FORT BENNING, Ga., (Nov. 25 2015) -- Members of the Alabama Coushatta Tribe of Texas demonstrated how to harvest longleaf pine needles for basket making Nov. 19 at Harmony Church.

Tobine Alec, member of the Alabama Coushatta Tribe of Texas, said it is culturally important to gather the pine needles.

"Our elders made baskets, and that's how they provided for their families, trading or selling these baskets," he said.

Alec said that while the tribe is now located an hour and a half north of Houston, Georgia and Alabama are their aboriginal lands.

"With the abundant forests out here, we came upon longleaf pine needles," he said. "Back then they didn't have cell phones, iPads or computers, so they had all the time in the world and women would weave these together."

The pine needles are typically harvested in the spring of each year, Alec said.

"We put it in a dark place for storage where we can let it dry. We don't want it to turn a brown color, so we put it inside and it will keep the green color, but it will also be dry," he said.

Alec said originally baskets were woven together using needles made from animal bones, but now they use knitting needles.

Alec said basket-making classes are held on the reservation each year with the hopes of developing two or three basket makers.

"When they first learn how to make it, it is traditional to give the first basket away to an elder," Alec said.

Walter Celestine, tribal elder, demonstrated how to harvest needles directly from the trees.

"Grab a handful and pull it down," he said. "It seems easy, but it's really not. I'm just used to it."

He said it is important to discard the brown needles because they will cause the green needles to rot.

"When you put it in bundles and put it in the dark it will dry, but it will be olive color."

Celestine said traditionally women were responsible for gathering the pine needles and weaving baskets.

"Now we're getting to where there are not as many of us, so we don't mind if the boys do it because we don't want to lose our traditions and customs from long before," he said.

According to Celestine, tribe members do not kill or destroy the trees.

"The pine needles will grow back. Anytime we take things, we try to not really disturb it," he said. "We only take certain things we need. Sometimes people find out about different things we use (in nature), they want to go out and take everything and they destroy it. We used to be very secretive about it."

Members of the tribe came to Fort Benning as a part of their consultation with the post. Celestine said it is important for Native Americans to meet and consult with Fort Benning and other federal facilities that are on their homelands.

"We have the natural resources here at Fort Benning and when we had our consultation we made sure they will give us our natural resources in case we run out of it in our hometowns," he said.