Tracing Nuclear Landscapes: A Hazardous History of Lewiston, New York

• Sarah Lacour, Art, University of Delaware

• Amy Hicks, Art & Design, University of Delaware

Niagara Falls Storage Site, a nuclear waste dump used during and following the Manhattan Project, in the town of Lewiston, New York sits approximately 2 miles from Lewiston-Porter Schools and the Tuscarora Reservation. It sits within a site formerly owned by the Department of Defense, known as the Lake Ontario Ordnance Works, a site that has housed numerous hazardous waste facilities that serve the wider region. My research sought to develop an understanding of this site, within the context of the region’s history, to further determine how power shaped the landscape and populations of this region. This began with a gathering of secondary sources from the local historic society, reports on indigenous groups in the region, and articles that focus on the former LOOW site. To supplement information from secondary sources, I extended this search to primary sources that ranged from government documents like census schedules and reports from the US Army Corps of Engineers, and local perspectives including blog posts, and community driven health and safety reports. This complicated history between vulnerable populations and the government demonstrates a disconnect between community trust and government action on the regulation of the former LOOW site. This extends to the broader history of the area, which includes the relationship between the US government and both Seneca and Tuscarora tribes, located in the region for thousands of years prior to colonization. The last goal of the project, currently in a preliminary stage, is to visually translate how political and economic power shapes landscapes, influencing an uncertain and unstable relationship between communities and their environment.