Canebrake

Canebrakes were formerly widespread in the Southern United States, potentially covering {{convert|10000000|acres}},{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Anthony |title=River cane: Important Cherokee cultural staple |url=https://theonefeather.com/2012/05/22/river-cane-important-cherokee-cultural-staple/ |website=theonefeather.com |date=22 May 2012 |publisher=The Cherokee One Feather}} The presence of canebrakes signaled to Native Americans and to early European settlers that an area was fertile and ecologically rich.{{cite web |last1=Stepp |first1=Lauren |title=History Feature: WCU Exhibit Explores Heritage of Rivercane |url=https://thelaurelofasheville.com/communities/history-feature-wcu-exhibit-explores-heritage-of-rivercane/ |website=thelaurelofasheville.com |date=27 February 2021 |publisher=The Laurel of Asheville}} The canebrakes were a striking feature of the landscape to the earliest European explorers, who remarked upon how densely the cane grew and how difficult it was to travel through. For example, in 1728 William Byrd described hacking through a "forest" of cane "more than a furlong [220 yards] in depth" as he blazed a trail along the border of Virginia and Carolina. Likewise, William Bartram described "the most extensive Canebreak that is to be seen on the face of the whole earth," writing that the canes grew 10-12 feet tall and so close together they were completely impassable without hacking a trail through them.{{cite book |last1=Hill |first1=Sarah H. |title=Weaving new worlds: Southeastern Cherokee women and their basketry |date=1997 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=0-8078-2345-7 |pages=38–39}}

However, as European settlers came, the cane gradually disappeared as it was used as high-quality forage for livestock that was available all year round. Pigs in particular destroyed canebrakes rapidly by rooting up their underground rhizomes, and the settlers intentionally used pigs to clear out canebrakes so they could be converted to agricultural land. {{cite book |last1=Hill |first1=Sarah H. |title=Weaving new worlds: Southeastern Cherokee women and their basketry |date=1997 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=0-8078-2345-7 |page=91}} The absence of the controlled burns used by Native Americans to maintain the canebrakes, conversion to agricultural land, and grazing by livestock has almost eliminated the canebrakes.{{cite book |last1=Weakley |first1=Alan S. |title=Flora of the Southeastern United States |date=2022 |publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium |location=Chapel Hill NC}} Destruction of habitat for development and construction is also implicated as a cause of the decline by the Choctaw Nation.{{cite web |last1=Batton |first1=Gary |title=Watonlak Hvshi season is a good time to save the river cane |url=https://www.choctawnation.com/news/chiefs-blog/watonlak-hvshi-season-is-a-good-time-to-save-the-river-cane/ |website=choctawnation.com}}

This destruction has impacted a number of species. The survival of the Florida panther (Puma concolor couguar) has been challenged, and Bachman's warbler (Vermivora bachmanii) has probably become extinct. The extinct Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) also depended on canebrakes, and their demise may have been hastened by the canebrakes' decline.{{cite web |title=What Happened to America's Only Endemic Parrot? |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2018/02/21/what-happened-to-americas-only-parrot/?sh=447aa7d258cf |website=Forbes}} Other species considered canebrake specialists include as many as seven moth species{{cite web |title=General Cane Thickets |url=https://auth1.dpr.ncparks.gov/habitat/view.php?combined_code=1005.0 |website=Habitats of North Carolina}} and five known butterfly species dependent on Arundinaria bamboos as a host plant, and Swainson's warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii).{{cite web |last1=Hendershott |first1=A.J. |title=Canebrakes: Missouri's Bamboo Forests |url=https://mdc.mo.gov/magazines/conservationist/2002-10/canebrakes-missouris-bamboo-forests |website=mdc.mo.gov |publisher=Missouri Department of Conservation}} Swainson's warbler has recently been found to use pine plantations (widespread across the Southeastern United States) of a particular age, as they may provide the structural features and prey base that the species seeks.{{Cite journal |last=Graves |first=Gary R. |date=September 2015 |title=Recent large-scale colonisation of southern pine plantations by Swainson's Warbler Limnothlypis swainsonii |url=http://macroecointern.dk/pdf-reprints/Graves_BCI_2014b.pdf |journal=Bird Conservation International |language=en |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=280–293 |doi=10.1017/S0959270914000306 |issn=0959-2709}}Graves 2014 http://macroecointern.dk/pdf-reprints/Graves_BCI_2014b.pdf Contrary to the characterization of canebrakes as homogenous, they host a great diversity of species, including globally rare species. A survey of canebrakes in the Carolinas found 330 taxa living in the canebrake habitat, a number that would likely increase with more study.{{cite journal |last1=Gray |first1=Janet Bracey |last2=Sorrie |first2=Bruce A |last3=Wall |first3=Wade |title=Canebrakes of the Sandhills Region of the Carolinas and Georgia: Fire History, Canebrake Area, and Species Frequency |journal=Castanea |date=2016 |volume=81 |issue=4 |pages=280–291|doi=10.2179/16-112 |s2cid=89603409 }} Canebrakes provide habitat for the critically endangered Alabama canebrake pitcher plant (Sarracenia alabamensis), which is only found in 11 sites in just two counties of the state of Alabama.{{cite web |last1=Boyd |first1=Robert S. |title=Alabama Canebrake Pitcher Plant |url=http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3639 |website=encylopediaofalabama.org |publisher=Encyclopedia of Alabama}}

