The tribe's headquarters is located in Lewiston, New York, and their elected chief is Tom Jonathan.

The Tuscarora tribe had migrated in ancient times from the New York area to the South, where they were based in the Carolinas.

During both wars, they suffered attacks by British armed forces and their First Nations allies in central New York.

The Tuscarora were given land from the Seneca tribe (territory which they had taken from the Neutral Nation in the Beaver Wars of the mid-17th century) in 1797.

University at Buffalo head football coach Frank Mount Pleasant was born on the reservation in 1884.

After a lengthy court case and appeals, in 2003, the Power Authority agreed to compensate the tribe financially and return some unused land.

On October 26, 2019, it was reported that a Niagara Power Project lost more than 600 acres when Robert Moses flooded the land to create a reservoir.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Indian reservation has a total area of 9.3 mi2 (24.0 km2), all land.