Unprecedented: More Than 1,000 Acres in Central New York, Birthplace of Hiawatha, Returned to Onondaga Nation

The finalized return of more than 1,000 acres of Onondaga Nation’s ancestral homelands in Central New York was announced last Wednesday by Onondaga Nation’s Tadodaho Sidney Hill, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Governor Kathy Hochul, and Martha Williams, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This action is one of the largest returns of land to an indigenous nation by any state.
The completed title transfer of open space to an Indigenous Nation is one of the largest of its kind by any state and fulfills a critical part of the Onondaga Lake Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) program settlement with Honeywell International, Inc. (Honeywell).

Attorney General James said, “For too long, Indigenous communities have been forced from their ancestral homelands, and I am proud that we can begin to right some of those wrongs by returning this resource-rich land to its rightful caretakers. Thank you to Governor Hochul, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and DEC for their partnership in shepherding the return of this land to the Onondaga Nation.”

“Onondaga Creek’s headwaters hold profound significance for the Onondaga Nation, and I am thrilled New York State and the U.S. Department of the Interior succeeded in taking an innovative path to address damages from legacy contamination and return a beautiful ecological resource to the Nation’s stewardship,” said Governor Hochul. “Establishing this preserve is a remarkable collaboration to restore access to ancestral lands and waters and serves as a historic milestone in New York State’s ongoing recognition of the cultural and environmental heritage of Indigenous Peoples.”

“Today, we recognize the Onondaga Nation as the rightful caretakers of their homelands,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Williams. “We look forward to continuing our government-to-government relationship with the Nation as they work to heal and preserve these lands and waters for future generations.”

“The headwaters of Onondaga Creek in the Tully Valley are part of the system of waterways leading into Onondaga Lake that have sustained our Nation for millennia, and we are grateful that the Department of the Interior and New York State have worked with us to return to our stewardship the first 1,000 acres of the 2.5 million acres of treaty-guaranteed land taken from us over the centuries,” said Onondaga Tadodaho Sidney Hill.

“This is a small but important step for us, and for the Indigenous land back movement across the United States.”
“The degradation of the Onondaga Nation’s lands and waters by a legacy of industrial contamination can never be fully repaired, but today’s historic announcement celebrates a key milestone in the journey to reconnect culturally, spiritually, and ecologically significant lands to the healing, caretaking, and permanent stewardship of Onondaga People,” said DEC Interim Commissioner Mahar.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), serving as the Natural Resource Trustee agencies for the settlement, signed a resolution in 2022 related to the Onondaga Lake Superfund site that directed Honeywell to transfer the title to more than 1,000 acres of open space in Central New York’s Tully Valley to the Onondaga Nation to restore and steward the property.

The Onondaga Nation has accepted and holds fee title to a 758.1-acre South Forest Nature Preserve and a 264.9-acre North Forest Nature Preserve in the Tully Valley that include the headwaters of Onondaga Creek, more than 45 acres of wetland and floodplains, and approximately 980 acres of forest and successional fields.

The Nation will protect, restore, heal, and caretake the property in accordance with Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Onondaga cultural, spiritual, and educational practices, and science.
The Restoration Plan for Onondaga Lake can be found on the USFWS website.
Compiled from media sources by Bernice Elizabeth Green