The Latest Biology News And Medical NewsBiology News 2Health News 2Biology News 3Health News 3
HOME >> BIOLOGY >> NEWS
Restoring sweetgrass to the South Carolina lowcountry

Coiled baskets made from sweetgrass have been an important source of income for the Gullah community around Charleston, South Carolina for over a century. Descendants of West African slaves, Gullah artisans now find a comfortable livelihood threatened by dwindling supplies of the native grass they have long used to make baskets.

In 2002, the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and the College of Charleston, with funding from the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, set up a study designed to involve basket makers in finding solutions for the scarcity of the native coastal plant. The findings are covered in a recent article in the journal Economic Botany.

Marianne Burke (research ecologist with the SRS unit in Charleston), Angela Halfacre (associate professor of political science, College of Charleston), and Zachary Hart (at the time of the study a student at the College of Charleston, now working for the Trust for Public Land) interviewed 23 Gullah basket makers between June 2002 and January 2003. Tapes of the interviews were transcribed and then analyzed to identify common views and practices to inform a long-term management plan for sweetgrass. "This is an environmental issue that directly affects local Gullah people and could impact one of the oldest traditional art forms practiced in the lowcountry," says Burke. "The situation offers a great opportunity to learn more about involving the public in making decisions about managing natural resources."

Lowcountry sweetgrass baskets have been made by the Gullah people for almost three centuries. Documented as early as 1730, the distinct form of basketry was first practiced almost exclusively by men. Women took over the craft in the 1920s, when many of the men left the area to serve in the military or look for jobs. Though new forms have evolved in the work of individual artists, the basic designs have remained the same throughout time. The coiled seagrass baskets, now highly p
'"/>

Contact: Marianne Burke
mburke@fs.fed.us
843-769-7010
Southern Research Station - USDA Forest Service
19-Aug-2004


Page: 1 2 3

Related biology news :

1. Restoring wetlands much more than just add water
2. Restoring Farm Land To Natural Wetlands Key To Stemming Flood
3. UT Southwestern receives $1.78 million grant for obesity research as part of NIH Roadmap initiative
4. UT Southwestern biochemist honored with NIH Directors Pioneer Award
5. New hydrothermal vents discovered as South Pacific Odyssey research begins
6. South Dakota Tech grad student finds rare whale
7. Summer in the South: Kudzu and oriental bittersweet
8. RSV can increase the risk of asthma, UT Southwestern researchers find
9. Searle Scholars program awards $240,000 to UT Southwestern researcher
10. Two molecules work together to aid transport of immune cells, UT Southwestern researchers find
11. Biochemist becomes 15th UT Southwestern faculty member serving on National Academy of Sciences
Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: Restoring sweetgrass the South Carolina lowcountry

