Trail mapping project earns award for tribal member
A Cherokee woman received recognition from the environmental organization Wild South for her tireless work with a project to map original Cherokee trails and ensure that the land is preserved for future generations.
Robin Swayney, program manager at the Qualla Public Library, received Wild South’s Cultural Heritage award after eight years of collaboration with the organization to gather key historical records from archives across the country, preserving them in the library for the Cherokee community to access. Lamar Marshall and Paige Tester, both of Wild South, worked with Swayney on the project.
So far, the program has mapped and protected 122 miles of Cherokee trails on public land, affecting 40,000 acres of culturally significant land in the Nantahala and Pisgah national forests.
“Robin is a terrific asset to the Eastern Band in regards to helping hundreds of members to search out their history and family genealogies,” Marshall said. “But her greatest contribution is working every day with the children who come to the library. To paraphrase Russ Townsend of the Tribal Historic Preservation office, ‘If Cherokee cultural heritage is to survive, it can only do so in the hearts and minds of the young people.’”
Swayney, an enrolled member, is also co-founder of the Qualla Boundary Historical Society and a weekly genealogical class for tribal members.
