Page 30 RAIN May/June 1984 VOICES OF REINHABITATION Reinhabitory—refers to the tiny number ofpersons who come out of the industrial societies . . . and then start to turn back to the land, to place. This comes for some with the rational and scientific realization of inter-connectedness and planetary limits. But the actual demands of a life committed to a place, and living somewhat by the sunshine green plant energy that is concentrating in that spot, are so physically and intellectually intense, that it is a moral and spiritual choice as well. —Gary Snyder Bioregion—a continuous geographic area seen in terms of similarities of plant and animal life and climatic and geological characteristics . . . and a terrain of consciousness—a place and the ideas that hazv developed about how to live in that place. —Peter Berg Southern Appalachia Translating the bioregional vision from a good idea to working systems is a long-term challenge. Part of the process entails offering clear information and proposals to the people and institutions charged with cultural housekeeping and improvement-educators; local, state, and national public servants (elected and appointed); planners and engineers; and financial managers, including bankers. In the southern Appalachians, more and more people are being treated to such information. We asked Mamie Muller and the staff (David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, and others) of Katuah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians to treat us to their bioregion's voices of reinhabitation. (Let us know ifyou wotdd like to share yours.) —KN The Appalachians stretch from the southern mountains in northern Georgia and northern Alabama all the way up into eastern Pennsylvania. Geologically, the chain picks up again to the north as the Catskills and Adirondack Mountains in New York and the Green Mountains and White Mountains in New England. The Katuah bioregional province defines its boundaries along the lines of the area geologically known as "Old Appalachia"—the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Unaka Range, and the transverse ranges between them. The Appalachian chain was formed in two distinct stages. The "Great Appalachian Valley" (comprising the Tennessee and Shenandoah river valleys) divides Old Appalachia from New Appalachia—the Alleghenies and the Cumberland Mountains, younger ranges that contain the massive coal deposits so characteristic of Appalachia in many people's minds. Old Appalachia coincides with the original area of Cherokee settlement in pre-Columbian times. For this reason, and in hopes of reawakening the spiritual identity this area had in the past, we have chosen to call this area by the Cherokee name Katuah. The name Katuah (pronounced ka-TOO-ah), which appeared in various phonetic spellings in historical texts, referred to the Cherokee village located just below the junction of the Tuckaseegee and Oconoluf- tee rivers in what is now called Swain County, North Carolina. This village dominated the "middle towns" of the Cherokee nation, those villages lying along the Tuckaseegee and the upper part of the Little TennesAppalachian spring rain comes and brings with it promises of lushness and green, once again, for the whole undercover of the Appalachian region. see River, and that area was frequently referred to as ’ Katuah. The name Katuah was used with deep respect and, according to historian James Mooney, was "frequently extended to include the whole tribe," as in "people of Katuah." On the map, the Katuah village site is the geographical center of the Cherokee territory as well as the energy center for the eastern half of the Turtle Island continent. In order to celebrate and show gratitude for the beauty of our region and to work toward ensuring its sustainability, we have begun Katuah: Bioregional journal of the Southern Appalachians. We hope this quarterly journal will be a way of exploring the vision of reinhabitation in our region and that it will also be a forum for the people of the area to begin looking at the issues of sustainability. Some of the issues we need to study are: (1) development and over-population in the mountains; (2) forestry practices (see
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