By Staff Reports
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. —The United Keetoowah Band Rivercane Conservation Crew completed a transplant project in early February, partnering with local residents and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s Office of Environmental Services to advance their mission of preserving natural resources vital to the community and its cultural heritage.
Known as the “Cane Crew” within the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (UKB), the group operates under the Tribal Historic Preservation Office (UKB-THPO). Their work extends beyond tribal boundaries, serving neighbors through projects like the recent transplant, which moved rivercane from Cherokee County to Okmulgee County after months of planning.
The effort is supported by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), a nonprofit focused on conservation through public-private partnerships. “We were always told that it was our unique role as Indian people to be the guardians of the land,” said Roger Cain, UKB-THPO director. He noted that NFWF funding provides jobs well-suited to crew members like Buck Nofire, 38, who grew up working the land alongside Curtis Hummingbird and Todd Downing, 61.
“A job is a job, and if it needs to be done, I will do it," Nofie said, emphasizing his practical approach over cultural sentiment. Downing, a bilingual Keetoowah from Shady Grove near Hulbert, added a lighthearted memory: “I accidentally stabbed my grandmother in the foot with a cane pole while gigging for crawfish and got a whipping—so I have a real good cultural connection to it!” The project’s roots trace back to late 2024, when Curry Blankenship, an environmental specialist with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, approached Cain about sourcing rivercane to stabilize soil near a sewage lagoon by the tribe’s Looped Square Meat Company. Blankenship, a former UKB-THPO colleague, knew the crew tended healthy canebrakes. The cane was harvested from Susan and Loyal Plumb’s riverfront property in Cherokee County, where an abundant canebrake had spread into their yard.
“We were so glad to see those guys pull up,” Loyal Plumb said. “The plants are beautiful, but we had much more than we needed.”
Cain, an ethnobotanist and cultural artist, leads the crew’s broader efforts to map and restore historic canebrakes, calling them “skilled riparian technicians” whose rural upbringing reflects traditional ecological knowledge. Rivercane, a native bamboo, was essential to ancient Cherokee life—used for dwellings, weapons, and baskets—and remains ecologically valuable, stabilizing soil and filtering stream contaminants, as Blankenship’s project demonstrates.
For more information, contact Cain at rcain@ukb-nsn.gov or 918-871-2826.
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