The Alabama Water Institute recently welcomed Josiah Gullatte as assistant director of watershed conservation, preservation and restoration, or CPR, at CONSERVE, the Community Oriented Nature-based Science for Ecosystem Restoration and Versatile Engineering Research Program.
AWI’s CONSERVE team is working with tribal partners across 12 states to map rivercane and build a traits database that supports both ecosystem restoration and cultural traditions. Their recent presentation in Florida highlighted how the project strengthens conservation and tribal heritage.
CONSERVE aims to revitalize rivercane ecosystems and preserve cultural heritage in the Southeastern U.S. through a $3.8 million grant.
The story of rivercane is one of resilience, intertwined with the survival of both ecosystems and the Indigenous cultures that have depended on them. These once lush bamboo forests and grasslands that sustained the landscape, known as “canebrakes,” are now endangered. The rapid decline of this native bamboo species has had lasting consequences on the…
Co-authors: Meg Woods, Parker King and Katya Menkina On April 14, our CONSERVE team had the extraordinary opportunity to invite the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians from Louisiana to help thin native rivercane stands in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Thinning native cane stands is vital to the health and resiliency of the cane stand ecosystem. The effort was…
A team from The University of Alabama and Alabama Water Institute’s CONSERVE research group recently spent a productive week working with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Their goal was to observe and understand native rivercane populations — a plant species that is important to the watersheds and cultural lifeways of…
The Alabama Water Institute recently became a member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Youth Corps Program. This program enables USFWS to fund work on public lands through student internships. AWI CONSERVE interns who complete a minimum of 640 hours of work benefitting public lands are eligible to receive a two-year Public Lands Corps…
