BAINBRIDGE — The Women’s Water Walk will begin Saturday, Sept. 19, at 11 a.m. at Arctic Lake in Oquaga Creek State Park with a public ceremony honoring water, community and the responsibility to protect the waters that sustain life.

On Sept. 20, there will be an event in Sidney, with songs by Dar Williams, Bethany Yarrow and Members of the Onondaga Women’s Singers.

Led by Indigenous grandmothers and rooted in prayer and positive action, the walk was coordinated by the Waterfall Unity Alliance to help raise awareness around the serious threats the proposed Constitution Pipeline poses to the water, land and rural communities in the region.

The Constitution Pipeline is a 30-inch fracked gas mega-pipeline proposed by the Oklahoma-based Williams Companies, which would run from northeastern Pennsylvania to upper Schoharie County, New York. Rejected in 2016 by New York state as a danger to New York’s water, the project has returned as a coordinated effort between the federal government and fossil fuel companies that opponents say is an attempt to accelerate the re-permitting process and override New York’s previous decision.

“The Women’s Water Walk is not political. It’s a prayer for our water and a call for us to come together to protect our water, our communities, and future generations. Men are welcome to walk alongside us and support this prayer carried by the women—because ultimately, it is a prayer for all life. It’s an honor to walk beside these Indigenous Grandmothers and the prayers that they and their ancestors have carried on this land for generations,” said Bethany Yarrow, a Schoharie County resident, co-founder and acting director of Waterfall Unity Alliance and organizer of the Women’s Water Walk. The pipeline would cut through 125 miles of forests, wetlands, wildlife habitats and farmland, including trenching through more than 300 water bodies and 82 trout stream crossings. The Women’s Water Walk was organized to alert communities to this accelerated process that has included little to no community consultation.

“Water is life.  Water is the first medicine. Water transforms, heals, and has memory – and as we walk this journey, I have been reminded that my ancestors lived and loved this landscape just as they loved their children. Owén:nakon Sandra Deer iontiats (my name is). I am of the Bear Clan family (wakskaré:wake). I am a mother, grandmother, great grandmother (Teiokotere’serané:ten), and a Moon Dancer in the Olmec culture.  As a Haudenosaunee, Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) woman, my responsibility is to preserve lands and waters for those “faces yet to come”. 

This walk is not only to raise awareness regarding land and water protection, it is a Prayer – a Prayer that all Water, and its land, be protected and respected for the coming generations as well as the wildlife, plants and medicines that thrive within these natural ecosystems,” said Sandra Deer, Owén:nakon.

The day will open with a fire ceremony on the beach of the lake led by Owén Sandra Deer and Abuela Kunana. There will be water-honoring songs by members of the Onondaga Women’s Singers, Bethany Yarrow, Bless the Streets and other singers, artists, organizers and community members who will be joining in prayer and solidarity.

“Water is the blood of our sacred Mother Earth,” said Abuela Kunanate Nanixitemikimetzli of the New York Moondance. “It is what gives us life. We are blessed with pure, abundant water, and now we are being called to come together and protect our precious resources.”

Parking and bathroom facilities are available at Oquaga Creek State Park. Following the opening ceremony, participants will begin walking at 12:30 p.m. The first day’s route is about 7.5 miles long, ending at Butts Road, crossing Masonville Creek.

On the second day of the walk, Sunday, Sept. 20, walkers will cross the pipeline route for the first time in Pine Hill State Forest just outside Sidney, and then head into town, where there will be a welcoming reception open to the public from 3 to 6:30 p.m. at the Mexican restaurant La Patrona at 64-66 Main Street in Sidney.

At the reception, there will be singing with beloved singer-songwriter Dar Williams, Bethany Yarrow, and members of the Onondaga Women’s Singers, as well as a pipeline information session and community discussion over guacamole and tacos, with a special discounted menu offered by the restaurant in support of the Water Walk.

“I want us to come together so that our future generations know that we did everything that we could to protect the food, soil, water and air of this beautiful Earth so they can enjoy it as I did as a child, and I do now,” said Erin Dudley, a lead coordinator of the walk. “I hope that you will join us in the Women’s Water Walk, where we can come together to block greed, build community and protect what takes care of us.”

Information about the route, daily schedule, participation, and ways to support the walk is available at womenswaterwalk.org. 

Waterfall Unity Alliance is a women-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Skóhare (the Schoharie Valley) in upstate New York, the ancestral territory of the Kanien'kehá (Mohawk People). Its mission is to protect Skóhare and all Earth, build alliances across movements and cultures, and help create solutions to the existential challenges of our time. The organization supports projects that restore relationships of reciprocity and respect and uphold traditional knowledge and values as a way of healing the planet and society.

The Women’s Water Walk is led by Waterfall Unity Alliance with support from the Center for Oil & Gas Organizing, Center for Earth Ethics, Copal, Frack Action, Sanctuary Earth, Earth Guardians, Riverkeeper, Hartwick College, Nanixitemikimetzli, the Stop the CON Coalition, The Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society, Food and Water Watch, and other partner organizations working to protect the water and communities of New York.

— Information from Women’s Water Walk