1365 Resettlement Committee Preparing Initial Report, Planning Community Meetings and Discussions
Pictured – Seated L to R: Rebecca Bowen, 1365 Resettlement Committee, Jaime Pinkham, Principle Deputy Asst. Sec. of the Army for Civil Works, Quana Higgins, Acting Asst. for Tribal and Regulatory Affairs, Office of the Asst. Sec. of the Army for Civil Works, Clerk Bethany Johnson. Standing L to R: Rory Crouse, Maurice John Sr., Courtney John-Jemison, Community Planning & Development, Dr. Rodney Haring, 1365 Resettlement Committee, Tyler Heron, 1365 Resettlement Committee, Chair, Bruce Abrams, 1365 Resettlement Committee, Rickey Armstrong Sr., Seneca Nation President, David Bova, 1365 Resettlement Committee, Keith White, Catt. Councillor, Leeora White, 1365 Resettlement Committee, Chris Karns, Seneca Nation Legal, Madison Brown, 1365 Resettlement Committee
ALLEGANY TERRITORY, SALAMANCA, N.Y. – Sixty years after one of the most egregious betrayals and attacks against its land and way of life in its history, the Seneca Nation is preparing to once again make lands in the Kinzua Take Area a vibrant part of the Allegany Territory.
Last year, the Seneca Nation Council approved a resolution to establish the 1365 Resettlement Committee to identify livable lands in the Take Area and develop a comprehensive plan for their resettlement. Since then, the Committee has held several meetings to advance its plan, including multiple meetings with representatives from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the same agency that carried out the United States government’s order in the 1960s to take 10,000 acres of Seneca land for the construction of the Kinzua Dam to prevent flooding in Pittsburgh. Hundreds of Seneca families were relocated, homes were bulldozed and burned, sacred sites were destroyed, and the Seneca ways of life in the area were changed forever.
While the lands were taken, they were never condemned, a fact that the Army Corps of Engineers officials from Washington, D.C. openly acknowledged at a meeting with 1365 Resettlement Committee members on June 17.
“These are Seneca lands. We know it and the Army Corps knows it,” said Seneca Nation President Rickey Armstrong, Sr. “Now, our lands must be restored for the use and benefit of the Seneca people.”
The 1365 Resettlement Committee is preparing to finalize its initial report and present a spectrum of recommendations, ideas, and options to the Seneca community. A series of public meetings will be scheduled in the coming months to review and discuss the Committee’s plan.
The Committee’s initial focus will be the resettlement of approximately 1,200 acres in the Red House area, which has distinct advantages, such as road and highway access and room for responsible development, that make it a natural place to begin the process. The Committee plans to explore several potential development options, including housing and potentially using wetland areas as a nature preserve, as part of the overall effort.
“We believe that re-establishing our connection to the land strengthens our self-sovereignty,” said 1365 Resettlement Committee Chairman Tyler Heron. “We lost material things when the United States government betrayed us, including homes and buildings, but there were emotions attached to those places as well. We are channeling that passion and emotion into a plan that takes into consideration the health and welfare of the Seneca people.”
While the Committee is finalizing its initial plan and preparing for important discussions with the Seneca community, the ultimate resettlement process is expected to take several years and include several steps before development can take place, including site remediation, road reconstruction, infrastructure development, including water and sewer, and other issues. The Nation can self-perform much of the necessary work, and the Committee has been consulting with several Nation departments, including Planning, Transportation, and Fire/EMS, as part of the overall plan development process.
“Any effort to meaningfully resettle these lands, which were unjustly and unnecessarily taken from us, needs to be a community-building process,” Heron added. “Our intention, as a committee, is to prepare the way, finally, after all these years, for reconciliation, reclamation, and revitalization. It’s the preservation of who we are.”
For many, including 1365 Resettlement Committee member Rebecca Bowen, the resettlement process will fulfill a decades-long desire to help restore a critical piece of the Nation’s identity. She believes the time for finally bringing Seneca people and activity back to the land is now.
“If we don’t get it done now, it might not happen,” Bowen said. “I’ve dreamed about seeing Red House alive again. Once again it will have life and new generations will start.”
“We’re going to do this,” Heron added. “The land has been waiting there 60-plus years to be used. We’ve fought for this land a long time, and we’re still going to fight for it.”
President Armstrong sees the eventual resettlement of the lands as the fulfillment of the Seven Generations principle.
“The removal of our people from our land was a devastating attack. We can still hear the bulldozers and we can still smell the fires, but that pain will not dictate our future,” he said. “We are going to reconcile our ancestors’ suffering by restoring these lands for our future generations.”
