Background
2025 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Aaron Baumgardner (Catawba Indian Nation), 29, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, is using his $20,000 Dreamstarter grant in the coming year to restore the relationship between the Catawba artists and rivercane, a vital cultural resource for traditional basketry.
Aaron notes that rivercane—a large grass native to the southeastern U.S., technically a bamboo—was once abundant but has dwindled due to habitat loss, threatening both the plant and the knowledge it carries.
Cultural Significance
Through his Dreamstarter project, Wąsa Wasáp KačachęɁ, Aaron is collaborating with his mentor organization, the Nation Ford Land Trust (NFLT) in Fort Hill, SC, along with other land trusts and non-Native landowners. Together, they aim to map and document rivercane stands on ancestral homelands to ensure conservation and sustainable stewardship.
Through community workshops, Aaron will teach basketry to a new generation of Catawba citizens, reconnecting them to this art form and the landscapes it depends on.
“By preserving rivercane and revitalizing our traditions, this project will nurture cultural resilience, create opportunities for intergenerational learning, and ensure these practices thrive for generations to come,” Aaron stated in his Dreamstarter application.
Project Goals
Aaron says the primary goal of his Dreamstarter project is to shift attitudes among land conservancies and non-Native landowners regarding how they conserve rivercane. He emphasizes the reciprocal relationship between rivercane and Native artists, fostering understanding of rivercane as a culturally significant plant that thrives under active stewardship.
The project objectives include developing a user-friendly rivercane field tool for land conservancies to monitor properties—focusing on species identification, location mapping, and stand demographic data—as well as conducting public education for landowners on the cultural and ecological significance of rivercane.
The secondary goal is to cultivate a new generation of rivercane basketmakers within the Catawba community and to reestablish the cultural practices of stewarding and actively managing canebrakes.
Community Engagement
Aaron will work with the NFLT to establish access easements for Catawba artists to sustainably gather rivercane. He will also host a series of workshops at the Catawba Cultural Center to teach basketry to youth, teens, and adults, beginning with commercially available materials due to the current lack of local harvestable rivercane.
“These workshops will be tailored for different age groups to encourage widespread participation and rekindle community interest in basketmaking.”
Evaluation & Impact
To evaluate the project’s impact, Aaron will gather feedback from conservancy staff who use the field tool, track the number of properties with documented and monitored rivercane stands, and assess success in public education through event attendance and post-event surveys.
For community workshops, he will track participation rates, evaluate skill progression through pre- and post-workshop surveys, and gather testimonials from participants regarding the cultural significance of their learning experience.
Vision & Legacy
“This project is rooted in my belief that reconnecting with rivercane—both as a cultural material and as a living ecosystem—will foster more meaningful connections to land, community, and tradition, creating sustainable change for generations to come.
“For the Catawba people, this work will result in a new generation of basketmakers, supported by healthy rivercane stands that we actively steward as a community.
“For the broader conservation world, it will promote a new understanding of how to ‘conserve’ rivercane—not as an untouched resource but as a plant that thrives through reciprocal relationships with Native artists.
“Restoring what was lost—whether it is a basketry tradition or a connection to the land—is both my passion and my responsibility. It is how I honor the struggles and resilience of my ancestors while working to create a better future for generations to come.
“My dream honors her memory and the resilience of our ancestors while working to heal the land and relationships that were damaged over the centuries of colonization.
“This project embodies the spirit of the Seventh Generation: healing from the past, reconnecting with our ancestors, and creating a brighter, more sustainable future for our people and the land.”
