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Our Work

Restoration projects and partnerships across the Southeast

Restoration StoryMap

An interactive map of restoration sites and partner projects across the region.

Map coming soon Once published, an interactive StoryMap of restoration sites and partner projects will be embedded here.

Featured Restoration Projects

Robert S. Kerr Reservoir — Eastern Oklahoma

In partnership with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians

Spanning 43,800 acres with 250 miles of shoreline, this reservoir supports flood control, water supply, and native rivercane, fish, and wildlife conservation — a research site for restoration in partnership with tribal stewards.

Tuscaloosa Cane Patch — Alabama

In partnership with the Jena Band of Choctaw

Since 2024, the Jena Band of Choctaw and the CONSERVE team have jointly managed a cane patch in Tuscaloosa, sustainably tending over 90,000 square feet of cane in partnership with tribal knowledge holders.

Tuckabum Creek — Alabama

Alabama's largest rivercane restoration to date

A planting of 300 stalks along Tuckabum Creek represents the largest rivercane restoration effort in Alabama so far, part of a broader push across 12 southeastern states.

Post-Helene Restoration — North Carolina

Storm recovery planting

Following Hurricane Helene, nearly 700 rivercane shoots were planted as part of recovery efforts — waterways already lined with rivercane saw significantly less erosion during the storm than those without it.

UA CONSERVE Greenhouses

Propagation & research

At the University of Alabama, CONSERVE greenhouses propagate rivercane from rhizome cuttings, supplying planting stock for restoration sites while advancing the science of rivercane genetics and cultivation.

The “Cane Train” Method

Cost-effective propagation

A propagation approach that produces plantable rivercane cuttings for around $6 each — compared to $50–$60 per plant from traditional nurseries — making large-scale restoration far more feasible.

From the Field

A newly planted rivercane stake at a restoration site
A newly planted stake marks young rivercane at the Tuckabum Creek restoration site
Young rivercane growing on a rocky, forested slope
Young native rivercane taking root on a rocky, forested slope
A closer view of young rivercane among rocks and leaf litter
A closer view of the same planting, threading up through rock and leaf litter

Traditional Knowledge in Practice

Passing Down Choctaw Basket Weaving

Ms. Rose Fisher, of the Jena Band of Choctaw, has shared how to weave a traditional Choctaw burden basket — a skill she waited 60 years to pass on to her community. Practices like hers depend directly on healthy, harvestable rivercane stands, tying restoration work to the survival of living cultural traditions.

Working on a restoration project of your own?

We'd love to hear about it and explore how it might connect to the Alliance's work.