Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Poster
Presentation #1 Title
Increasing the sustainability of a threatened tree species, butternut (Juglans cinerea), for use in traditional dyes for Cherokee basketry
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Original lands occupied by the Cherokee included over 35 million hectars and is now reduced to 0.06% of the size and includes the 22,600 hectare Qualla Boundary in Western North Carolina. Surrounded by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park bringing millions of tourists who purchase crafts. Basketry is a key cultural resource practice and is a symbol of Cherokee culture, subsistence, and resilience. Rivercane (Arundinaria gigantea and i-hi in Tsalagi) is a key ecological community which increases riparian stabilization, reduces sedimentation, and is essential wildlife habitat for a number of endemic species. As a cultural keystone species rivercane is used for baskets, fish traps, pipe stems, flutes, to build houses & mats, for weapons such as blowguns & blowgun darts, and the shoots and seeds were eaten as food. Butternut (Juglans cinerea and kahi in Tsalagi) is used to create a dye for baskets. Over 350 seedlings were planted in a field and interplanted into canebrakes to encourage apical growth and reduce rivercane branching. Rivercane sites were compared to the open field sites in terms of impact of growth and survival of butternut seedlings over a ten-year period. Butternuts planted in rivercane sites had reduced height and diameter compared to an open field ten-years post planting (p=0.016). However the rivercane insulated the butternuts against mortality and show increased 37% mortality verses 49% in the open field (p = 0.037). This project is part of the larger research element of managing culturally important species in the context of environmental change.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Madison Lawrence is an undergraduate Ethnobotany Major at Frostburg State University. Madison is from the Appalachian region of Western Maryland and has traveled to Cherokee, NC for research and service projects as part of January-term courses.
Olivia Goldstein is an undergraduate Ethnobotany Major at Frostburg State University from the Baltimore area. She is a world-traveler and is minoring in Biology and Cultural Anthropology and is active in the Sierra Student Coalition.
Andy Wall is an undergraduate Ethnobotany Major at Frostburg State University from the Baltimore area. Andy traveled to rural Alaska and to Cherokee in various Ethnobotany courses.
Sunshine L. Brosi, PhD is an associate professor of forest ecology and ethnobotany at Frostburg State University. She coordinates the only Bachelor's-level program in the US focused on Ethnobotany: peoples’ interactions with plants and focuses her research on rare, threatened and endangered Appalachian cultural keystone species.
Increasing the sustainability of a threatened tree species, butternut (Juglans cinerea), for use in traditional dyes for Cherokee basketry
Original lands occupied by the Cherokee included over 35 million hectars and is now reduced to 0.06% of the size and includes the 22,600 hectare Qualla Boundary in Western North Carolina. Surrounded by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park bringing millions of tourists who purchase crafts. Basketry is a key cultural resource practice and is a symbol of Cherokee culture, subsistence, and resilience. Rivercane (Arundinaria gigantea and i-hi in Tsalagi) is a key ecological community which increases riparian stabilization, reduces sedimentation, and is essential wildlife habitat for a number of endemic species. As a cultural keystone species rivercane is used for baskets, fish traps, pipe stems, flutes, to build houses & mats, for weapons such as blowguns & blowgun darts, and the shoots and seeds were eaten as food. Butternut (Juglans cinerea and kahi in Tsalagi) is used to create a dye for baskets. Over 350 seedlings were planted in a field and interplanted into canebrakes to encourage apical growth and reduce rivercane branching. Rivercane sites were compared to the open field sites in terms of impact of growth and survival of butternut seedlings over a ten-year period. Butternuts planted in rivercane sites had reduced height and diameter compared to an open field ten-years post planting (p=0.016). However the rivercane insulated the butternuts against mortality and show increased 37% mortality verses 49% in the open field (p = 0.037). This project is part of the larger research element of managing culturally important species in the context of environmental change.
