One of Largest Land Returns to Indigenous Nation by a State

Press Release: October 2, 2024

Governor Kathy Hochul, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams, Onondaga Nation Tadodaho Sidney Hill and New York State Attorney General Letitia James today announced the finalized return of more than 1,000 acres of ancestral homelands in Central New York’s Tully Valley to the Onondaga Nation. 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 Program settlement with parties including Honeywell International Inc.

“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,” Governor Hochul said. “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.”

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said, “Today, we recognize the Onondaga Nation as the rightful caretakers of their homelands. 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.”

Onondaga Tadodaho Sid Hill said, “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. This is a small but important step for us, and for the Indigenous land back movement across the United States.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James said, “Today is a historic day for New York and for the Onondaga Nation. 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, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and DEC for their partnership in shepherding the return of this land to the Onondaga Nation.”

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. The resolution 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 cold waters of Onondaga Creek support a small population of brook trout, a population that may be fully restored with proper stewardship. The wetlands, floodplains, forests, and fields are home to wildlife such as great blue heron, songbirds, waterfowl, hawks, bald eagles, frogs, bats, and other mammals including white-tailed deer.

The Nation will protect, restore, heal, and caretake the property in accordance with Indigenous Knowledge; Onondaga cultural, spiritual, and educational practices; and science.

State Department of Environmental Conservation Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar said, “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. Guided by Governor Hochul’s leadership, DEC worked closely with the Onondaga Nation, the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Office of Attorney General James, and thanks these partners and the many other stakeholders who sought to return these Tully Valley parcels to the Onondaga Nation.”

The funding and implementation of Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) projects by the Trustees is a result of the legal settlement with Honeywell following past releases of mercury and other hazardous substances to Onondaga Lake, its tributaries, and uplands that include Indigenous homelands that are deeply sacred to the Onondaga Nation. As part of the Onondaga Lake NRDAR process, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and DEC assessed contaminant-related injuries to natural resources such as waterfowl and turtles and quantified the lost use of natural resources to the public, such as fishing. The agencies then solicited restoration project ideas from a wide variety of stakeholders and the Onondaga Nation to identify the types and scale of restoration needed to compensate for those natural resource injuries, as well as projects that could help address cultural losses to the Nation and its citizens.

Copies of the Restoration Plan for Onondaga Lake can be found on the USFWS website. For more information about the cleanup of Onondaga Lake, visit here.