Cherokee Nation adds pollinator homes to garden
T AH LE QUA H—The Cherokee Nation has installed 16 new bee pollinator homes in the tribe's heirloom garden in Tahlequah.
The project is part of an initiative by Cherokee Nation First Lady January Hoskin to boost the population of pollinators while improving the environment.
“As First Lady of the Cherokee Nation and as the mother and grandmother of Cherokee children, caring for our environment is an issue that is important not only to me, but to the next seven generations of Cherokee Nation citizens,” said First Lady Hoskin, the wife of Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. “Pollinators like bees and butterflies face increasing threats of extinction because of habitat loss. The pollinator houses we are hanging will play an important role in supporting and sustaining the traditional plants in the Cherokee Nation Heirloom Garden. I encourage Cherokees to make their own pollinator houses, plant pollinator-friendly plants and support the bees and butterflies living in their own backyard.”
The pollinator homes are similar in shape to bird houses and have predrilled holes in the wood for bees to nest. Some of the pollinator homes also include small slits in the wood, allowing butterflies a safe place to get away from harsh weather conditions.
With increasing use of pesticides and habitat loss, native bees have seen a decline in population in recent years.
The 16 new pollinator homes will provide hundreds of native bees and other pollinators a safe place to live.
The Cherokee Nation maintain san heirloom garden and seed bank. The he irloom garden includes more than 200 different traditional plants and 26 crops that were used by Cherokees hundreds of years ago for food, ceremonies and medicinal purposes. Among the plants and crops are White Eagle Corn, river cane, Cherokee dipper gourds, elderberry and rattlesnake master.
The heirloom crops and native plants grown each year in the garden also help replenish the Cherokee Nation seed bank, which provides seeds to tribal citizens who are interested in growing their own traditional Cherokees crops.