Witness and Trail Trees - Cherokee Arborglyphs

There are several projects gaining momentum in the United States designed to protect, catalog and preserve trees that have been culturally modified either from marking or carving on trees. These relatively ancient culturally modified trees (cmt), sometimes called arborglyphs, are rare and important historical treasures that are slowly dying from old age or being lost to the timber harvest.

One organization, called Witness Trees, is bringing attention to the American Cherokee indian arborglyphs of the Southeastern United States and in the process of creating an IMAX movie on the subject. In a Birmingham News report, many of these arborglyphs are located in Alabama's Bankhead National Forest. The United States Forest Service has no system for saving marked trees says Jean Allan, archeologist for the Forest Service in the Bankhead. If loggers or staff are aware of old carvings on federal property, they are supposed to save the tree.

• Western American Basque Aspen Carvings
• Alabama Public Forests

_{U.S. Forest Service Photo of Aspen Arborglyph}