By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – The Timber Committee of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) met on Tuesday, Aug. 12 and discussed a variety of topics including the population of Hellbenders, harvesting various plants, firewood, and more.
In speaking about Hellbenders, Mike LaVoie, EBCI Natural Resources Department director, commented, “We’re confident that they’re still in the river system…we’re developing a broader restoration plan around both the river and its inhabitants. There are different options from improving habitat to possibly bringing in animals. That’s an option as well.”
Doug Reed, EBCI Natural Resources fisheries and wildlife manager, spoke about several animal surveys. “We did our sixth year of our bear hair snare. We got 132 samples of those so that data is actually being processed right now. We did the hellbender sites. We had five of those. We did not see or find a hellbender within that.”
He said they will be doing another dive to look for Hellbenders at the end of August. “We actually do need people to volunteer for it because we’re short-staffed. The more people we can get, the better area we can cover.”
LaVoie went on to discuss water topics and noted the EBCI has been awarded “roughly $1.7 million” in grant funding from the Natural Resource Conservation Service for seven other stream projects.
Dinilawigi approved a resolution during its regular session on Jan. 8 that recognizes the inherent rights of Longperson. The resolution states, “In Cherokee tradition, the waterways are known as the Longperson, a living, conscious being whose head begins in the mountains and whose feet stretch to the sea. The Longperson is a sacred presence, offering life, guidance, healing, and protection to our people.”
Part of the resolution involved the creation of the Rights of Nature Task Force.
During Tuesday’s meeting, LaVoie said that four subcommittees have been created within the Task Force including: legal/policy focus, health focus, community development focus, and education focus.
He noted, “We’ve had three meetings so far, three monthly meetings that started in May. We’ve done a lot around discussion of what this project means and the goal, really, is to develop a report out to tribal leadership to really inform how we can implement Rights of Long Person for the community’s sake.”
Reed also gave a short report on the ponds in Kolanvyi (Big Cove). “Temperatures are up, but it’s enough now. We’re ok right now. I do want to remind people, please do not return fish. Once you catch them, do not return them back into the ponds. And do not leave your stringers. Over the past three weeks we’ve found like eight stringers full of dead fish just laying there. If that continues, we may stop stocking that for a little bit until we get cooler weather.”
Josh Parris, EBCI Natural Resources forestry program manager, gave an update on the greenhouse project at the Thomas Valley Road site in Jackson County. “Hopefully within the next couple of months we’ll have those structures up and we’ll be able to start fitting them out.”
He said they are moving forward with a wood burning system to heat the greenhouse units and the program has received the funding for the river cane development from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.
Parris commented, “Now we have an additional $100,000 for development of river cane-specific growth for a couple years on that, which is something we need. And, it’s needed regionally with forest management practices with multiple different agencies – Resource Commission, Forest Service, North Carolina Forest Service. So, it’s hitting at a good time. Our concern is going to be, can we produce it and do we have the capacity of people to do that when it comes?”
He said his program has participated with the Community Wildfire Preparedness Program (CWPP) to identify needs and work on a wildfire preparedness plan for the Qualla Boundary and Tutiyi (Snowbird). “We, as the Tribe, currently, as far as wildfire response, do not have that – that’s with the BIA. But, we are in there and we are informing what the Tribe needs from a natural resource perspective on that.”
Parris added, “We want to provide firewood to the community with these actions. And, we actually have a Lickstone unit that’s 2.5 acres that has been marked for the timber to be cut off of that. But, this is not to harvest timber. This is to regenerate forests in between two of the wildlife openings on Lickstone Ridge…We want the rest of that wood to be utilized by the community. Where that is, is pickup truck possibility of getting there. It is not quality enough to put large equipment on to pull stuff out. So, the plan with that, specifically…they can contact our office. They can contact me. We can tell them exactly how that’s marked, what you can cut, and what you can’t cut. It’s pretty simple…We would be happy with an opportunity if people want to cut their own trees. We don’t have an issue with that. But, there will be a point where we will put the trees down and the firewood will be available at that point.”
Avery Weatherly, EBCI Natural Resources conservation outreach coordinator, gave an update on the sochan harvesting season in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park for EBCI tribal members.
“This year, we had 35 total permits given out. We can have up to 50 given out. So, 35 is an increase from last year. We also had 11 harvests this year that were reported. That’s also an increase from last year. Additionally, there were around 10 bushels harvested in total this year.
From the start of this permit, which was in 2019 to now, there have been a total of 51.5 bushels of sochan harvested. That equals to about 478 gallons. So, that’s pretty cool.”
Weatherly said there were some permit changes this year that will continue going forward. “The main change that happened, which is relevant to the community, is that there’s no need to repeat the permit orientation anymore…you can just come up to my office, and I will get you printed out a permit and you can be on your way.”
She went on to say, “At the beginning of this permit, there was more detailed monitoring – you submit your harvest report which says where you harvested, how much you harvested, you put some flags to show which patches you harvested from. Then botanists would go and monitor the health, how much was taken…but, over time, they found that our traditional harvest methods have had no impact at all on the population and has had no impact at all on the health of those harvesting sites.”
Tommy Cabe, EBCI Natural Resources forest resources specialist, spoke about the ramp population noting, “The latest report they said last week was that they are declining in the Forest Service landscape. So, again, another reason why it’s critical for us to understand our life ways with these plants and to share that with our community and show the community how the science has merged with our cultural practices.”
Dinilawigi Taline Gahvsgi (Tribal Council Vice Chairman) David Wolfe asked, “Have you all considered doing your own little project of maybe taking some seed and starting to grow your own? And not let anybody know where it’s at and just see how long it takes to establish a patch?”
Cabe replied, “We’ve considered it…but when you do something like that, you really want to insulate it from impact. And, typically, a ramp takes around seven years to go from seed to actually sprouting out. Then, they’re really tiny. I don’t think that it would be worth what we would have to invest in that.
The quickest thing to do is just to continue demonstrating our harvest treatments. Because, now there’s harvest plots on the Park that they’re watching our harvest treatments have minimal impact on. And, that’s been done in the Forest Service. As far as us trying to propagate them in a wild setting, there’s a lot of factors that could impact that so you won’t get a good reading on it…it’s hard to secure those sites.”
The Timber Committee is chaired by Wayohi (Wolftown) Rep. Bo Crowe. He was present at Tuesday’s meeting along with Kolanvyi (Big Cove) Rep. Lavita Hill, Elawodi (Yellowhill) Rep. Shennelle Feather, Tutiyi/Tsalagi Gadugi (Snowbird/Cherokee Co.) Rep. Adam Wachacha, Aniwodihi (Painttown) Rep. Shannon Swimmer filling in for Aniwodihi Rep. Michael Stamper, and Dinilawigi Taline Gahvsgi Wolfe filling in for Dinilawigi Gahvsgi (Tribal Council) Chairman Jim Owle
