AUTHORS: Kent Sanmann, Native Foodways Restoration Alliance
ABSTRACT: If we are to reimagine wetlands as sustainable water gardens, then we are going to need tools, both gardening tools and tools to process the produce. And are the gardens just for us, or other creatures as well? And while wetlands have been lost in modern times by agricultural conversion of floodplains, both agriculture and wetlands co-existed in a symbiotic relationship in the past. One plant that played a vital role in all of these activities in the past is river cane. Although the plant is mainly associated with the southeastern United States, historically its range extended into the Midwest as well as Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. River cane grew extensively in the original homelands of the Chickasaw tribe and was used by them for a variety of purposes. After their removal to Oklahoma, where it was not as common as it was in the southeast, they continued to use it for limited purposes until today. This presentation will look at the historical uses of river cane by Chickasaws as well as modern uses, including its use in alleviating current problems along the Blue River, the only undammed river in Oklahoma and an important water source for south/central Oklahoma and the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations.
