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.
George Heron, Basil Williams, Robert "Bob" Haines, Theodore"Ted" Hetzel, 1961
12018-07-20T15:07:29-07:00Dana Reijerkerk3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0308612The Society of Friends (Quakers) has historically been involved with the Seneca Nation since the Pickering Treaty (Treaty of Canandaigua, 1794) was signed, the same treaty which would be broken if the Kinzua Dam was built. Starting as early as the 1950s the Quakers and the Seneca Nation worked together to bring awareness to the destruction that the Kinzua Dam would cause as a result of being built to the Seneca people and their way of life. From left to right: George Heron (SNI President 1958-1960, 1962-1964), SNI President Basil Williams (1960-1962), Bob Haines, the Chairman of the Indian Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and Theodore "Ted" Hetzel, a member of the Indian Committees of the American Friends Service Committee and a Board Member of the Indian Rights Association. The Indian Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and the Indian Committees of the American Friends Service Committee are both Quaker organizations.plain2018-07-25T14:45:59-07:00Seneca-Iroquois National Museum2018-07-18stillimage85.1003.0227independent sovereign nations, native peoples reservations, flood dams, gravity dams, rolled-fill damsSeneca-Iroquois National MuseumengThe Society of Friends (Quakers) has historically been involved with the Seneca Nation since the Pickering Treaty (Treaty of Canandaigua, 1794) was signed, the same treaty which would be broken if the Kinzua Dam was built. Starting as early as the 1950s the Quakers and the Seneca Nation worked together to bring awareness to the destruction that the Kinzua Dam would cause as a result of being built to the Seneca people and their way of life. From left to right: George Heron (SNI President 1958-1960, 1962-1964), SNI President Basil Williams (1960-1962), Bob Haines, the Chairman of the Indian Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and Theodore "Ted" Hetzel, a member of the Indian Committees of the American Friends Service Committee and a Board Member of the Indian Rights Association. The Indian Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and the Indian Committees of the American Friends Service Committee are both Quaker organizations.reformatted digitalimage/jpegphotoprint, electronicRecord has been transformed into MODS from the original accession record. Metadata originally created in a locally modified version of qualified Dublin Core.dateCreated encoding= "w3cdtf"; dcTerm:temporalsubject authority = "tgn"; dcTerm:coveragesubject authority = "aat";dcTerm:subjectrecordCreation Date encoding = "w3cdtf"; dcTerm:datelanguageOfCataloging authority = "iso639-2b"; dcTerm:languageAllegany Reservation, Allegany (county)Ted HetzelThis record was created by Dana Reijerkerk.1 photograph; Black and White, Glossy 5" x 7" 1961-02Dana Reijerkerk3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0