Cayugas buy farm for cultural homeland

They purchased a 70-acre organic farm in town of Springport for $200,000.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005
By Scott Rapp
Staff writer

The Cayuga Indian Nation of New York intends to re-establish its cultural homeland on a 70-acre organic farm that it just acquired in the town of Springport.

The Cayugas plan to build a longhouse on the farmland to hold worship services, Native American ceremonies and social gatherings, tribal officials said Tuesday. Construction could start in early spring.

"This is for the people, this is for the nation," said Dan Hill, a traditional council member who is living at and taking care of the farm.

The tribe, adding another piece of property to its holdings in the village of Union Springs and the town of Seneca Falls, closed the deal Thursday and paid $200,000 for the Truesdale Road farm, officials said.

The property, which is assessed at $262,300, sits in the Cayuga Indian land-claim area and was owned by the group SHARE, which stands for Strengthening Haudenosaunee American Relations through Education.

The organization supports the Cayugas' desire to return to their homeland as a sovereign entity and bought the farm for $240,000 in April 2001 to eventually transfer ownership to the tribe.

"We've been working for five years to get this land to the Cayuga people and we're very happy to see this day has arrived," said Jack Rossen, an Ithaca College anthropology and Native American Studies associate professor who was listed as the property owner.

The farm is off Great Gully Road, an area long considered sacred by many Cayugas. Their ancestors sought refuge there during the 1779 Sullivan-Clinton campaign, which wiped out many Native American villages in Central New York. The tribe has stayed homeless for more than 200 years and operates its government in the Buffalo suburb of Gowanda.

"I'm from a Jewish Holocaust family. I think people should be back in their homeland. . . .This is a very special place for them," Rossen said.

The tribe plans to raise fruits and vegetables noncommercially on the farm and will not put up a casino or any other business on the property, said Joseph Heath, a Syracuse lawyer representing the mostly traditional band of Cayugas who backed buying the farm.

Heath said those Cayugas want to work with local elected leaders on resolving tax-related issues pertaining to the farm.

"I think these are issues that can be resolved through diplomacy rather than litigation," Heath said.

The tribe has refused to pay property and sales taxes on its holdings in Union Springs and the town of Seneca Falls. The Cayugas have applied to put those properties in federal trust to avoid paying taxes. Heath said the tribe has yet to decide whether it will pursue tax-exempt status on the farm.

Both Cayuga and Seneca counties are fighting the tribe's federal trust applications and Cayuga County Legislature Chairman-elect George Fearon, R-Springport, said the county would probably oppose any attempt not to pay taxes on the land.

"I don't have a problem with what they say they want to do with that property as long as it's not tax-exempt," Fearon said.

Taxes are up to date and will total about $7,440 next year, said Al Kozlowski, the county's Real Property Services director.

Last June, the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed the Cayugas' land claim to some 64,000 acres. The tribes are expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Staff writer Scott Rapp can be reached at 253-7316 or you can email him at Scott Rapp

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