NOON, in collaboration with the American Indian Law Alliance and in support of the Onondaga Nation, asks all supporters to take a moment to write to the County Executive, Ryan McMahon, asking him to uphold the county’s promise to return land at Maple Bay-on Onondaga Lake- to the Onondaga Nation.

Why should caretaking of Maple Bay be returned to the Onondaga Nation?

Onondaga Lake is a sacred place for Ongweoweh (the original people) of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the birthplace of democracy. The United States agreed that the lake would always belong to the Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy with the 1794 Canandaigua treaty.

Maple Bay is one of the least polluted shoreline areas of Onondaga Lake, and therefore a safe place for Onondaga people to gather and hold ceremony on the shores of their sacred Onondaga Lake.

The Onondaga Nation has lost over 2 million acres of their ancestral lands due to forced removal during the Scorched Earth Campaign, and theft by New York state (in violation of treaty law).

Now is the time for the Onondaga County Executive to uphold the county legislature's commitment and his promise to return this small portion of the lake, Maple Bay, back to the Onondaga People.

You can send a letter or postcard by mail to:

Onondaga County Executive
421 Montgomery Street
Civic Center, 14th Floor
Syracuse NY 13202