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Native People, Native Plants Symposium
Dec 11, 2024 @ 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
A symposium celebrating cultural relationships among Native American people and native plants
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Venue: Reeves Auditorium at the North Carolina Botanical Garden
This event will also be live-streamed via Zoom webinar.
Free; preregistration required.
The Native People, Native Plants Symposium is focused on celebrating cultural relationships between Native American people and native plants. Through workshops led by local Native American plant knowledge keepers, we will explore and celebrate cultural uses, traditions, and relationships among multiple Native plants and the people who have been tending to and using these plants since time immemorial. We aim to bring more visibility to and awareness of Indigenous uses of plants, not just those native to NC, and uplift historic relationships with plants and people. We also plan to exchange native plant seeds in a community seed swap – please bring seeds to share if you have them!
Program Agenda
| Time | Event | Speakers |
| 9:30 – 10:00 AM | Welcome, Overview, Introductions | |
| 10:00 – 11:00 AM | Session One Conservation Partnerships in Practice |
Courtney Steed (Lumbee), Debbie Crane (The Nature Conservancy, NC) |
| 11:15 AM – 12:15 PM | Session Two
Muscadines: Restoring Grandma’s Grapevine |
Kevin Melvin (Lumbee) |
| 12:15 – 1:45 PM | Lunch Break
Seed Swap Garden Tours |
Catering by The Greek Goat
Tours led by Dan Stern (NCBG) |
| 1:45 – 3:30 PM | Session Three
River Cane Restoration |
Aaron Baumgardner (Catawba), Ryan Dial (Lumbee) |
| 3:45 – 4:15 PM | Facilitated input, closing remarks, and call to action | Jesalyn Keziah (Lumbee) |
| 4:30 – 5:00 PM | Visit to American Indian Cultural Garden | Lyric Locklear & Cayley Robinson (UNC, American Indian Center interns) |