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Reclaiming Ohi:yo'- Restoring the Altered Landscape of the Beautiful River Ohi:yo' Restoration and Resiliency Projects Members 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. 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'.

Johnny Cash, 1969

In his song, "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow", Cash brings attention to and narrates the Kinzua Dam controversy. In his lines "The treaties are safe we'll keep our word but what is that gurgling/ It's the back water from Perfidy Lake it's rising all the time" Cash is referencing words from Melvin Patterson (Seneca) spoken on September 15, 1962 at the gathering and honoring of Chief Cornplanter and the Cornplanter Grant, land that would be completely inundated by the Allegany Reservoir. During Patterson's speech he said "From this day forward we of Indian blood will call the waters that will flood this reservation practically out of existence the Lake of Perfidy." Lake of Perfidy is a reference to the lake that the reservoir would make out of the Senecas unceded land. This work has been released into the public domain by its copyright holder, Cowles Communications, Inc. This applies worldwide. This is a photo taken by Joel Baldwin when working as a staff photographer of LOOK Magazine, and is part of the LOOK Magazine Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress. Their former owner, Cowles Communications, Inc, dedicated to the public all rights it owned to these images as an instrument of gift. Cowles has expressed its desire that these images not be used for "trade or advertising purposes". However, this request cannot be meant as a legally binding copyright restriction on their re-use, as all the rights to this image were released, rather, it is a caution against the use of celebrity images to imply product endorsement, drawn from civil rights law, and is unrelated to copyright. It may be the case that the copyright to this photograph may be retained by Joel Baldwin or his/her heirs. Please make sure that Joel Baldwin's photos from Look Magazine are freely licensed.

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1. Cornplanter Grant Visit, Stop at Kinzua Dam Members of the Seneca Nation, Society of Friends, and Congress stopped at the construction site of Kinzua Dam on their way to the Cornplanter Grant on September 15, 1962. Identified in the photograph, Front to back, right to left: Harry Watt (center), Myra Watt, Fred Claflin, Gert Claflin, Darla Claflin, Butch Claflin, Walter Jimerson, Dorothy Jimerson, Gordon Jimerson, Ron Jimerson, Effie Johnson, and Boyd Johnson. September 15, 1962 was declared "American Indian Day" by New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller, most likely in response to the controversy surrounding the building of Kinzua Dam. Members of the Seneca Nation of Indians, Society of Friends, and Congress gathered at the Cornplanter Monument located on the Cornplanter Grant in Warren County, Pennsylvania to mourn and remember Chief Cornplanter and the land that makes up the Cornplanter Grant. The Cornplanter Monument and the Cornplanter Grant were both named in honor of Chief Cornplanter, one of the signers of the Canandaigua Treaty and a very esteemed member of the Senecas; if Kinzua Dam was completed the Allegany Reservoir would completely submerge the Cornplanter Grant. Members of the Seneca Nation stopped at the construction site of Kinzua Dam on their way to the Cornpanter Grant. Senecas in the photograph can be seen wearing components of Plains Indian regalia, which was worn throughout many of the photographs of the Kinzua Era as a way to bring attention to the issue and be seen as identifiably "indian" by the American public. Identified in the photograph, Front to back, right to left: Harry Watt (center), Myra Watt, Fred Claflin, Gert Claflin, Darla Claflin, Butch Claflin, Walter Jimerson, Dorothy Jimerson, Gordon Jimerson, Ron Jimerson, Effie Johnson, and Boyd Johnson.
2. Johnny Cash, 1969 In his song, "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow", Cash brings attention to and narrates the Kinzua Dam controversy. In his lines "The treaties are safe we'll keep our word but what is that gurgling/ It's the back water from Perfidy Lake it's rising all the time" Cash is referencing words from Melvin Patterson (Seneca) spoken on September 15, 1962 at the gathering and honoring of Chief Cornplanter and the Cornplanter Grant, land that would be completely inundated by the Allegany Reservoir. During Patterson's speech he said "From this day forward we of Indian blood will call the waters that will flood this reservation practically out of existence the Lake of Perfidy." Lake of Perfidy is a reference to the lake that the reservoir would make out of the Senecas unceded land. This work has been released into the public domain by its copyright holder, Cowles Communications, Inc. This applies worldwide. This is a photo taken by Joel Baldwin when working as a staff photographer of LOOK Magazine, and is part of the LOOK Magazine Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress. Their former owner, Cowles Communications, Inc, dedicated to the public all rights it owned to these images as an instrument of gift. Cowles has expressed its desire that these images not be used for "trade or advertising purposes". However, this request cannot be meant as a legally binding copyright restriction on their re-use, as all the rights to this image were released, rather, it is a caution against the use of celebrity images to imply product endorsement, drawn from civil rights law, and is unrelated to copyright. It may be the case that the copyright to this photograph may be retained by Joel Baldwin or his/her heirs. Please make sure that Joel Baldwin's photos from Look Magazine are freely licensed.
3. "Seneca Ceremony Mourns Land Taken by U.S. Despite Treaty" (Page 1 of 2) News article from The New York TImes reporting on the gathering of our Seneca people, members of the Society of Friends, and Congress at the Cornplanter Grant on September 15, 1962. In Johnny Cash's song, "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow", his lines "The treaties are safe we'll keep our word but what is that gurgling/ It's the back water from Perfidy Lake it's rising all the time" reference events depicted in this news article.
4. Merrill Bowen Letter to JFK The Seneca people living on the Seneca Nation's Allegany Territory were not the only ones directly affected by building Kinzua. The Cornplanter Grant located in Pennsylvania was also inundated, leaving Chief Cornplanter's heirs without their communities, their homes, and their land. In a letter to President John F. Kennedy, Merrill Bowen, the Cornplanter Indian Landowners Corporation President, appealed for help relocating the Cornplanter Cemetery and Monument.
5. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Meeting with the Cornplanter Grant Descendants
6. "Seneca Ceremony Mourns Land Taken by U.S. Despite Treaty " (Page 2 of 2) News article from The New York Times reporting on the gathering of our Seneca people, members of the Society of Friends, and Congress at the Cornplanter Grant on September 15, 1962. In Johnny Cash's song, "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow", his lines "The treaties are safe we'll keep our word but what is that gurgling/ It's the back water from Perfidy Lake it's rising all the time" reference events depicted in this news article.