Cane can propagate itself rapidly through asexual reproduction, allowing it to persist quietly in the shade of a forest for years and rapidly take advantage of disturbance such as wildfire. Historically, canebrakes were maintained by Native Americans using controlled burns. The fire would burn the aboveground part of the plant but leave the underground rhizomes unharmed.{{cite web |last1=Cockman |first1=Crystal |title=The loss of the great canebrakes |url=https://ui.charlotte.edu/story/loss-great-canebrakes |website=ui.charlotte.edu |publisher=UNC Charlotte Urban Institute}}

Canebrakes have been identified as important ecosystems for supporting over 70 wildlife species, possibly ideal candidates for mitigating nitrate pollution in groundwater, and crucial to the material cultures of Southeastern Native American nations, but relatively little study has been devoted to them, partially because virtually all canebrakes that still exist are isolated and fragmentary.{{cite web |last1=Barret |first1=Richard |last2=Grabowski |first2=Janet |last3=Williams |first3=M.J. |title=Giant Cane and Other Native Bamboos: Establishment and Use for Conservation of Natural Resources in the Southeast |url=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/plantmaterials/flpmctn13727.pdf |website=ncrs.usda.gov}} Canebrakes are unlikely to be reestablished significantly under current methods of land management, but there is interest in finding out how to restore them.{{cite journal |last1=Shoemaker |first1=Cory M. |title=Environmental and landscape factors affecting the continued suppression of canebrakes (Arundinaria gigantea, Poaceae) within restorations of bottomland hardwood forests |journal=The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society |date=2018 |volume=145 |issue=2 |pages=156–152|doi=10.3159/TORREY-D-17-00011.1 |s2cid=90442090 }}

Canebrakes have been found to provide habitat for the following rare plants:

• Lysimachia asperulifolia, rough-leaved loosestrife
• Lilium pyrophilum, sandhills lily
• Eupatorium resinosum, pine barrens thoroughwort
• Dionaea muscipula, Venus flytrap
• Sarracenia alabamensis, Alabama canebrake pitcher plant
• Carex austrodeflexa, canebrake sedge

Canebrakes are considered a critically endangered ecosystem by many biologists, but they have been studied very little. Southern Illinois University conducts some ongoing research on restoring canebrakes.{{cite web |title=Canebrake Restoration |url=https://friendsofthecache.org/canebrake-restoration |website=friendsofthecache.org |access-date=27 November 2022}} There is also a great interest among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and other regional tribal nations to restore canebrakes, to preserve the crucial roles the plant plays in Cherokee culture and to stop the art of river cane basket weaving from dying out. The various insect species that are Arundinaria specialists are at risk due to their sensitivity to habitat fragmentation.

A major obstacle to restoring canebrakes is the reproductive habits of Arundinaria bamboos; Arundinaria typically reproduces asexually using rhizomes, forming clonal colonies that spread outward. The plant only flowers every few decades, and usually dies after flowering; additionally, seeds are often not viable. Therefore, propagating the plant must usually be done by dividing existing colonies or growing rhizome cuttings.{{cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Julian |title=Growth of Cane (Arundinaria sensu stricto), the Mysterious Native Bamboo of North America |url=https://bluegrasswoodland.com/uploads/Arundinaria__Growth_of_Cane_.pdf |website=bluegrasswoodland.com}}{{cite thesis |last1=Conley |first1=Rachel Elizabeth |title=Macro-propagation of native cane (Arundinaria spp.) in central Kentucky and restoration out-plantings in western Tennessee and southern Alabama. |date=2015 |url=https://etd.auburn.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10415/4714/Conley%20Thesis%207%2022%2015%20%281%29.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y|degree=MSc |publisher=Auburn University}} Conducting studies has been challenging; experimental plantings of cane in a study conducted by researchers at Mississippi State University to test the erosion mitigation potential of canebrakes yielded no results because only 1.2% of seedlings survived the following year.{{cite web |last1=Jolley |first1=Rachel |last2=Neal |first2=Diana |last3=Baldwin |first3=Bryan |last4=Ervin |first4=Gary |title=Restoring Canebrakes to Enhance Water Quality Along the Upper Pearl River |url=https://www.wrri.msstate.edu/pdf/jolley09.pdf}}

Southern Illinois University researchers have located 140 patches of giant cane and collaborate with many conservation organizations and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service in the effort to replant 15 acres of cane per year.{{cite web |title=RESTORATION OF GIANT CANE AND CANEBRAKES: Native Bamboo for Habitat and Ecosystem Services |url=http://naufrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/SIU-Restoration-of-Native-US-Bamboo-Ecosystems.pdf |website=naufrp.org |publisher=Southern Illinois University Department of Forestry}} In South Carolina, the Chattooga Conservancy has formed a collaboration with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee and the USDA Forest Service to restore 29 acres of canebrake.{{cite web |title=Native River Cane Restoration |url=https://chattoogariver.org/initiatives/native-river-cane-restoration/ |website=chattoogariver.org|date=3 March 2017 }} Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources (RTCAR) has also coordinated the restoration of river cane on a 109-acre site in North Carolina. This restoration area will include educational signage in the Cherokee and English languages.{{cite web |title=A New Day for Rivercane |url=https://conservingcarolina.org/rivercane-restoration/ |website=conservingcarolina.org |date=23 June 2021 |publisher=Conserving Carolina}}

In 2023, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma co-hosted the first Rivercane Gathering in Tahlequah, Oklahoma with the U.S. Forestry Service, an educational event to unite traditional tribal experts and artisans with various researchers and landholders for the continued preservation of canebrakes.{{cite web |last1=Morris |first1=Hilary |title=1st Annual Rivercane Gathering coming up April 4-7 in Tahlequah, OK |url=https://secassoutheast.org/2023/02/16/1st-Annual-Rivercane-Gathering-April-4-7-in-Tahlequah-OK.html |website=secassoutheast.org|date=16 February 2023 }}

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