"In his nonfiction book “Rez Life,” David Treuer offers an affecting portrait of his childhood home, Leech Lake Indian Reservation, and his people, the Ojibwe.

Before sitting down to write the book, he visited small reservations across the vast lake-pocked marshlands of Minnesota, North Dakota, Ontario and Manitoba, many of which are inaccessible by road (except ice roads). So he traveled to them by canoe or trekked them by foot — just as the Ojibwe had once done in search of game, berries and wild rice.

Q. What’s the best time of year to explore Leech Lake?

A. The thing about northern Minnesota, the land is almost impassable in the summer, so much of it is swamp or lakes or rivers. When ice comes — this is what people say back home — everybody turns into Jesus because everyone can walk on water. The cabin fever people imagine where you’re holed up in your house; it’s the opposite: winter is finally when you can go anywhere. You can go by snowmobile and do those kinds of winter sports. Or you can explore by going snowshoeing or skiing without a destination or purpose. I do trapping, set snares for rabbits where they might be. They like brushy, logged-over areas. The less majestic, the better. "

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Canoeing to Marshland Reservations (The New York Times 12/2)