These juvenile sicklefin redhorse are among the 10,000 that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have released on tribal lands in North Carolina. Their dorsal fin gives the fish its Cherokee name of
“u-gii-da-tli” (it has a feather).
worked with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to restore elk to the central and northern parts of this state. Elk once lived throughout North America. They
were exterminated in Wisconsin by the late 1880s and the state started reintroduction efforts else- where in 1995. The herd in Black River Falls area near Ho-Chunk lands in central Wisconsin was launched in 2015 and 2016 with 73 elk from Ken- tucky. Another 91 elk were transferred between 2017 and 2019 to Clam Lake area in the north, about an hour from Chippewa lands. Traditionally, elk provided the Ho-Chunk peo-
ple with food, leather, bone for tools as well as the namesake for one of their 12 clans. Brandon Bleuer, the Ho-Chunk Nation’s forestry division manager who represents the nation on state elk projects, said, “So it was pretty important for the Ho-Chunk people to see elk brought back.” The state’s elk management plan includes men-
tion of that lineage, and the roles of the Elk Clan as messengers, fire distributors and environmentalists. With their return, the tribe and state wildlife manag- ers have arranged to deliver half the carcasses found— whether poached, accidentally shot during deer sea- son or struck by a vehicle—to tribal members for meat. The elk may also draw tourists. Hunting and
fishing guides in the northern part of Wisconsin, which has an older, bigger herd, also now lead visi- tors with binoculars to the Black River Falls area in hopes of glimpsing an elk or hearing it bugle. “A lot of people will hopefully want to come view the elk because Wisconsin hasn’t had them in anybody’s
20 SPRING 2022 AMERICAN INDIAN
lifetime that’s alive now,” Bleuer said. Elk populations can grow slowly, as females can
only be impregnated during a couple of days a year, take more than eight months to gestate and typically only give birth to one calf. The count in the Black River Falls area is up to 115, and the Ho-Chunk Nation hopes this number will grow to 350. The Clam Lake population has reached more than 300 and during the past four years, five to 10 bulls were hunted, with tribal hunters given half of the hunt quota each year.
A Living Legacy Another long animal absence is ending in North Car- olina’s rivers, where sicklefin redhorse are being returned to the homelands of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The fish is a type of sucker that is endemic to in the Hiwassee and Little Tennessee River basins of western North Carolina and north- ern Georgia. The Cherokee people have had a name for it, “u-gii-da-tli,” which roughly translates as “it has a feather,” referencing its long dorsal fin. Yet the scientific community didn’t recognize sicklefin redhorse as a distinct species until 1992. “I think there’s a lot of pride knowing that this
fish was identified and valued as unique long before Western science caught up,” said Mike LaVoie, nat- ural resources manager with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. “It speaks to the value of traditional ecological knowledge.” Traditionally, the fish was an important food for
the Cherokee people. They captured sicklefin red- horse during the fish’s annual migration with weirs, giant Vs of rock they constructed to funnel the fish
LEFT: CONSERVATION FISHERIES INC.; COURTESY OF THE EASTERN BAND OF CHEROKEE INDIANS (2)
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