The U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station recently released an article summarizing the River Cane Gathering held earlier this year in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The gathering was co-hosted by the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Forest Service. The planning team for the event included the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Rivercane Restoration Alliance. The gathering was attended by employees of several other USET-member Tribal Nations and USET staff member Steph Courtney. The article reads, “River cane might be unfamiliar to some, but for many Indigenous people, it is part of their family stories, daily lives, a familiar presence and widely used material…. Across the South, Indigenous people are leading the way in river cane restoration.” Roger Cain, a member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and a Tribal ethnobotanist spoke to the purpose of the gathering sharing, ”Our goal was to bring tribal members and federal employees together to talk about river cane…We wanted federal employees and agencies to see that native people are really excited about it.”
