A piece of land in Butler County once again belongs to the Miami people. Three Valley Conservation Trust has completed a land transfer to the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.
"It's hard to put into words how special that is," says Kara Strass, director of Miami Tribe Relations at the Myaamia Center at Miami University, tells WVXU. "It feels like it's kind of allowing us to heal a little bit from the trauma of of forced removal and everything that's happened since that time."
The tribe was forcibly removed to Oklahoma from its traditional homelands in Ohio and Indiana from 1795 to 1846.
She says while tribal citizens are able to access important parts of their traditional homelands, owning a piece of those lands — "a place that has been connected to us, we say, since time immemorial, as long as anyone can remember" — feels different.
Strass is glad to see partnerships like this one.
"It seems like there's more and more interest, both in the public side or with partners like Three Valley Trust, to work directly with the tribe to potentially donate land or make sure that we have access to that land," she says. "I think it's important for the general public to learn more about the tribe to understand why that's important to us."
Though their mark remains in all kinds of place names, there are no federally recognized tribes headquartered in Ohio today. They were removed by force in the 1700s and 1800s.
Three Valley Conservation Trust recently worked with the tribe to transfer ownership of the approximately 45-acre property in Morgan Township along the Paddys Run watershed known as Fossil Creek.
"We've been stewarding it for [a] decade, and trying to decide what the best long term result would be for the property for stewardship. We've been working with the Miami Tribe over the years, and we're excited to bring them into this project and provide the opportunity for them to own and steward lands that they have a cultural connection to," says Randy Evans, executive director.
The land is part of the Paddys Run Conservation Project, which protects 4,800 acres by creating conservation easements. Three Valley, the Ohio EPA and other partners aim to improve water in Paddys Run. The watershed feeds into the Great Miami Aquifer under the former Cold War-era Fernald uranium processing facility.
Pushing clean water down the watershed helps flush the remaining uranium contamination in the aquifer toward extraction wells. According to the Ohio EPA, 16,000 pounds of uranium has been removed from the aquifer. The agency reported last year the uranium plume has decreased from 196 acres to 69.
Concentrations are considered safe under the federal drinking water standard.
The land will remain in conservation.
Strass says the Myaamia Center at Miami University will use it for research and education. She notes the Miami people feel connected to the environment and much of their knowledge system is tied to understanding the landscapes of the Lower Great Lakes region.
"It's really important to have opportunities to get out on that land to learn from it and strengthen our knowledge," she says. "There's some great forested areas. There's some wetlands, which are really important to us and are hard to have access to at times, so we'll do some surveys of that space. But a lot of times, it's just going out, seeing the plants, the animals, the things that are on that land, so that we can continue to strengthen that understanding."
Evans says Three Valley retains ownership of the conservation easement on the property, and it will work with the tribe as needed in that area. He says that could include doing surveys or helping to remove invasive plants.
"It's something powerful knowing that this property that we worked to protect for more than a decade really can now be cared for by the sovereign tribal nation, and its history and identity are connected to that place, so that will carry forward," he says. "We're honored to be a part of that."
- Read more:
- How a local watershed is undoing the damages of the Fernald nuclear site
- Wyandot Removal Trail markers unveiled in Lebanon, North Bend
- Miami U's Myaamia Center is collaborating with a French museum on a new exhibit
- Myaamia Center grant will double efforts to revive Indigenous languages nationwide
