Close to where the Bad River runs into Lake Superior on the Bad River Reservation in northern Wisconsin, wild rice grows in the shallows along the river bank. In early June, it is in the floating leaf stage, where a single thin shoot rests on the water’s surface. By harvest time in late August, the plants can be three feet tall, and harvesters must bend the stalks over their canoes to gently knock the rice from the seed heads. June 6, 2011.