Speaker's Bio: Mr. Cheatham is an architect and botanist who has managed multi-disciplinary land use studies of the Texas coast for the General Land Office; he has taught design, graphics, and watercolor in the Department of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin; rebuilt Native American Caddoan and Pamunkey sites; and provided drawings and photographs for various botanical field guides.
His major effort over the past 30 years has been to direct, illustrate, write, edit and lay out the Encyclopedia of the Useful Wild Plants of Texas, a 12-volume, 6000-page work produced by the Useful Wild Plants Project and designed to find and publicize textile, food, construction, and pharmaceutical uses for native plants, ensuring the plants' survival and the continued viability of farming and ranching families and communities.
He is president of EarthFit and Useful Wild Plants, Inc., director of the Useful Wild Plants Project, and co-author of the Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southeastern and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico.
His architectural projects include commercial, civic, and residential designs as well as landscape designs that minimize human impact on the site and maximize protection of the native flora, fauna, and geological features.
His projects in experimental archaeology and architecture have resulted in full-scale reconstructions of Native American dwellings serving as educational exhibits at prehistoric and historic sites.
This program will delight and enlighten you on the uses and benefits of our local flora. Wear sensible shoes to this program, we will take a field trip to see the amazing variety of useful wild plants right outside our meeting place on the TSBVI campus.
Meals provided by Manny Sifuentes, manager at Cafe del Rio, a business staffed by the Texas Commission for the Blind.
