Reclaiming Ohi:yo'- Restoring the Altered Landscape of the Beautiful River Main MenuWelcomingFront page for this Digital Exhibit.The Seneca Nation of IndiansWe call ourselves Onödowá'ga:' (oh-non-doh-wah!-gawh!), which means "People of the Great Hill". We are one of six other nations that collectively call ourselves Hodinöhsö:ní (hoh-dee-nonh-sonh-neeh!), meaning "People of the Longhouse".Ohi:yo'Ohi:yo', our Beautiful River, has always been our home and source of nourishment.The Kinzua Dam ProjectOur elders fought for our land and sovereignty in the 1950s and 1960s. They fought to stop the construction of Kinzua Dam.The Allegheny ReservoirThe reservoir has altered the landscape, ecosystem, and our interactions with Ohi:yo.The Allegheny Reservoir: A Visual Depiction of Water LevelsAt times of water storage the water depth of the river channel is approximately 26 feet, with as little as 6 to 8 feet of water during the winter months.The Significance of Kinzua to our Seneca PeopleThe U.S. Army Corps of EngineersThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in collaboration with the U.S. federal government built Kinzua Dam between 1960 and 1965.Kinzua Era TimelinesThis page provides two different temporal representations of the Kinzua Era (1956-1966).Kinzua Dam's Environmental ImpactsThe creation of Kinzua Dam has had lasting environmental impacts on our land and water. Learn more here.Ohi:yo' Restoration and Resiliency ProjectsMembers of the Seneca Nation's Watershed Resources Working Group are involved in various restoration and resiliency projects for our Ohi:yo'. The Seneca Nation's Fish and Wildlife Department in particular engages in projects related to building artificial habitat, repopulating our river's Walleye population, and building trenches to help land locked fish.Seneca Nation Fish and Wildlife DepartmentThe Nation's Fish and Wildlife Department engages in restoration and resiliency projects related to Ohi:yo'.Fighting for the Water: Fracking Wastewater in Ohi:yo'In 2016 the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) began deliberating a 1,000-barrel/day of unconventional gas drilling wastewater (Frack Wastewater) disposal facility in Potter County proposed by Epiphany Allegheny LLC. In response to the news of these fracking plans, our Seneca people again fought for our people, our communities, and our Ohi:yo'.A Legacy of ResilienceWe will continue on.Access and Use RightsFor our full statement on rights and use of our exhibit contents see this page.Additional ResourcesThis page contains additional resources that can provide more in-depth information that is perhaps not included within our exhibit.About this ExhibitThis page contains information about our intra-Nation departmental collaborations and exhibit acknowledgements.The Seneca-Iroquois National Museum663b8929f7a99e6bad2d94d8e2c4f4c0dbfcfc0fDana Reijerkerk3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0This exhibit was published by the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum, 2018.
Footnote 18
12018-08-27T01:48:48-07:00Dana Reijerkerk3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0308612Note on invasive plant species.plain2018-08-27T01:49:14-07:00Dana Reijerkerk3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) and giant knotweed (Fallopia sachalinense) are two of the most prevalent invasive plant species along our river's shorelines. Japanese knotweed produces fast-growing and spreading dense thickets that make it very difficult for our native vegetation to grow. Monitoring invasive plant species along Ohi:yo' is just one of the many activities the Seneca Nation's Watershed Resources Working Group (WRWG) is engaged in.
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1media/A.600.039.0002bv2.jpg2018-07-12T14:24:35-07:00Kinzua Dam's Environmental Impacts39The creation of Kinzua Dam has had lasting environmental impacts on our land and water. Learn more here.visual_path7829232018-09-14T19:58:51-07:00The Allegheny Reservoir, extending into the greater Western portions of our Allegany Territory, has significantly changed the river's borders and boundaries. The Seneca Nation of Indians Geographic Information Services (GIS) Department has created a story map of aerial imagery of Ohi:yo' that shows the changes to the shoreline of Ohi:yo'.
Kinzua Dam was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1960 and 1966. Once it began operations in 1967, Ohi:yo' was only able to move up, spilling past its banks and inundating our land. For the past five decades portions of Ohi:yo' have operated as a reservoir in the summer months. Come fall of every year, much of the water reserves are lowered at the discretion of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Ohi:yo' now follows a new cycle, forming new shorelines with deadly ecological effects. The main environmental impacts of Kinzua Dam are:
