Kęnęhteh 2016 · 2018. 6. 22. · Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS). This is a 10-acre IWCS...

Kęnęhteh 2016

Skaru:ręØ Monthly, February 2016

Volume 7, Issue 2

February 2016 Haudenosaunee Grand Council

Tuscarora Council of Chiefs and

Clanmothers

HAUDENOSAUNEE ENVIRONMENTAL

TASK FORCE (HETF)

Oren Lyons, Political Co-Chair

Henry Lickers, Scientific Co-Chair

David Arquette, HETF Director

Noah Point, Assistant Director

TUSCARORA ENVIRONMENT

PROGRAM (TEP)

Neil Patterson, Jr., Director [email protected]

Rene Rickard, Office Administrator [email protected]

Bryan Printup, GIS/Planning [email protected]

Clint Farnham, Habitat Technician [email protected]

Following the United Nations Earth

Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the

Haudenosaunee held a Grand Council to

discuss the environmental degradation of

our communities. In accordance with the

Great Law of Peace, the Grand Council

passed and agreed, based on

Haudenosaunee protocols and cultural

beliefs, to establish the Haudenosaunee

Environmental Task Force (HETF).

The SKARU:RE MONTHLY is the

official publication of the Tuscarora

Environment Office. You can submit

articles, artwork, photographs, editorials

and letters of adulation to:

SKARU:RE MONTHLY

c/o: Tuscarora Environment

5226E Walmore Road

Tuscarora Nation

Lewiston, NY 14092

Or call: #716.264.6011

www.tuscaroraenvironment.org

or our Facebook page

“Tuscarora Environment”

February 27, 2016 - 13th Annual Native American Winter Games &

Sports, Seneca Art & Culture Center, Ganondagan, Victor, NY. Free,

10am-4pm. Join Ganondagan for their winter games & sports as a way to

celebrate and discover the Seneca ways of winter through traditional native

American activities. Activities include snow boats, dog sledding, snow

shoeing, snowsnake, and more. Event will take place with or without snow.

FMI: ganondagan.org

March 4-5, 2016 - Ithaca Native Landscape Symposium, Downtown

Arts Theater, Ithaca, NY. Hosted by Plantsmen Nursery and Rick Manning

Landscape Architect. This years theme is “ Ideas to Reality: True Stories

and Real Models for Regional Success in the Native Plant Industry.”

Topics include the role of young forests, Monarchs and Milkweeds,

Developing Local Seed, sustainable landscape design and more. FMI:

www.ithacanativelandscape.com, Dan Segal #607.533.7193

March 6, 2016 - Made of Thunder, Made of Glass II beadwork exhibit

opening reception, Castellani Art Museum, Niagara University, NY. Free,

2pm-4pm. The Exhibit, “Continuing Traditions in Northeast Indian

Beadwork” explores the intricate details and intimate meanings of

Haudenosaunee, Wabanaki and Chippewa beadwork through exquisite

historic works and elaborate contemporary creations. Portraits of featured

beadwork artists by Gerry Biron. The exhibit is there from February 7 -

June 26, 2016. FMI: www.castellaniartmuseum.org

March 19-20, 2016 - NYS Maple Weekend, across New York State.

Additional dates: April 2-3, 2016. Maple Weekend is one of the premier

agri-tourism events in America. Almost 160 maple producers across New

York State open their facilities to show people how maple syrup and

related maple products are made from the tree to their table. There are

more than 25 facilities open during the Weekend that are 50 miles or less

from Tuscarora, including the Gaeta Family Farm, 3789, Ridge Road,

Lockport, NY (10am-4pm, each day). FMI: www.nysmaple.com.

April 3-6, 2016 - 72nd Annual Northeast Fish & Wildlife Conference,

The Westin, Annapolis, MD. This year’s theme is “Thinking Outside:

Taking Risks for Better Conservation.” Topics include wildlife and habitat

in urban landscapes; intersection of roads and fish, wildlife and aquatics;

changing and emerging fisheries; wildlife forensics; and more. FMI:

www.neafwa.org

1920s. Fillmore Rickard Sr. with his fishing

spears and haul of fresh fish.


Household Water & Wastewater Training

Tuesday, March 1, 2016 Tuscarora Nation House - Community Room

6:00pm - 8:00pm (unless done sooner)

This training is to ensure that all homeowners who received well or septic systems

installed by our IHS program understands the specific system received. The

training is open to all Tuscarora residents, especially to those interested in

residential wells and septic systems.

For any questions about this training please call Rene at our Office,

#264.6011, M-F between 9:00-5:00.

You can call our office, #264.6011, or leave a Facebook at “Tuscarora Environment.” Then

we will provide a permission slip that will need to be submitted to complete your student’s participation. Space

is limited, so apply early.

**FREE**

At the Tuscarora Nation House

Lunch will be provided daily.

Open to students in grades 7-12 from Tuscarora. Sponsored by the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment - SUNY ESF, Haudenosaunee

Environmental Task Force, and the Tuscarora Council of Chiefs and Clanmothers.


Although groundhogs may not be the best weather

predictors, they do in fact emerge from dens in early

February. This is the practice of males as they rouse

themselves to wander around their 2- to 3- acre

territories in search of burrows belonging to

females, which the males will enter and where they

may spend the night. Research suggests that no

mating takes place at this time; the visits probably

just let the animals get to know one another so that

they can get right down to business of breeding

when they emerge for good in March.

www.blog.nwf.org

The Gold King mine, that severely contaminated the

Navajo Nation water on the Animas and San Juan

rivers, is one of 15,000 toxic uranium mines that

remain abandoned throughout the U.S. 75% of these

abandoned uranium mines are on federal and Tribal

lands. www.thefreethoughtproject.com

It is the phosphoric acid in a potato that allows it to

be used as a battery. Potato batteries require two

different metal electrodes with different electrical

qualities to work. The most common materials are

zinc and copper. The acids in the potato react with

the metals, creating an electron imbalance to each

electrode. Because it keeps the ions formed by the

reaction separate, but conducts electricity via its

water and electrolytes, the reaction forces the

electrons in the copper electrode to move. This

movement of electrons is an electric current and is

sufficient to power small devices.

www.smithsonianmag.com

A program called Native Explorers Live is offering an opportunity

to students this summer. If you are American Indian and are

interested in the natural world and Native culture, you should

consider joining our team of Native research scientists, educators

and physicians on a scientific and cultural expedition. The program

provides out-of-the-classroom, hands-on experiences that will

strengthen your knowledge of science, medicine and native

cultures. They will work with you to build professional and tribal

networks in science, medicine and culture. Ultimately, you will

learn how native cultures complement the natural world and

medicine while creating lifelong, professional networks and

friendships. To this end, the program will provide guidance for your

career choices and strengthen your cultural background. This year

they plan to explore two unique ecoregions within the Basin and

Range Province of North America: Central Basin and Range (Great

Basin Desert) and Mojave Basin and Range (Mojave Desert).

Did You Know . . .

If you are interested in learning about the vertebrate fossils, natural history

and native culture and traditions of the Basin Range Province of North

America, this scientific expedition is for you. The program will run from

May 23 - June 3, 2016. The deadline for application materials and letter of

support is March 15, 2016 (received.) Successful participants will be

notified by email by April 15, 2016.

Requirements include: 18 years of age (minimum); enrolled and active

member of federally recognized tribe (traditional); applicant is responsible

for transportation to and from OSU-CHS (Oklahoma State University

Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, OK); and more.

Details and the application process can be found at their website:

www.nativeexplorerslive.com.


I ndividuals can make a difference in their own community but not

everyone is prepared as well as they think. The goal of the

Tuscarora CERT team is to maximize awareness and encourage

participation in disaster preparedness activities to affect change at

the community level.

