Story at a glance
- Since 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault has built up the world’s largest collection of crop diversity.
- The Cherokee Nation has been invited to deposit its traditional heirloom seeds in the vault, the first tribe in the United States to do so.
- The tribe has sent nine samples of Cherokee heirloom crops that predate European settlement.
Deep inside a mountain on a remote island in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, is a long-term seed storage facility built to withstand both natural and man-made disasters. It’s the world’s largest collection of crop diversity, and now it will contain heirloom seeds from the Cherokee Nation.
“This is history in the making, and none of it could have been possible without the hard work of our staff and the partnership with the team in Norway,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. in a release. “It is such an honor to have a piece of our culture preserved forever. Generations from now, these seeds will still hold our history and there will always be a part of the Cherokee Nation in the world.”
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which opened in 2008, is part of an international effort to conserve crop diversity, especially those that are important to the food security of less developed countries. In the case of an agricultural hardship or global catastrophe, the vault would be a source of food supply for humans. In the face of rapid climate change, the project also serves as a means to preserve crops that are becoming endangered.
“This is a tremendous opportunity and honor for the tribe. Additionally, knowing the Cherokee Nation’s seeds will be forever protected and available to us, and us only, is a quite valuable thing indeed,” said Pat Gwin, the Cherokee Nation’s Senior Director of Environmental Resources.
Gwin said the invitation came after an interview with NPR about the Cherokee Nation’s seed bank, which preserves traditional crops and sends them free of charge to any Cherokee. But when he first heard about the Global Seed Vault, Gwin realized that he didn’t have any seeds of traditional Cherokee crops. By 2019, the bank had collected 24 varieties of seeds. The tribe, which is the first in the U.S. to do so, has sent nine of their seeds that predate European settlement to the Global Seed Vault.
One of them, Cherokee White Eagle Corn, is the tribe’s most sacred corn, which is used during cultural activities. Other seeds sent to the seed bank include Cherokee Long Greasy Beans, Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans, Cherokee Turkey Gizzard black and brown beans and Cherokee Candy Roaster Squash.
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