Seneca president signs order to restore Kinzua ‘Take Area’

By RICK MILLER

Olean Star

It has been more than 60 years since Seneca families were forcibly removed from their homes to make way for the waters backing up behind the Kinzua Dam.

Thousands of people — more than 600 families — with property below the 1,365 foot elevation lost their homes and were relocated, violating the Treaty of Canandaigua.

Nine communities with names like Red House and Coldspring — one third of the Allegany Territory — were either flooded or below the 1,365 foot elevation designated for flowage easement.

Last month, Seneca President J. Conrad Seneca took another step toward restoring some of the property in the “Kinzua Take Area” by signing an executive order declaring lands within the take area above the 1,340 foot elevation be open for resettlement by the Seneca people, subject to the establishment of a clear legal title to the lands.

It was two years ago that the Seneca Tribal Council appointed the 1365 Resettlement Committee, which found the “forced loss of all Nation land below the 1,365 foot elevation is excessive and unnecessarily deprives the Nation and the Seneca people of the use of thousands of acres of the Allegany Territory.”

As a result of this “some Seneca people with family lands in the Kinzua Take Area have indicated their interest in re-settling and utilizing their ancestral lands,” according to a 90-day notice filed by Seneca Nation Clerk Lenith Waterman.

Enrolled Senecas who believe they have a legal interest in lands between the 1,340 and 1,365 foot elevation should submit a request to the Nation’s Surrogate’s Court and a copy to the clerk’s office to be recorded .

“It’s time,” the Seneca president said in an interview last week with the Olean Star. “Our people have suffered for the past 60 years from the traumatic effects they went through.” Many families were removed only to have to watch their homes being burned.

“It was not necessary,” Seneca said of the removal of people who lived in the 1,340 to 1,365 foot elevation. “It wasn’t needed. Now is the time to reclaim it for the use of people who have a claim to develop a process where people and build homes and raise families.”

Seneca said, “It is still our land.” The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers only has a flood flowage easement. “The Nation retains control of the land.”

In 1973, the Tribal Council decided that people who had title to the land back to August 1964 would retain the claims to their land. Only a few from that removal era are still alive, but their estate claims are retained.

“Anyone with a rightful claim will get their land back,” Seneca said.

The legal avenue to full ownership of properties in the “Take Area” isn’t clear, but legislation that will involve Congress and the White House is a likely route.

Last year, 1365 Committee Chairman Tyler Heron asked the Corps of Engineers if they would cancel the flowage easement and allow the resettlement of Seneca lands between 1,340 and 1,365 foot elevations. Their reply was no.

Heron is “a strong advocate” for the return of the “Take Area” lands, Seneca said. “His is one of the families that were displaced.”.

“This is something that needs to be done,” Seneca said. The Senecas fought the Kinzua Dam project all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Seneca was five years old at the time when Senecas were meeting on the Allegany Territory and trying to fight the plans that were going to cost them their homes. “I remember driving to Allegany with my family for meetings.”

His father, William Seneca, later became president of the Seneca Nation.

Is there a timetable for reclaiming the “Take Area” lands?

“We are taking it step by step,” Seneca replied. That land is our land. We are going to take it back.”

A 1365 Resettlement Committee will help develop and implement a comprehensive plan for the reclamation and use of significant acreage within the Take Area. The committee is also expected to address public safety, environmental and infrastructure needs.

The committee was also directed to talk to the Corps of Engineers, other federal executive agencies including the White House and Congress to restore the use of Seneca lands within the “Take Area.”

Much of the Seneca land involved is in Red House and lies along and adjacent to Old Route 17, west of Salamanca. The property is overgrown with 60 years of forests that have reclaimed the homesteads. Some of it fronts along the Allegheny River.

The Old Route 17 roadbed has been rehabilitated by the New York State Department of Transportation and the Red House bridge over the Allegheny River linking Salamanca and Steamburg is being rebuilt in a multi-million project. It is expected to reopen by this fall. The road, which was in total disrepair, will also be repaved.

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