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The Cherokee Nation Ethnobiology Department is dedicated to preserving and revitalizing Cherokee relationships with culturally significant plants. Under the leadership of Ethnobiology Manager Feather Smith, the department oversees the Cherokee Nation Heirloom Garden and Native Plant Site and manages the Cherokee Nation Seed Bank. These programs work together to safeguard heirloom crops and native plants with deep cultural, nutritional, and medicinal importance to the Cherokee people. The garden serves as both a living archive and an educational space, supporting intergenerational knowledge sharing and cultural continuity. Through careful seed stewardship, community engagement, and education, the Ethnobiology team ensures that Cherokee citizens can continue to grow, learn from, and connect with the plants that have sustained Cherokee life for generations.
Plants and animals have always held places of importance to the Cherokee people.
The garden serves as an educational platform in the present and provides a legacy for future generations to understand the plants that their ancestors used.
The Seed Bank is a plant and cultural preservation program that provides seeds to tribal citizens who are interested in growing traditional Cherokees crops.
