The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

For the most up-to-date information visit Save The Mattaponi, an advocacy organization unnaffiliated with this research project

Introduction

The King William Reservoir project is a regional development project sponsored by a coalition of local governments of the cities of Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, and Williamsburg, and the counties of James City and York, Virginia, aimed at developing a dependable potable water supply to meet projected local needs through 2040. The proposed reservoir is slated to comprise a 1,526 acre reservoir pool and areas of wetlands restoration/compensation at a 2:1 ratio of two new acres of wetlands created for every acre destroyed by the project. After considering alternatives to the reservoir dam project, the September 2002 Corps Decision Memorandum decided that “the King William Reservoir, along with conservation measures and utilization of groundwater supplies, is the least environmentally damaging practicable alternative to meet the waters needs of the lower Virginia peninsula.”

The King William Reservoir Project and Controversy

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “exercised the principles of avoidance and minimization” in their choice of Cohoke Creek as the site of the King William Reservoir. The Executive Summary of the 270-page Newport News Wetlands & Streams Mitigation Plan writes that the reservoir site minimizes the project’s environmental impact by “locating the reservoir within a stream segment where wetlands are already separated from direct connection to the Pamunkey River by the existing Cohoke Millpond, located approximately 3.5 miles downstream of the currently proposed Dam Site IV. The 300-year-old Cohoke Millpond dam cuts off the tidal connection from the downstream wetlands and Pamunkey River. The Cohoke Millpond dam also blocks both anadromous and freshwater fish movements, disrupts migratory patterns of other aquatic organisms, and reduces sediment and organic matter transport to the downstream wetlands.” The Corps reports that locating the reservoir at the site of the Cohoke Millpond will minimize the project’s impact on local wildlife, fisheries, and wetlands because the site is already subject to many of the damages associated with the project.

On November 16, 2005, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced the issuance of a Section 404 permit, the final step in allowing the proposed King William Reservoir Project to move from the permitting phase to design and implementation phase. The issuance of the final permit marked the culmination of a long series of conflicts, lawsuits and appeals filed by environmentalist and Native American groups over the proposed reservoir and dam. After complying with all permit requirements, including special conditions to ensure compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, the National Historic Preservation Act, and Executive Order No. 12898 of February 11, 1994, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations,” the city of Newport News, Virginia may begin construction on the Reservoir. Actual construction is not expected to begin until 2010, and the project is expected to be completed in 2017.

The location of the proposed King William Reservoir is highly contentious because of its proximity to the Mattaponi, Pamunkey, and Upper Mattaponi Tribes. Approximately 65 members of the Mattaponi Tribe live on the Mattaponi Reservation less than two miles from the reservoir site, and about 75 members of the Pamunkey Trube live on the Pamunkey Reservation approximately three miles away. Over 100 members of the Upper Mattaponi own acreage eight miles from the site on unincorporated land. The Mattaponi and Pamunkey, who trace their heritage to Pocahontas and her father Powhatan, base many of their legal appeals in the 1677 Treaty Between Virginia And The Indians, between the King of England through the Governor of Virginia and the alliance of 32 Indian tribes in the Powhatan Confederacy, headed by Pamunkey chief Powhatan. Among other provisions, the Treaty specifically guarantees the tribes’ rights to hunt and fish and proscribes a three-mile buffer zone between the reservation’s official borders and any non-Indian development. Because the proposed reservoir lake site is within this buffer zone, the Mattaponi have used the 1677 treaty as grounds for appeal against the reservoir site, albeit with little success.

Native American Historical and Cultural Claims

Conclusive archaeological evidence in the form of arrowheads and other artifacts shows that native peoples have consistently inhabited the area under contention for over 8,000 years. The Pamunkey and Mattaponi peoples are descendants of the first Native Americans to establish contact with English settlers at Jamestown in 1607. This heritage is a powerful source of identity for Virginia Indian peoples. As Karenne Wood, a Monacan poet and the chairman of the Virginia Council on Indians, remarked to The Washington Post, “we survived the past 400 years, and we’re still a viable and contemporary people. We’re adapting, but we’re keeping our traditions.” Ken Adams, chief of the Upper Mattaponi, remarked in the same article that “For so many years we were hunkered down in a survival mode. For 250 years, they tried to obliterate our culture.” Themes of cultural resiliency and the maintenance of essential traditions are recurrent throughout the testimonies, websites, and media quotes of members of the three tribes affected by the Reservoir.

