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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'.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Constructing Kinzua Dam involved much more than the dam itself. The take area for the Allegheny Reservoir was land that fell below the 1365 elevation line.

Our Seneca people living on the Seneca Nation's Allegany Territory were not the only Seneca people directly affected by building the dam. The Cornplanter Grant located in Pennsylvania was also inundated, leaving Chief Cornplanter's heirs without their communities, their homes, and their land.

In addition to directly affecting our Seneca people, the take area also included seven non-Native communities, such as the village of Corydon. Residents of those communities were also forced to relocate.

The Army Corps of Engineers was involved in the planning, building, and operating of Kinzua Dam. Today the Army Corps is still in charge of the dam's operations. For more information on the history of the plan to build Kinzua Dam see here. For more information on the Kinzua Dam, view the Kinzua Dam Project page.

Constructing Kinzua Dam

On April 14th, 1958 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began preparing our land for construction of Kinzua Dam after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rules that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could take our land to build the dam.

Actual construction of the dam began in October of 1960.

For more information on the events of the relocation of our Seneca communities from our Allegany Territory, visit the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum or the Additional Resources page.

Army Corps of Engineers and Resettlement

Between April and September of 1961, the Army Corps surveyed and mapped our lands. This survey was to map the flowage and clearing easements of the Allegheny Reservoir. From this survey, the Army Corps drew up maps of our land that they were taking for the reservoir and of the proposed resettlement areas, Jimersontown and Steamburg.

In May of 1961 the Army Corps and the Seneca Nation began negotiating the individual land owner boundaries of those maps.

The Army Corps of Engineers Stance on Kinzua Dam

The following is an official publication of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding their stance on Kinzua Dam and the Allegheny Reservoir. It was published in October of 1963, three years after construction of the dam had begun.

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Walter Taylor, George Heron Walter Taylor, the national representative of the American Indian Program of the American Friends Service Committee, a Society of Friends organization, is speaking with George Heron (SNI President 1958-1960, 1962-1964) in front of two of the proposed resettlement area maps for displaced Seneca families (Jimerson Town and Steamburg) that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created. Between May 1961 and January of 1962 the Seneca Nation of Indians and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers negotiated the individual landowner boundary lines of the "take" areas on the Army Corps proposed resettlement maps.
Specifications for Allegheny Reservoir U.S.A.C.E. Report (pg 5 of 5)
George Heron, Basil Williams, Robert "Bob" Haines, Theodore"Ted" Hetzel, 1961 Between May 1961 and January of 1962 the Seneca Nation of Indians and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers negotiated the individual landowner boundary lines of the "take" areas on the Army Corps proposed resettlement maps. 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. The Society of Friends has historically been involved with the Seneca people and the Seneca Nation of Indians since the Pickering Treaty (Treaty of Canandaigua) was signed in 1794, the same treaty which would be broken by building Kinzua Dam. Starting as early as the 1950s the Quakers and the Seneca Nation of Indians worked together to bring awareness of the destruction to the Seneca way of life that the Kinzua Dam would cause as a result of being built. Between April and September of 1961, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers surveyed and mapped out the flowage and clearing easements for the Allegeny Reservoir, part of which would extend into Seneca Nation of Indians land on the Allegany Territory. Between May 1961 and January of 1962 the Seneca Nation of Indians and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers negotiated the individual landowner boundary lines of the "take" areas: Seneca Nation land below the 1365 elevation line that the U.S. Army Corps was taking to be a part of the Reservoir. Seneca Nation officials were given copies of the Army Corps proposed resettlement area maps for displaced Seneca families and held personal meetings with families who lived in the "take" areas in addition to discussing the maps' boundaries among Council. 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.
Footnote 9
Specifications for Allegheny Reservoir U.S.A.C.E. Report (pg 4 of 5)
Specifications for Allegheny Reservoir U.S.A.C.E. Report (pg 2 of 5)
Specifications for Allegheny Reservoir U.S.A.C.E. Report (pg 3 of 5)