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A canebrake or canebreak is a thicket of any of a variety of Arundinaria grasses: A. gigantea, A. tecta and A. appalachiana. As a bamboo, these giant grasses grow in thickets up to tall. A. gigantea is generally found in stream valleys and ravines throughout the southeastern United States. A. tecta is a smaller stature species found on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains. Finally, A. appalachiana is found in more upland areas at the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains. Cane does not do well on sites that meet wetland classification. Instead, canebrakes are characteristic of moist lowland, floodplain areas that are not as saturated as true wetlands.
However, as European settlers came, the cane gradually disappeared as it was used as high-quality forage for livestock that was available all year round. Pigs in particular destroyed canebrakes rapidly by rooting up their underground rhizomes, and the settlers intentionally used pigs to clear out canebrakes so they could be converted to agricultural land. (1997). 9780807823453, University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807823453 The absence of the used by Native Americans to maintain the canebrakes, conversion to agricultural land, and grazing by livestock has almost eliminated the canebrakes. Destruction of habitat for development and construction is also implicated as a cause of the decline by the Choctaw Nation.
Cane can propagate itself rapidly through asexual reproduction, allowing it to persist quietly in the shade of a forest for years and rapidly take advantage of disturbance such as wildfire. Historically, canebrakes were maintained by Native Americans using . The fire would burn the aboveground part of the plant but leave the underground rhizomes unharmed.
Canebrakes have been identified as important ecosystems for supporting over 70 wildlife species, possibly ideal candidates for mitigating nitrate pollution in groundwater, and crucial to the material cultures of Southeastern Native American nations, but relatively little study has been devoted to them, partially because virtually all canebrakes that still exist are isolated and fragmentary. Canebrakes are unlikely to be reestablished significantly under current methods of land management, but there is interest in finding out how to restore them.
A major obstacle to restoring canebrakes is the reproductive habits of Arundinaria bamboos; Arundinaria typically reproduces asexually using rhizomes, forming clonal colonies that spread outward. The plant only flowers every few decades, and usually dies after flowering; additionally, seeds are often not viable. Therefore, propagating the plant must usually be done by dividing existing colonies or growing rhizome cuttings. Conducting studies has been challenging; experimental plantings of cane in a study conducted by researchers at Mississippi State University to test the erosion mitigation potential of canebrakes yielded no results because only 1.2% of seedlings survived the following year.
Southern Illinois University researchers have located 140 patches of giant cane and collaborate with many conservation organizations and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service in the effort to replant 15 acres of cane per year. In South Carolina, the Chattooga Conservancy has formed a collaboration with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee and the USDA Forest Service to restore 29 acres of canebrake. Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources (RTCAR) has also coordinated the restoration of river cane on a 109-acre site in North Carolina. This restoration area will include educational signage in the Cherokee and English languages.
In 2023, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma co-hosted the first Rivercane Gathering in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, with the U.S. Forestry Service, an educational event to unite traditional tribal experts and artisans with various researchers and landholders for the continued preservation of canebrakes.
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