Reconnecting Muscogee (Creek) Students to their Ancestral Rivers

Andrew Kraft, River Programs Coordinator, recounts his journey to Oklahoma with Fish Georgia Program Coordinator Kendon Townsel where they provided kayak, canoe, and fishing instruction to students from the Muscogee Nation who will come to Georgia in September to reconnect with their ancestral waters of the Ocmulgee River.

August 24, 2026 – Earlier this year, the president of the College of the Muscogee Nation in Okmulgee, Oklahoma contacted Georgia Rivers with a desire to bring students from Oklahoma to paddle and fish the rivers of their ancestral homeland in Georgia. In preparation for that journey, the president invited Georgia Rivers to come to Oklahoma and provide kayak, canoe, and fishing instruction to their students.

Today, many Muscogee citizens live in Oklahoma, a thousand miles from their ancestral waterways in Georgia. But the rivers of Georgia remain an important part of their history and cultural identity.

For Georgia Rivers, being invited to participate was about more than teaching paddling and fishing skills. It was an opportunity to continue building relationships with the Muscogee people in Oklahoma and be helpful in connecting students to rivers in Georgia.

Finding Ourselves

Since I was going to make the drive to Oklahoma, I might as well drop off college gear for my oldest son, who attends school in Kansas. So with a van full of college stuff, paddling gear, and fishing poles, I hit the road. My friend Clay graciously joined me for the road trip. After dropping off the college gear in Kansas, Clay and I turned around and headed back toward Oklahoma where my colleague, Kendon Townsel, joined me to provide paddling and fishing instruction to youth and adults from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

“Finding ourselves” was a phrase that kept coming to mind as we drove what ended up being 2,272 miles through six states in six days.

Between the college drop off and the training in Oklahoma, Clay and I, with no real plan, found ourselves stumbling upon some memorable places.

We visited the site of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, followed historic sections of Route 66, explored the incredible architecture, history, and underground tunnels of Tulsa, and visited Greenwood Rising, which recounts the events of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the Greenwood district, once known as Black Wall Street.

We learned a lot. We found ourselves in places that helped us better understand pieces of history, culture, tragedy, resilience—and, ultimately, parts of ourselves and our history as Americans.

And then we arrived at the Creek Ancestral Canoe Camp.

Creek Ancestral Canoe Camp

The Creek Ancestral Canoe Camp is an effort led by the College of the Muscogee Nation, Muscogee Youth Services, and Sons of Muscogee to reconnect Muscogee students with the canoe traditions and waterways that have been part of their history and culture for generations.

For years, Dr. Monte Randall, president of the College of the Muscogee Nation, has been working to reconnect Muscogee students to the knowledge, skills, and traditions of their ancestors and ancestral homelands.

Dr. Randall and other adult leaders provided lessons about Muscogee culture. In driving home the point about the importance of waterways to the Muscogee people and their identity, he recounted that

“They started identifying us by specific waterways, and then in general they called us the “Creeks”, because most of our tribal towns were established along waterways in Georgia and Alabama. That is where we get that designation of being Creeks. We commanded these waterways with canoes, with fishing, with harvesting natural resources, . . . our livelihood was by these waterways.”

Other adult leaders taught us about the dugout canoes and the methods of making them, the streams and rivers that were the highway system, and the fishing methods and tools that were used.

Long before the forced removal of the Muscogee people to Oklahoma in the 1830s, the rivers and streams in Georgia were central to Muscogee life. Rivers provided transportation, food, recreation, and connections between communities. They weren’t simply features on a map. They were essential for generations of Muscogee people to live, travel, and build their communities.

Finding Ourselves on the Water

As American Canoe Association Level 2 River Kayaking Instructors, Kendon and I helped participants develop paddling and water-safety skills during the two day camp. For most participants, these were new skills. They quickly learned the knowledge and skills we were teaching, practiced on the water, and then had a great time swamping their boats to rescue themselves and each other, and then competing in paddling games on the lake. Kendon also led a fishing clinic, sharing another way to connect with what the water offers.

I find that there is something different about experiencing the environment around me from the water. It is different than looking at it from the shoreline. I enter it. I move with it. I begin to notice its currents, wildlife, trees, sounds, and rhythms. I connect with my surroundings in a way that only being in and on the water can provide.

I find myself in it.

These students and adults were experiencing the same. What started off as uneasy and new, quickly became a rhythm and known. They began coaching each other on the terminology and techniques we had just shared. Reggie, one of our adult participants, exclaimed “I haven’t had this much fun in a long time!”.

The training in Oklahoma is preparing participants for the next step in this journey. In September, students will travel from Oklahoma to Georgia for a paddle on the Ocmulgee River near Macon. Georgia Rivers will provide boats, paddles, PFDs, safety boaters, logistics, and experienced guides. This won’t simply be another paddling trip. They will be traveling to and paddling on a river that was part of the homeland of their ancestors.

At Georgia Rivers, we talk often about the importance of getting people on the water. Because, through connection comes care. Care for the environment. Care about the decisions and legislation that affect our waterways. Care for the communities that depend on them. And care for ourselves and our future.

For the Muscogee people, that connection runs even deeper. The students participating in the Canoe Camp and returning to Georgia aren’t simply learning to paddle a river. They are reconnecting with their history that began generations ago.

And the rivers in Georgia can become a pathway between those generations.

Finding Ourselves at Council Oak

After Canoe Camp ended, Dr. Randall drove Kendon and me to the Council Oak, a historic white oak that marks the founding of Tulsa.

Nearly 200 years ago, Muscogee leaders, known as Mekkos, gathered beneath this tree to talk, share information, help one another, and consider how they would move forward as a people. They weren’t there to govern one another. Each community made its own decisions, but they came together to discuss issues that affected them all and find a path forward together.

The tree is still there today.

The Muscogee people continue to gather at Council Oak each year to celebrate their culture and community. Standing beneath that tree, Dr. Randall told us another story.

When the Muscogee and other Native nations were forcibly removed from their homelands in the Southeast, they carried embers from their ceremonial fires with them. Each evening, those embers helped light the fire in their temporary camps. Each morning, they carried some of the embers forward.

Eventually, those embers helped light the fires in their new homes in Indian Territory. They were forced to leave their homeland, but they carried something with them. Their traditions. Their communities. Their leadership. Their connection to one another. And their fire.

And it made me think about what we had just experienced together at Canoe Camp. Perhaps reconnecting with the waterways of Georgia is another way of carrying that fire forward.

Standing there and hearing this history was one of the most powerful moments of my six-day, 2,272-mile journey.

Looking Toward the Future

The Ocmulgee trip will be a wonderful paddle for these students, and it won’t be the last.
Georgia is filled with rivers with Muscogee names, including the Alapaha, Alcovy, Apalachee, Chattahoochee, Coosa, Canoochee, Etowah, Ocmulgee, Oconee, Ogeechee, Tallapoosa, Towaliga, Withlacoochee, and a swamp called the Okefenokee. Each waterway has a different landscape and a different story.

Georgia Rivers hopes to continue this partnership and help bring Muscogee students from Oklahoma back to these waterways in the years ahead—paddling, fishing, learning, and building connections to their ancestral homeland.

We are grateful to the College of the Muscogee Nation, Muscogee Youth Services, and Sons of Muscogee for inviting Georgia Rivers to be part of the journey.

We look forward to many paddles together.