Steps away from a small gravel parking lot off Tully Farms Road, Sid Hill and Joe Heath reflected on the clear, upstream waters of an Onondaga Creek tributary flowing beneath their feet.For the first time in centuries, the gleaming waters belonged to them.After the completion of a land transfer from Honeywell International on Sept. 30, the Onondaga Nation reclaimed over 1,000 acres of their historic land, which include the pristine headwaters of Onondaga Creek and a bounty of native wildlife and natural medicines.Hill, the Tadodaho of the Onondaga Nation, remembers swimming in the creek water as a child. Nowadays, Hill said, children don’t swim in the creek, whose downstream waters are brown and murky. Those downstream waters run full with silt and other deposits from mud boils, caused by salt mining. “You have Onondaga Creek, you have Onondaga Lake. Can’t use these places,” Hill said. “I’m an Onondaga. What’s that tell you?” Here, however, in the land the Onondagas reacquired, dozens of headwaters remain clean, clear and cold – safe for consumption, and ideal for native brook trout to thrive.The 1,000 acres — two separate 758-acre and 256-acre parcels — are a mere fraction of the 2.5 million acres guaranteed to the Onondagas in treaties with the US government. This title transfer, though, represents a critical milestone in the Nation’s ongoing battle to regain its ancestral lands.Tadodaho Sid Hill of the Onondaga Nation, at rightt, and Nation attorney Joe Heath stand next Onondaga Creek, part of the parcel of 1000 acres given back to the Onondaga Nation. Mike Greenlar | Central Current.The transfer of land followed a 2022 resolution from the The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation that came as part of a broader plan to restore Onondaga Lake. The agencies directed Honeywell International, the corporation that owned the land, to cede the title of the parcels to the Onondaga Nation.For more than half a century, Honeywell conducted solution salt mining, a process in which water is pumped underground to dissolve salt and push the brine to the surface. Decades of mining depleted the soil, leaving massive vacuums where the salt once was. Heath said the vacuums have led to sinkholes in the valley. One sinkhole measures 600 feet wide, and 50 feet deep, according to Heath. Onondaga Nation General Counsel Joe Heath debriefs on latest decision for nearly decade-long land theft petition The mining also created fissures in the bedrock of hills above the valley.“The water that used to come down the sides and go clean into the creek goes underground, supercharging the aquifer, which then comes bubbling up in the mud boils about four miles down,” Heath said. Amidst all the pollution, though, the Onondaga headwaters continued to flow clean and unperturbed.Heath first saw the tributary he now stood over when an elder Onondaga brought Heath to this tributary to show him the brook trout. Heath recalls a longhouse meeting two years ago in which that elder’s son lamented his grandchildren not knowing how to fish, because their parents couldn’t teach them to fish on the reservation.“So, the restoration of the brook trout is incredibly important, not only culturally, but for healthcare,” Heath said. “We hope to have clean trout for the Onondaga people.”Onondaga Creek, near Tully Farms Rd. Credit: Mike Greenlar | Central CurrentIn recent years, New York State has stocked the creek and lake with rainbow trout and brown trout, according to Heath, who said the fish are easier to catch and tolerate warm water and pollution.The brook trout, though, is a native fish, and the Onondaga believe their stewardship can build and restore the species’ small population. The Nation has already established a brook trout restoration working group with partners from SUNY school of Environmental Science and Forestry and the Department of Fishing and Wildlife.Heath said he and other environmental advocates have since convinced the state to stop stocking the non-native trout, and hope to have a vibrant brook trout population within a few years.As Heath stood above the brook, the flowing water shone beneath autumnal leaves. Heath ran through the Nation’s plans for restorative work. The brook trout population will require special focus to restore, but several other species already abound in the reacquired acreage. The land hosts ample deer for hunting, and strong populations of beavers and blue herons (who have nests throughout the parcels). Even bald eagles frequent the land, according to Heath and Hill.The Onondaga have also identified one of the waterfalls in the valley as a potential second habitat for the endangered Chittenango ovate amber snail (COAS). The rare snail species is native to Chittenango Falls, and Heath has been working with experts from ESF and other conservationists to try to introduce the snail to the mists of an Onondaga waterfall. A small group of snails were brought to the waterfall last year, and Heath said the results from that project were promising enough to continue introducing the snails.Tadodaho Sid Hill of the Onondaga Nation. Credit: Mike Greenlar | Central CurrentThe title transfer removed previous restrictions on the use of the land, and established just one: the Nation will rely on its Traditional Ecological Knowledge to protect and restore the land.“All decision making from now on needs to be with the Nation. We don’t need the state to cover how to take care of the land,” Heath said. “Plenty of evidence right here that shows we don’t like their decisions.”According to Heath, previous attempts by Honeywell and local government agencies to address the mud boil problem had unforeseen consequences.“The mud boils have moved from being somewhat removed from the creek, to where they’re now flowing directly into the creek,” Heath said.Hill and Heath are glad to not have local governments directing conservation efforts, but said the Onondagas did establish strong working relationships with select government agencies in the process of regaining this land.Heath said the NYS attorney general’s office, and particularly the Environmental Protection Board, have become good partners for the nation. The WFS and Federal Department of the Interior also collaborated with the Onondagas in the land transfer.Moving forward, Heath said the Onondagas will look to re-acquire more of the 2.5 million acres of land previously guaranteed to them in treaties with the US government, and will aim primarily for unused land and waterfront property. ‘You gotta keep the seed going’: Onondaga Nation resumes corn husking bee after pandemic break “What’s critical for Onondaga is waterfront and fishing, and also being near the currently recognized territory,” Heath said. “We’ve been buying property from willing sellers, almost all of it directly adjacent to the current rez.”Heath says that Honeywell still denies any responsibility for the mud boils polluting Onondaga Creek. The resolution from the USFWS and DEC, however, directed Honeywell to transfer the land on account of environmental harm by the corporation.“That’s sort of justice that this property is returned partially as a result of their negative activity both on the Lake and elsewhere,” Heath said.In a written statement provided by spokesperson Caitlin Leopold, Honeywell said it was grateful to play a role in transferring the land.“Its ecological value as the headwaters of Onondaga Creek and its wildlife and habitat now will be preserved for generations to come,” the statement said.Heath said that this historic land transfer comes amid a growing awareness in the United States of “historical trauma” and talks of reparations.“The only meaningful form of reparations for traditional indigenous people is land,” Heath said.From the banks of the brook, Heath gestured through the shrubbery to a tall signpost at the mouth of the parking lot, where a large Honeywell sign had dangled.“As soon as I signed the papers on Friday, I came down here. I thought it would make a great souvenir,” Heath said. “The parking lot was always here, they just stuck the sign up.”By then, the sign was already gone.Attorney Joe Heath. Credit: Mike Greenlar | Central CurrrentThe post The Onondaga Nation reclaimed 1,000 acres of its land. Now it seeks restoration. appeared first on Central Current.