Our local emergency managers, firefighters, EMT/paramedics, and

other emergency responders do an incredible job of keeping us safe,

but they cannot do it alone. We all must embrace our personal

responsibility to be prepared - in doing so; we contribute to the

safety and security of our community as well.

The Tuscarora CERT team is gearing up to be the organization in

our community that will host preparedness community-planning

meetings, provide preparedness information and volunteer

opportunities to community members and when in need, are

available to respond to a disaster. This spring we will set our first

CERT team meeting, so keep posted of the date and time.

So what will the local CERT team respond to? When emergencies

happen, CERT members can give critical support to first responders,

provide immediate assistance to victims, and organize spontaneous

volunteers at a disaster site. CERT members can also help with non-

emergency projects that help improve the safety of the community.

In addition, most CERT training involves disaster preparedness,

disaster fire suppression, basic disaster medical operations and light

search and rescue operations.

Would you like to be part of the Tuscarora CERT? We would like to

restart the CERT program here on the Tuscarora Nation. If you are

interested in getting involved with CERT or if you were a previous

CERT member and you would like to continue, please contact Clint

Farnham at the TEP office, phone number 716-264-6011 ext. 104.

(Below: Photos from our first Tuscarora CERT team in 2000.)

There are over 2,600 CERT

teams across the country, all

working to achieve similar

objectives. In New York

State there are many CERT

teams mobilized for their

communities including:

Town of Cheektowaga

Suffolk County

Nassau County

Erie County

Town of Tonawanda

City of Rochester

Town of Greenburgh

Town of Clifton Park

Village of Campbell Hall


T his past January 2016 was a

public meeting in Lewiston

about new details concerning the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

approach to the Interim Waste

Containment Structure (IWCS) at the

Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS).

This is a 10-acre IWCS radioactive

containment cell on Balmer Road, in

Youngstown (see the image below.)

The meeting announced their 4

alternatives to dealing with the site,

which ranged from doing nothing at

all to full removal. The Corps’

preferred approach (alternative #4)

calls for complete

excavation and treatment

and removal of the IWCS

radioactive contents.

Although this option is the

most expensive, it’s the

most thorough by

removing all Corps future

land use controls, all

operations and

maintenance, and returning

the site back to its original

condition. What this does

is eliminates long-term

Corps oversight of the

location and project. This alternative

method was successfully utilized by

the Corps when it performed a

similar radioactive landfill cleanup

back in the 1990s at Fernald, Ohio.

This process of removal will involve

the removal of three subunit cells in

the IWCS that contain varying

amounts of radioactivity dating back

to the Manhattan Project during

World War II activity and post-

WWII landfilling at NFSS.

The estimated total volume of waste

in these cells at the Niagara Falls

Storage Site is 249,632 cubic yards,

yet the actual percentage of

radioactivity is just 2 percent.

Moving forward the forecasted

timeframe of 2022 to 2032 as a “best

case scenario” for actually

completing the IWCS remediation

once funding is secured.

So what does this mean for

Tuscarora? This site sits only 2 miles

from the Tuscarora Nation, and is

considered a threat to our

environmental and human health. In

addition, we have to stay abreast to

the future planning of the project to

prevent any possible

transportation routes scheduled

to go through the Tuscarora

boundary.

We continue to discuss the issues

with the U.S. EPA and work

with the local advisory board to

share our concerns about this

site.

References:

“Army Corps Session Provides

Details on IWCS Future” by

Terry Duffy, Lewiston Porter

Sentinel, January 16, 2016.

“Army Corps Plan Calls for

Removal of Radioactive Waste

at LOOW Site” by Mark Scheer,

Niagara Gazette, December 3,

2015.

Niagara County Health

Department website, “The

Community LOOW Project.”

Moving Forward at The Niagara Falls

Storage Site


T he applications are now

available for the 2016-2017

NYPA Tuscarora scholarship. The

deadline is April 30, 2016 and the

applications are available at multiple

locations including our TEP Office

and our TEP website,

tuscaroraenvironment.org.

