‘The blood in our veins’: Onondagas reignite effort to win back Maple Bay, a foothold on Onondaga Lake

Onondaga Lake is a symbol of indigenous and American democracy.

The lake is a renowned habitat for bald eagles, and its shores are revered as the sacred site where the Haudenosaunee Confederacy – the oldest existing Western democracy – originated.

When the Onondaga people stand on its shores and speak their language, Lyons says the lake responds; the fish leap from the water, the birds alight on the shores, the eagles circle overhead.

To the Onondagas, the lake and its ecosystem are not commodities or resources – they are living relatives. “That water is like the blood in our veins,” Betty Lyons said. “It’s who we are.”

Read the Central Current story by Patrick McCarthy, March 27, 2025