Cherokee Nation W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex, health centers and satellite offices will be closed Monday Jan. 20, 2025.
W.W. Hastings Hospital emergency services, the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service and Cherokee Nation EMS will still be operational.

ᏂᎬᏩᏍᏓ ᏓᏓᏁᏜᏅ ᏗᎦᏘᏯ ᏧᏂᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᏗᎢ

Secretary of Natural Resources Office

ᎡᏃᏈᎠᎳᏥ

Ethnobiology

Plants and animals have always held places of importance to the Cherokee people. Below are a few plants and animals that have significant meaning to Cherokees.

Downloads

  • Bald Eagle
    Perching and flying higher than other birds, no other bird is considered as sacred as the Bald Eagle.
  • Black Walnut
    The black walnut mainly grows in bottomland flood plains but also can be found on hilltops where the seeds were most likely planted by squirrels.
  • Blackberry
    Blackberries have been used as a food for many generations by Cherokees. Blackberry plants have also been used in medicine.
  • Bloodroot
    Bloodroot can be found growing just about anywhere in the Cherokee Nation. It is short-lived and goes dormant during mid-summer after the seeds mature.
  • Blue Heron
    Great blue herons typically are found wading near the shoreline of any water body looking for fish, crayfish, frogs, salamanders, and any other food.
  • Buckbrush
    Buckbrush has been used for many generations by Cherokees in such crafts as basketry and other forms of weaving.
  • Cardinal
    Cardinals can be found throughout Cherokee Nation as well as in the Cherokee ancestral homelands in the eastern United States.