In this month's Best Biome, Nicole tells the story of a grassland ecosystem so rare and so endangered that neither of her co-hosts had any idea it existed! We're talking about the once-ubiquitous canebrake ecosystems of the eastern United States, which were quite literally American bamboo forests, complete with their own prehistoric red pandas. Find out what happened to the unique rivercane landscape, and what's being done to save it today. Let the search for 30 ft.-tall grasses become your new obsession!

Also, check out these great organizations doing rivercane restoration! Cherokee Preservation Foundation Rivercane Restoration Alliance Chattooga Conservancy

Primary Sources:

Phylogenetic relationships and natural hybridization among the North American woody bamboos (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Arundinaria) March 2010 https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3732/ajb.0900244
Campbell, Julian. 2012. Growth of Cane. Bluegrass Woodland Restoration Center. https://bluegrasswoodland.com/uploads/Arundinaria__Growth_of_Cane_.pdf
Giant Cane and Other Native Bamboos: Establishment and Use for Conservation of Natural Resources in the Southeast USDA - NRCS 2021 https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3732/ajb.0900244

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