The Scholarship is a result of the

Relicensing Agreement between the

NY Power Authority and the

Tuscarora Nation for the duration of

the agreement, which is

approximately 50 years.

Currently the program will provide

two (2) undergraduate full-tuition

scholarships for the upcoming

academic year, 2016-2017. They are

available to Tuscarora who are

matriculating at any community

college or university within the State

University of New York (SUNY)

school system. The student shall

receive tuition only for the fall and

spring semesters for up to four (4)

years.

To be eligible for the Tuscarora

scholarship the student must:

Attend a SUNY school as a

matriculating student;

Attend each semester as a full-

time student;

Be enrolled at Tuscarora.

Please check the application for

additional eligibility requirements

and additional materials required for

submission.

You can find copies of the

application at the Tuscarora Indian

School’s front Office; TEP Office;

Jamie Gilbert, NWSHS; or online at

www.tuscaroraenvironment.org.

2007 was the inaugural year for the

NYPA Tuscarora Nation Scholarship

Program. The Scholarship

Committee has been formed to

develop and implement the criteria

and obligations set forth by the

scholarship as well as select and

award recipients. The Committee is

formed by members of the Tuscarora

Nation.

The NYPA Tuscarora Scholarship

is an opportunity available for

Tuscarora over the past 8 years.

We have provided free-tuition

assistance to over 20 college-

bound Tuscarora.

The scholarship recipients as of

Fall 2015 are as follows:

Justin Brayley

(NCCC)

Timicah Capton

(Fredonia State)

Seth Ferguson

(Onondaga CC)

Loreen Printup

(ECC)

Marissa Sly

(Alfred State)

Christine Thomas

(Fredonia State)

Waylon Wilson

(University at Buffalo)

Lily Garcia

(Buffalo State College)

Renee Henry

(University at Buffalo)

Elijah Smith

(NCCC)

Congratulations to all the

recipients of the scholarship this

year. We wish you the best this

spring semester!

By Bryan Printup

ABOVE: 1961. PTA Christmas party at the Tuscarora School.

LEFT: 1960s. At the

Tuscarora School.

ABOVE: Louise Henry cleaning dishes at the Tuscarora School.


The Niagara Falls Gazette

March 20, 1937

Tuscarora Folks to Meet March 26

--- Spring Activities of Reservation to be Outlined

Tuscarora Reservation, Mar. 20 - On Friday

evening, March 26th, a joint meeting of the

Tuscarora Agriculture society, the Tuscarora

Homemakers society and the Tuscarora 4-H boys

and girls clubs will be held in the basement of the

Baptist church on the Mount Hope road for

discussion of activities for the coming season.

All residents of the reserve are invited to attend

the joint session, leaders of the groups announced

today, especially craft workers in Indian

beadwork, sewing, canners, and gardeners who

may be interested in exhibiting or selling products

at the Indian Village display to be held the first

week in September at the New York State Fair

grounds.

To avoid misunderstanding regarding displays

and sales, details of the coming event will be

explained by speakers at Friday’s meeting.

Tuscarora male exhibitors as a tribal group, won

the blue ribbon over all other New York tribes

last September, in a similar display of reservation

products.

The Tuscarora 4-H boys are asked to attend the

Friday session somewhat earlier than the opening

of the general meeting, which begins at 8 p.m.,

for preliminary organization. Organized before

any other 4-H group was functioning in Niagara

county, the Tuscarora 4-H group will be informed

as to alignment with the Niagara county office

headed by John M. Stookey, of Lockport.

The trips available to the 4-H boys and girls will

also be explained at Friday’s meeting. Three

Tuscarora 4-H members have enrolled in the

reforestation contest being sponsored in western

New York by a Buffalo newsletter.

News from Cornell university will be relayed to

the Tuscarora groups by two recent visitors at the

farm and home week program at Ithaca during the

program ... The meeting is open to all reserve

residents.

Kęnęhteh 2016 · 2018. 6. 22. · Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS). This is a 10-acre IWCS...

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