Native News
Landback: 600 Acres Return to Indigenous Stewardship in the Adirondacks
The Six Nations Iroquis Cultural Center (6NICC) has acquired 600 acres of forested land in Onchiota, NY, in the largest private landback deal in the state’s history.
The land was purchased last week from Paul Smith’s College for $1.1 million with funding from The Nature Conservancy. The acquisition adds to a 330-acre parcel transferred to the Six Nations by the Adirondack Land Trust in 2022. The 900-acre plot will house the expansion of the cultural center museum and serve as a Haudenosaunee gathering space.
6NICC director David Fadden said in a press release that stewardship of the land has been a central part of the organization’s mission since its founding in 1954.
“This acquisition of over 600 acres will serve as a classroom to share and learn Indigenous ecological knowledge for Native and non-Native students alike for generations into the future,” Fadden said. “The Haudenosaunee look to the seventh generation yet to come while we live our lives and make thoughtful decisions that ensure those who come after us will have clean air, water, and land to live healthy lives. This philosophy is shared by the organizations that enabled this land transfer to take place, and we are most grateful.”
In addition to serving as an extension of the 6NICC, the camp will be a home for the Native Earth Program, which has been hosted by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ‘s Center for Native Peoples and the Environment (CNPE) and the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force for 17 years. The program brings Indigenous high school students from across Turtle Island to the Adirondack region for community building, reconnecting with the Earth, and deepening skills for environmental leadership.
“This historic return is an overdue step toward land justice, and I’m deeply grateful for the shared commitments that make it possible,” Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, author and founding director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, SUNY ESF, said in a statement. “Land and people will benefit from the revitalization of Indigenous-led land care. Reuniting Haudenosaunee youth with traditional homelands sows seeds for restoring intergenerational relationships to place. I’m so eager to witness the reunion of Indigenous people, knowledge, and land.”
The agreement follows the state of New York’s 2022 return of 1,000 acres to the Onondaga Nation.