June 10 – June 12
Cherokee Garden Club Presents: “Wet and Wild: A Partners for Plants Wetland Revegetation Weekend and Optional Camping Trip”
As a member of Garden Clubs of America, the Cherokee Garden Club is pleased to present “Wet & Wild: A Partners for Plants Wetlands Revegetation Weekend” to be held on June 10-12, 2016 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the National Park System.
The purpose of the event is to revegetate a marshy site cleared of invasive exotics in 2014 with genotypes of native sedges, rushes, alders, swamp roses and other select native plants collected by the National Parks Service.
The June 10-12, 2016 revegetation weekend with optional camping includes installation of the coir mats, conservation discussion with NPS staff, native plant identification on field trips, wildcraft (edible plants) display and foraging feast with guest speaker, Ila Hatter, a wildcrafting expert. Synchronous fireflies will display, if weather permits.
The collaboration is among multi-zonal Garden Club of America members (growers/installers), the National Park Service(genotypic seed collection), Jackson County NC Master Gardeners (mat sack assembly for easy sharing/mailing to GCA members), the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians (youth education/propagation workshops) and the Southern Highlands Reserve, a native plant arboretum research station (greenhouse support).
The revegetation site is adjacent to four geographic interfaces:
1) southern entry to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
2) terminus of Blue Ridge Parkway
3) Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation
4) confluence of the Raven Fork and Oconaluftee Rivers.
The cleared site is 5 acres near Cherokee High School, Cherokee NC.
For more information, please contact Mary Palmer Dargan, Zone VIII Conservation/NAL Representative & Cherokee GC member: mpdargan@dargan.com.