A 45-acre stretch of woods and wetlands along the Paddys Run watershed in Morgan Township is back in the hands of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, whose ancestors were driven out of Ohio nearly two centuries ago. Three Valley Conservation Trust has completed the transfer of the property, known as Fossil Creek, with the land set to remain permanently protected even under its new ownership.
According to WVXU, Three Valley had owned and managed Fossil Creek for more than a decade before handing over the deed. The trust is retaining ownership of the conservation easement on the property and may continue working alongside the tribe on tasks like wildlife surveys or removing invasive plants, the station reports. Randy Evans, Three Valley's executive director, said the trust welcomed the tribe taking ownership and stewardship of land with deep cultural ties, per the same report.
The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma says the Myaamia Center at Miami University plans to use Fossil Creek for research and education going forward, and Myaamia Heritage Students at the university will get hands-on opportunities to study the property's flora and fauna. The tribe also received a commemorative plaque marking the partnership and the return of ancestral homelands to tribal ownership and stewardship.
A Watershed Tied to Cold War Contamination
Fossil Creek sits within the larger Paddys Run Conservation Project, which the Miami Tribe says now protects more than 4,800 acres through conservation easements or outright property purchase. The project traces back to a settlement between the State of Ohio and the U.S. Department of Energy over contamination at the former Fernald uranium processing facility, which established a $13 million fund to protect and improve the Paddys Run watershed and the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer, according to the tribe's account.
That watershed feeds directly into the Great Miami Aquifer beneath the old Fernald site, the station's report notes, and pushing clean water down the watershed is seen as a way to help flush remaining uranium contamination toward extraction wells. The Ohio EPA has reported that 16,000 pounds of uranium have been removed from the aquifer, and that the uranium plume shrank from 196 acres to 69 acres last year. Uranium concentrations in the area are considered safe under the federal drinking water standard.
Reclaiming Land After Forced Removal
The Miami Tribe was forcibly removed to Oklahoma from its traditional homelands in Ohio and Indiana between 1795 and 1846, and no federally recognized tribes are headquartered in Ohio today, per the station's reporting. Kara Strass, director of Miami Tribe relations at the Myaamia Center, told the outlet that owning ancestral land feels different from simply having access to it, and that land ownership may help the tribe heal from the trauma of that forced removal.
Strass also said she's noticing more interest from public entities and partners in working directly with the tribe on land donations or access, describing growing momentum on that front in the same interview. Three Valley's transfer follows years of the trust working with the tribe on stewardship plans for the property, the station reports.
A Broader Pattern of Land Returns
The Fossil Creek transfer echoes a wider trend of tribes reacquiring ancestral land across the country. In California, the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians recently received 51 acres in the San Gabriel foothills, its second land return, made possible by a $1.9 million grant from the California Natural Resources Agency, according to the Los Angeles Times. That tribe set up its own nonprofit, the Tataviam Land Conservancy, back in 2018 specifically to acquire land, the paper reported, while California's natural resources secretary has said the state has invested more than $200 million in initiatives that have brought over 100,000 acres back to tribes statewide.
Under Ohio law, a conservation easement is defined as an interest in land held for a public purpose, such as keeping land, water or wetlands predominantly in a natural, scenic, open or wooded condition, with limits placed on use or development, according to the Ohio Revised Code. That framework is what allows Three Valley to keep Fossil Creek permanently protected even as ownership shifts to the Miami Tribe, ensuring the land stays wild and accessible for the research and cultural connection the tribe says it's seeking.
