The Watersheds Speak: The Voice of Ecosystems in Northern New York's Environmental Movements☆

Abstract

This paper explores how connectivity to place has brought life to contemporary environmental struggles in what is now known as New York State. Layers of memory, colonization, and stewardship are embedded within a community's relationship with their environment. By focusing on two case studies, the authors will illustrate how this relationship shaped successful place‐based resistance. Throughout our work, we offer the alternative methodology of ecocentric storytelling and artistic representation to elevate the voice of both ecosystems and all their inhabitants. Both case studies are centered on environmental/social movements that foreground the inherent personhood of the natural world. The first will focus on the Ashokan Reservoir, in the Catskill Mountains, on land guarded by the Lenape. It is a location that has suffered multiple waves of colonization and successfully resisted a large damming operation. The second case study will be centered on the Upper St. Lawrence River/Kaniatarowanénhne Watershed, Haudenosaunee Territory, where rural communities are uniting to grant Rights to the Rivers that bring life to their communities. Both cases exemplify the story of communities that defended their livelihoods and environments by uniting with their most reliable allies, the Water, and all their more‐than‐human guardians.