In his oral statement at the October 4, 2004 hearing regarding the City of Newport News’ application for federal consistency certification, Mattaponi chief Carl Custalow explained the significance of the Mattaponi River to Mattaponi identity, culture, and traditions. Chief Custalow stated that the tribe opposes the Reservoir project because “it will destroy the shad population in the Mattaponi River. As the tribe will depend on the American shad in the Mattaponi River for food, income, and most importantly, our cultural identity. The river has been the center of our community for many centuries...The river is more than a source of food and money for the tribe. The river and the shad are the basis of our culture and traditions.” The Mattaponi River is traditionally considered by the Mattaponi to be the place where life began. The dam will potentially decimating the already-depleted shad fishery due to the dam’s basic alteration of salinity levels in the Mattaponi river, a major mainstay for the Mattaponi tribe. Every spring children are still taught how to fish for shad. The annual shad harvest provides the main cultural event that brings tribe members back to the reservation and maintains traditional Mattaponi culture from generation to generation. However, an official report by the State of Virginia found that the design and planned regime for the the King William Reservoir will provide a "high degree of protection" for vulnerable fish species. Additionally, the flooding of the 1,500 acre reservoir pool will destroy sites of historic and cultural significance. Custalow stated that “The reservoir will flood over 89 sites that may be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places...The places have tremendous emotional and symbolic significance for the tribe...they represent some of the last remaining physical links we have with our ancestors.” Despite the permit requirements and compliance standards mandated by federal laws governing historic and archaeological sites, Custalow argued that “neither the Section 106 process under the National Historic Preservation Act or any other measure can mitigate the loss of this heritage.”

Hearings and and the Archeological Controversy

At the same hearing, a prepared statement from Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis, Congressional District 1, supported Chief Custalow’s position regarding the importance of the Reservoir site to Mattaponi culture and heritage. Congresswoman Davis stated that, “I remain in opposition to the proposed King William Reservoir, and stand with the Mattaponi tribe in honoring the Treaty of 1677. The King William reservoir project would violate Native American rights whose heritage dates back to Powhatan and Pocahontas.” Davis also cited environmental concerns in her opposition to the project, siding with “scientific experts at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, VMRC staff and others who believe that there will be irreparable harm to the wetlands and fisheries stretching from the Mattaponi River to the Chesapeake Bay.” Both the arguments of Chief Custalow and Congresswoman Davis asserted that the destruction of the Mattaponi shad fishery and loss of historic sites due to flooding the reservoir lake would bring irreparable harm to the Mattaponi and Pamunkey ways of life and conceptualizing their identities and histories.

The terms of the 404 Permit issued in November of 2005 requires that the proposed Reservoir site be examined for archaeological and historic significance in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The dig is scheduled to begin during the summer of 2006, and focus on over 6,000 acres of land in the Middle Peninsula of Virginia potentially affected by either the planned reservoir or wetlands restoration.

The proposed archaeological project slated to begin in early summer 2006 has elicited significant differences in opinion between archaeologists and Native Americans. Generally, the archaeological community expressed great excitement over the opportunity to conduct the project, and hope that it will help give them a clearer picture of the evolution of native cultures in Virginia. In 1996, archaeologists surveyed (but did not excavate) the proposed reservoir site, and found 112 camp sites and an assortment of objects which indicated that native communities have inhabited the Middle Peninsula area for over 8,000 years. Tim Thompson, the Norfolk District archaeologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, stated simply that “There’s going to be some really exciting stuff.” However, in a separate interview, Thompson also noted the potential damage to archaeological sites posed by the King William Reservoir project. Thompson states that, “If you were an archaeologist preparing a map of likely [prehistoric Indian] sites, it would overlap almost exactly with their wetland mitigation areas.” While archaeologists are optimistic regarding the funding and permission to examine Native sites on the proposed reservoir area, they also remain skeptical at the reservoir’s probable destruction of this historic and cultural heritage. The city of Newport News plans to spend several years and over $3 million on archaeological surveys and mitigation efforts.

Part of the excitement among archaeologists is the opportunity to study historic native artifacts with the descendents of those communities living so close by. Joe Jones, director of the College of William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research, stated that the dig is “a very rare opportunity in this part of the country. I see it as kind of a research park...The potential is unprecedented.” Jones noted that he was particularly excited by the proximity of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey tribes, saying, “It’s very much like living archaeology.” The opportunity to work with native communities whose traditions are related to those in evidence at dig sites is highly significant to scholarly understanding of how early Native Americans went about their lives. Chris Stevenson, of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, which is also a party to the agreement, sums up this perspective in his statement that “The comprehensive overview [of early Virginia Native American life] that can come out of this...will get you the big picture” of the evolution of Native culture.

Leaders of the Mattaponi, Upper Mattaponi, and Pamunkey Indian Tribes have unanimously declared their opposition to the archaeology project, although they informally cooperate with the process. Tribal leaders see informal cooperation as the only means to have some control over the antiquities present in the 6,000 acre dig site. Warren Cook, assistant chief of the Pamunkey Tribe, stated that “You’ve got to work with the mitigation process, or they do it all for you. We wanted to have input.”

The Settlement

Despite this unofficial cooperation with the dig, tribal leaders remained firmly opposed to the slated archaeological inquiry. Upper Mattaponi Chief Adams said, “we’ve felt all along that you cannot mitigate this sort of problem. We’ve been here [8,000] to 10,000 years and [Newport News] has been here 400 years and they want us to mitigate? That’s impossible.” Similarly, Cook stated, “Let the poor people rest, let the artifacts rest.” David Bailey, a lawyer representing the Mattaponi in its formal opposition to the reservoir, sums up the situation regarding the summer 2006 dig neatly: “This is not like digging up Aztec remains in Mexico. The tribe is literally two miles away, so it’s very sensitive.” The investigation into Middle Peninsula Indian artifacts will be one of the biggest of its kind in Virginia history. In April of 2007, however, a settlement was reached. Continue

Drafted by Cara Chomski and edited by Nate Chappelle