Pat Gwin works to save the Cherokee Nation’s food and culture.
Pat Gwin, on the right. Credit: Cherokee Phoenix
Gwin, a Cherokee Nation citizen, and nation administrative liaison, in 2005 created the Cherokee seed bank program.
The Nation says that initiative “preserves heirloom Cherokee corn, gourd, squash, beans and tobacco seeds to distribute each year to Cherokee Nation citizens, so Cherokees could grow the same genetic crops their ancestors did.”
In 2015, Gwin received the American Indian Science and Engineering Society’s Professional of the Year award for his nearly two decades of ingenious and productive work on behalf of the Cherokee Nation.
He was previously a Sequoyah State Park naturist, Tulsa City County Health Department sanitarian, and a Tulsa police officer.
Gwin majored in biology and minored in wildlife science and chemistry at Northeastern State University.
Watch Gwin at work in this video.
