News > Cayuga tribes slowly reclaiming ancestral territory

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Cayuga tribes slowly reclaiming ancestral territory
Tuesday, September 2, 2003

Two decades after filing suit, the Cayuga Nation of New York and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma are finally on their way to re-establishing their homeland.

The tribes sued the state of New York for 64,000 acres of land. A federal judge sided with the tribes and awarded them $247.7 million in damages.

The case is on appeal, by both sides, as the tribes make their next moves. The Cayuga Nation has purchased a convenience store and car wash in ancestral territory, offering tax-free goods ot consumers. The tribe wants to build a casino in the Catskills and has a 30-acre land-into-trust application pending.

The Seneca-Cayuga Tribe has bought 229 acres and plans to build a Class II bingo facility there. But a federal judge halted work pending resolution of a lawsuit over the extent of the tribe's sovereign rights.