Professor Shannon Bell has been spending many of her days in the forests of far-southwest Virginia, working on three different grant-funded projects focused on preserving threatened forest ecosystems and building sustainable futures for Central Appalachian communities.

Through one of these grants, Bell is leading a team made up of collaborators from Appalachian Sustainable Development, Virginia Tech, the City of Norton, forest botanicals practitioners, and a sculpture team to create a monument celebrating the “Forest Botanicals Region” of Central Appalachia. Bell offers this term as a counter to the “coalfields” label that is typically used to describe the region. One of four first-round projects funded by Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia (MAAV) at Virginia Tech, the primary goal of this monument is to educate others about the central role that Appalachian forest herbs and forest foods have played in the lifeways of many different groups of Appalachians over thousands of years.

Most Americans are unaware of the vast number of plant species growing in the Appalachian forest understory. In fact, approximately 50 percent of the medicinal herbs sold in the North American supply chain are native to the Appalachian Mountains. Long before these herbs were commodified, Indigenous peoples tended food and medicine forest gardens throughout the region. While this part of the United States is best known for coal, Bell wants people to know that Central Appalachia, which includes Southwest Virginia, is in fact one of the most biodiverse places on the entire planet.

The Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument will include four components: a Storywalk consisting of 10 interpretive signs installed along existing trails at Flag Rock Recreation Area, which is located in Norton (Wise County), Virginia; an online exhibit about the Forest Botanicals Region, linked via QR code on the interpretive signs; a sculpture celebrating the stewardship of forest botanicals in Appalachia; and two large interpretive signs, one that will be placed at the site of the sculpture and another at the start of the Storywalk trail.

The Storywalk trail will educate visitors about native medicinal plant species, the cultural traditions associated with these species, as well as their historical and present-day uses. A few of the topics include Indigenous stewardship of forest botanicals, Afrolachian/Black herbalism, the ginseng trade, the modern-day herbal supplement industry, and forest farming as a conservation strategy and economic development opportunity. Each sign will include a QR code that will navigate to the online exhibit which Bell is creating. The multimedia components of the website will further contextualize the content on the signs through interviews and participant observation with forest farmers, sustainable wild harvesters, herbalists, and scholars.

The site of the Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument is located in the traditional homelands of the Cherokee, and the sculpture that is installed as part of this monument will reflect this history. The sculpture will be created by the artist team of Nathan Bush (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) and William Rogers, who are revitalizing an ancient Cherokee craft. Long before European contact, Cherokee people mined copper from the Appalachian Mountains, which they hammered into tools, cooking vessels, and art. The artist team of Rogers and Bush will create a permanent outdoor sculpture utilizing hammered copper at the new High Knob Destination Center in Norton. Mr. Bush is also an expert in Cherokee plant medicine and regularly leads Cherokee medicine walks at the Oconaluftee Indian Village, where he works as Program Coordinator.

Many medicinal Appalachian forest herbs, including American ginseng, goldenseal, black cohosh, and ramps are designated as at-risk or threatened species by the United Plant Savers. Understory plants like these tend to be very slow growing and can take 5-7 years to begin producing seeds. Although overharvesting is certainly part of the problem, the largest threat to the survival of these species is habitat destruction from mountaintop removal coal mining, oil and gas development, logging, urbanization, vacation home development, the spread of invasive plant species, and the conversion of hardwood forests to pine plantations. The aim of the permanent exhibits is to help visitors to connect (or reconnect) with the historical and cultural traditions associated with forest botanicals, and to keep the ecosystem thriving out of an enhanced sense of pride and respect.

Professor Bell is also involved in two other grant-funded projects that have provided support for her to conduct ethnographic and action research with wild harvesters, herb buyers, forest farmers, and herbalists. She is using the data collected with these forest botanicals practitioners to inform the creation of the monument’s Storywalk signs and the content for the online exhibit. The first of these grants, funded by Virginia Tech’s Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment, seeks to address the dual concerns of conservation and social inequalities in the wild-harvested Appalachian herbal supply chain. The second grant, which is led by VT Extension Professor John Munsell in Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, is funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission’s ARISE (Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies) program.

Bell says one of the most exciting parts of the Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument is getting to work with so many knowledgeable and passionate people. The team of collaborators includes Katie Commender (Appalachian Sustainable Development [ASD]), Robin Suggs (ASD), Shannon Joyce (ASD), John Munsell (VT), Katie Dunn (City of Norton), Shayne Fields (City of Norton), Beth Walker (High Knob Master Naturalists), Ryan Huish (UVA-Wise ethnobotanist), Ruby Daniels (Afrolachian herbalist and forest farmer), Victoria Ferguson (Monacan Indian Nation and VT Solitude/Fraction Site), Nathan Bush (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and sculpture artist), William Rogers (Rogers Metals Studios/ sculpture artist ), Anna Fariello (Curatorial InSight), and two VT student interns with MAAV, Rachel Poteet and Sophia Spraker.

The opening celebration for the Storywalk exhibit is planned for August 18, 2024 at Flag Rock Recreation Area in Norton, Virginia. It is anticipated that the ribbon-cutting for the sculpture will take place in December. The work of Professor Bell and her colleagues at Virginia Tech and beyond holds great promise for the restoration and preservation of Southwest Virginia’s cultural and ecological treasures.

Written by Amy Splitt