ARKANSAS — Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Roger Cain, ethnobotanist and member with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, has devoted much of his life to revitalizing old-growth river cane systems — a vital resource deeply interwoven with the traditions of tribal communities. 

Recognizing the cultural and ecological significance of this species, national forests across the Southern Region of the Forest Service are collaborating with Tribal Nations like the UKB on river cane restoration projects. These initiatives are restoring a critically endangered ecosystem, while strengthening cultural connections for future tribal generations.

River cane (Arundinaria gigantea) is one of four native bamboo species in the United States. It is both a cultural and ecological keystone species upon which human and natural communities have relied for millennia. Affectionately referred to as the “Godzilla of grasses” by Cain, this large woody grass inhabited vast swaths of land along waterways extending for miles, known as canebrakes. It is now considered a critically endangered ecosystem, largely due to agricultural impacts. 

River cane offers numerous cultural values having been used as material for homes, hunting weapons and food sources. It also provides ecosystem benefits of critical wildlife habitat, excess nutrient absorption from runoff and streambank stabilization. “The environmental benefits of river cane are great for all people and creatures, and the cultural part is the cherry on top,” Cain says. “It's especially important for our southeastern tribes because it helped give us our identities and made our civilizations.”

Cain’s connection to river cane goes back farther than he can remember. As a boy, he grew up playing among cane stands and building forts at his Grandma and Grandpa Pumpkin’s place in Oklahoma. Later, as high school teachers, Cain and his wife Shawna Morton Cain, a master basket maker, ran the school’s culture club and were interested in processing their own river cane for use as a material. But they couldn’t find anyone who remembered how to work with it.

That is, until Cain found out his family traditionally had been basket weavers. For him, it was like a key turned to unlock memories. “I believe in the cultural memory of our tribal members; we've just been removed from the areas where we were able to practice our culture,” he says. After some coaching from his grandparents and years of practice, the couple hit the art show scene sharing the craft with the public. 

Cain later embarked on a journey to study ethnobotany (i.e., how people and cultures use indigenous plants) at the University of Arkansas and further study river cane restoration methods, eventually becoming a leading researcher on the topic. River cane primarily propagates by underground shoots called rhizomes. Thus, one effective restoration strategy is to locate existing cane stands and give them the space and sunlight needed to thrive by simply removing the surrounding overstory and encroaching plants. 

Cain has spent decades experimenting with the right conditions to restore remnant cane stands. Most work has been completed at a small scale on private or public lands where there are management restrictions. Through slow and careful observations, he developed a good idea of what would work but needed a place to apply that knowledge and demonstrate restoration success. In 2022, he approached the Forest Service to seek out testing grounds to put his theories into practice. 

Cain worked with the Pleasant Hill Ranger District of the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests in Arkansas to identify restoration sites and complete environmental compliance requirements for a pilot project. With funding from a Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience Act grant, a tribal crew commenced work in June 2023 to remove excess vegetation and woody plants, including invasive species like tree-of-heaven, from cane stands along recreation areas on the Wild and Scenic Mulberry River. 

A field trip was held in June 2024 with Forest Service staff and partners to see what a little stewardship could do for river cane to grow and be healthy. The areas are being transformed with flourishing cane plants reclaiming their space. Pleasant Hill District Ranger Jason Engle has been enthusiastic about the project from the start and hopes work continues to restore this ecosystem, while supporting the Tribal Nation’s goals in reviving a culturally significant species. He encourages other forests to be open to these types of projects.

Cain underscores the need to build support for increased restoration efforts by proving the age and presence of river cane on the landscape and establishing it as an old-growth ecosystem. “As a Native person, we can get by with first-hand accounts with other Native people doing a native thing. But if we're going to go into the mainstream, we must have proof,” he says. 

For example, during the June 2024 site visit, participants used historical maps to locate river cane within the national forest that had been surveyed as far back as the early 1800s. Further, as river cane primarily spreads by rhizomes and displays sporadic seeding cycles, the existing stands visited could be the same ecosystem from 200 or more years ago. He hopes methods like carbon dating and genetic analysis can provide more insights.

The Southern Region of the Forest Service has been updating several plans to recognize the importance of river cane and incorporate other old ecosystems of value. Chelsea Leitz, Regional Inventory, Monitoring, Assessment, and Climate Change Coordinator for the Southern Region, says they are updating the current old-growth guidance document with considerations like cultural values. The region’s climate action plan also includes goals for river cane restoration, which initially were achieved through a previous river cane gathering event.

“There are many old-growth grassland and other ecosystems that don't get the social and political spotlight like big, old trees, but they still provide value,” Leitz explains. “It's important to recognize and acknowledge that old-growth systems look different to people across the region and the Forest Service.”

These latest efforts are part of a multi-stemmed approach that Cain is taking with various partners to weave together elements of education, research, and workforce development to reestablish river cane on the landscape. Cain also notes it’s been wonderful working with the Forest Service on river cane projects. “It's empowering that we all agree it's a good idea and say let's do it,” he remarks. “There’s been no convincing anybody.” 

The Mulberry River project has led to ongoing discussions among Ouachita and Ozark-St. Francis National Forests staff and Tribal Nations on the need for further mapping and ground truthing of river cane, expanding understandings of old-growth ecosystems, and enhancing capacity for project work. Cain also received $1.9 million in funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s America the Beautiful Challenge to continue his efforts and plans to scope additional work on the national forests in the spring. 

Overall, Cain envisions large river cane forests reestablished across the southeast for the public to experience and more access to materials for tribes. There are at most three-dozen indigenous artists who know how to grow, process, and use river cane for basket making. “We'll be working with tribal members to not only teach them how to make the basket, but how to steward the ecosystems as well,” he says. “You can make it bigger; you can make it stronger, but you must tend it. And that's what we've always done.”