies. The indigenous people of the wild rice region have developed traditional harvesting practices that are the result of an intimate, long-term relationship with the species on tribal homelands. We propose to bring representatives of these two perspectives together, to review the concerns about wild rice and traditional harvesting, to share ecological knowledge relevant to these concerns, and to identify important gaps in that knowledge. Both Western scientists and traditional Indian harvesters, in approximately equal representation, will join in a general discussion in a roundtable format. The session will last two hours, and will include audience participation in the last half hour. The distinctive feature of this special session is the attempt to encourage a confluence of Western scientific perspectives and traditional Indian perspectives on a topical conservation issue. Wild rice conservation issues involve almost every subdiscipline of ecology, as well as continuing cultural practices, and close linkages to economic conditions.