Copyright © 2005 NLThomas
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News from the Cherokee Nation, OK
Copyright © 2005 CNO
TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA - In honor of Arbor Day, Cherokee Nation employees took time out of their busy schedules to beautify the Cherokee Nation Complex. Employees planted more than 200 trees and plants in a recreation area on the north side of the complex.
Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, and Jeannine Hale look at a sign that will be displayed by the trees that were recently planted on the Cherokee Nation complex. 
Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, kicked off the celebration festivities by planting a special apple tree at the Cherokee Nation Memorial Garden. The tree, a Junaluska Apple, was a gift to the Cherokee Nation. It was grafted from an antique tree that was native to North Carolina and believed to be named after a former chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokees.
"This is one tree that really needs to be given special care when it is planted," said Wendall Cochran, special projects coordinator with the Cherokee Nation.
The tree was so special that it took the Cherokee Nation nearly two years to decide on just the right spot and occasion to plant the tree. The tree was kept in cool storage, waiting for the right moment, when it would lay its roots in Cherokee Nation soil.
In addition to planting trees on the Cherokee Nation complex, the Cherokee Nation also disbursed free trees to employees and community members to plant at their own homes. The Cherokee Nation has given away free trees in honor or Arbor Day since 1981 and has given away an estimated 50,000 trees.
Arbor Day, first celebrated in Nebraska in 1872, began when settlers and homesteaders planted more than one million trees to provide shade, shelter, fruit, fuel, and beauty for their land. According to Wayne Issacs, environmental specialist with the Cherokee Nation, that concept is still used today.
"These plants will help provide habitat for wildlife and help filter the impurities out of the groundwater," Isaacs said.
The Cherokee Nation’s long-term goal is to restore habitat on tribal lands using native plants and to incorporate Cherokee language into interpretive signs for various plants traditionally used by Cherokees. The signs will be placed along trails or other areas to further environmental education, encourage healthy exercise, promote use of the Cherokee language and provide tourists with a glimpse of Cherokee culture.
"It is hoped that riparian areas undergoing habitat restoration will help protect water quality in adjacent streams and ponds which receive stormwater runoff from parking lots, gas stations and construction activities," said Jeannine Hale with the Cherokee Nation’s environmental protection department.
Future plans include adding interpretive signs to tribal wetland areas near the main complex. For more information on the Cherokee Nation’s effort to improve the quality of the environment, call 918-456-0671 (ext.2750).
| Related Cherokee Nation contact information: |
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Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation Director of Communications Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2210) Fax: 918-458-5580 E-mail: Communications@cherokee.org
Larry Daugherty, Advertising Manager |
Steven Swogger, Agriculture Liaison Natural Resources Department Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2546) FAX: 918-458-7673 E-mail: sswogger@cherokee.org
Bradley D. Peak, Cherokee Nation |