(Date:12/1/2008)...s in rivers and streams play a crucial role in the...considered. Freshwater ecologist Dr. Tom Battin, o...ers of Science conference in October that our unde...nic carbon has changed radically. , Microorganis...ers and streams decompose organic matter as it flo...
(Date:12/1/2008)...d Gow demonstrate how a tight junction protein cal...snug fit. The study will be published in the Decem... ( www.jcb.org ). , Like the rubber coating on a...n of glial cells that spirals around the axons of ...urrent leakage from axons and aids electrical cond...
(Date:11/30/2008)...your levels of "good cholesterol" are good enough,...of The FASEB Journal suggests that you may want ...e University of Chicago challenge the conventional...lesterol (HDL) and low levels of bad cholesterol (...ow that the good cholesterol has varying degrees o...
(Date:11/30/2008)...2008 issue of BioScience includes a Special Sect...ptors in the Environment, coordinated by Louis J. ... complete list of research articles in the issue i...ic Vertebrate Ecotoxicology. , Michael J. Carvan ... a model organism for ecotoxicology, the zebrafish...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Rivers are carbon processors, not inert pipelines 2BioScience tip sheet, December 2008 2Centocor and Janssen Cilag Submit Applications Requesting Approval of Ustekinumab in the U S and Europe for Treatment of Moderate to Severe Plaque Ps 971 1Centocor and Janssen Cilag Submit Applications Requesting Approval of Ustekinumab in the U S and Europe for Treatment of Moderate to Severe Plaque Ps 971 2Centocor and Janssen Cilag Submit Applications Requesting Approval of Ustekinumab in the U S and Europe for Treatment of Moderate to Severe Plaque Ps 971 3Ethnic discrimination not only based on prejudice 7520 1Ethnic discrimination not only based on prejudice 7520 2DFG to establish 10 new collaborative research centers 1449 1DFG to establish 10 new collaborative research centers 1449 2DFG to establish 10 new collaborative research centers 1449 3DFG to establish 10 new collaborative research centers 1449 4DFG to establish 10 new collaborative research centers 1449 5EPA Awards 2455 000 Grant to Ohio Health Department for Healthful Schools Program 7515 1
Other News:
Research by Renee Theiss, Jason Kuo and C J Heckman, which has just been published in The Journal of Physiology, throws light on how information is processed in the Central Nervous System (CNS) to dri
...ssages and signals circulating in blood or contain...tage cancer, according to research reported today ...tion for Cancer Research. Scientists looking to ap...e developing tests that diagnose, predict or monit...
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a new imaging technique that can measure the effectiveness of treatment for prostate cancer th
..., or cancer of the bone marrow, strikes some 700 B...for the cause of many forms of leukemia, including...w, VIB researchers connected to the Katholieke Uni...he development of some 10% of the T-ALL cases: MYB...
Information processing in the central nervous system: the signalling system controlling movement 2New diagnostic technologies offer non-invasive means 2New diagnostic technologies offer non-invasive means 3New diagnostic technologies offer non-invasive means 4New diagnostic technologies offer non-invasive means 5New imaging method shows whether treatment for advanced prostate cancer is working 2Progress toward a targeted therapy for a specific form of leukemia 2Progress toward a targeted therapy for a specific form of leukemia 3
...Magnet therapy--it's a billion dollar business wor...e to relieve chronic pain...on the golf course, at...he Baylor College of Medicine concluded that magne...ay's Washington Post, a University of Maryland phy...
...men's Health is hosting an all-day educational sym..."Embracing Menopause: Traditional and.Alternative ... educational.programming of the UCSF Women's Healt...in the community. ..Some of the university's leadi...
... -- Women may now have a powerful new weapon in th...rs at the University of Pittsburgh.has shown that ...tomography.(EBCT) can predict heart problems in mi...ease and who have no standard risk factors...The s...
...ists and Colleagues Points to Better Detection, Tr...cer cells in women with breast cancer.more effecti...ting which women.need aggressive anti-cancer treat...chemotherapy, according to a study by scientists a...
health news:Magnet therapy: what's the attraction? 2health news:University of Pittsburgh study finds that simple test spots early signs of heart disease in women 2health news:University of Pittsburgh study finds that simple test spots early signs of heart disease in women 3health news:New test can better uncover hidden breast cancer 2health news:New test can better uncover hidden breast cancer 3health news:New test can better uncover hidden breast cancer 4
...te intense health care cost pressures, firms cover... view health benefits as an important tool to attr...ational study by researchers at the Center for Stu...lth Fund published in the November/ December editi...
NEW YORK, Nov. 14 In the days following a heart attack, patients who have no or mild symptoms and undergo a procedure called angioplasty to mechanically open their totally blocked coronary arteries d
...y of America has chosen the University of Washingt...on Award. The distinction recognizes a significant...novation in gerontological treatment, practice or ...arriers, or a public policy change that has led to...
... Ph.D., Director of the Office of Medical Educatio...Center in New Orleans, has been awarded a half mil...ulation on enhancing teamwork and a culture of pat... project was funded by the US Department of Health...
health news:Firms covering large majority of nation's workers view health benefits as important recruitment tool 2health news:Firms covering large majority of nation's workers view health benefits as important recruitment tool 3health news:No benefit to mechanically opening arteries days after a heart attack 2health news:No benefit to mechanically opening arteries days after a heart attack 3health news:GSA confers 2006 M. Powell Lawton Award to University of Washington's Teri 2health news:LSU Health Sciences Center research to improve patient safety 2