Just after the Revolutionary War, the first white settlers came into a French Broad River Valley filled with vast seas of river cane. River cane is the only native bamboo in this area. It has slender stems and tenacious roots that can grow to a depth of 3 feet.
Just years later, in April of 1791, a great flood turned the Swannanoa Valley into a “sea of turbulent fury” that rose to a level just a bit lower than the recent flood from Helene. Undoubtedly, there was a great deal of erosion during the 1791 flood, but river cane and the other lush native plants would have slowed the floodwater and trapped sediment, while the root mass would have held together streambanks that were actively eroding.
Many stream names, such as Cane Creek, remind us of this plant’s historical prominence; however, only 2% of the once vast river cane groves remain today. This once lush natural line of defense for stream erosion is gone. Sediment from erosion is the No. 1 pollutant in our rivers and streams…