[env-trinity] Winnemem Wintu Tribe Joins Battle To Save The Delta

[Daniel Bacher]

Winnemem Wintu Tribe Joins Battle To Save The Delta

by Dan Bacher

Caleen Sisk-Franco, tribal leader, and members of the Winnemem Wintu 
(McCloud River) Tribe recently danced in traditional regalia as part of a 
celebration unveiling a mural in San Francisco dedicated to the tribe’s 
battle to stop the expansion of Shasta Dam and to protect cultural, historic 
and natural resources.
Tribal leaders announced their alarm over Delta food chain and fish declines 
and their partnership with fishery conservation and environmental groups in 
fighting state and federal plans to raise Shasta Dam and increase Delta 
water exports.

Approximately 70 people, including tribal members and representatives of 
Earthjustice, the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water and 
Environmental Water Caucus, attended the dedication of the mural, entitled 
“We Sing to Water.” Created by Evan Bissell and Claude Moller, the mural 
depicts Winnemem Wintu tribal members at their ceremonial war dance at 
Shasta Dam in September 2004.

“When we first entered this fight, we only saw a small piece of the threat 
to our people, the water, and the salmon with the proposed raising of Shasta 
Dam,” said Mark Franco, Headman of Kerekmet Village. “But as we learned more 
of CALFED and the water projects related to it, we learned that the water 
and salmon throughout Northern California and the life of the Delta itself 
are threatened.”

Franco and Gary Hayward Slaughter Mulcahy, liaison for the Winnemem Wintu 
tribe, became very alarmed about the disclosure this year by state and 
federal scientists that Delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad and other 
forage species have reached their lowest levels ever in an apparent food 
chain collapse. The scientists are currently studying the decline and its 
possible solutions.

Scientists attribute the decline to three possible factors: (1) increases of 
water exports, (2) the impacts of pesticides and other chemicals and (3) 
invasive species. However, the tribe, recreational anglers and 
environmentalists point out that three out of the past four years were 
record years for Delta water exports pointing to water exports are the 
primary cause for the collapse.

“We are deeply concerned about the recent discovery that the Delta Smelt are 
at their lowest ever recorded levels,” said Mulcahy. “We have always wanted 
to bring the salmon home to the McCloud, but the news of the smelt 
population does not bode well for the Delta Estuary. The Delta Estuary is 
key in the survival of the salmon as they leave the spawning grounds to go 
out to sea, and return to spawn in adulthood. A dying estuary could mean 
extinction.”

The Winnemem Wintu are currently plaintiffs in a lawsuit with Earthjustice 
and a host of fishery conservation and environmental groups challenging the 
U.S. Department of Interior and National Marine Fisheries Service over an 
October 2004 biological opinion that claimed that the expansion of state and 
federal pumping facilities would create “no jeopardy” to Delta smelt, 
endangered winter run chinook and steelhead, even though a previous draft 
opinion said the plan would jeopardize listed species.

The lawsuit also challenges the Bureau's long term operating plan (OCAP) for 
the federal Central Valley Project and State Water Project, due to the 
Bureau's failure to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the 
plan. A hearing on the lawsuit is set for January 16.

“OCAP changes how the water is managed,” said Mulcahy. “It depletes the cold 
water pool in Lake Shasta. The pool, designated as a specific amount under 
the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, is only managed for a ‘target’ 
under this plan.”

The OCAP also shortens the spawning area available for spring and winter 
chinook salmon by bringing the cold water temperature requirement down 21 
miles on the Sacramento River, according to Mulcahy.
The Sacramento River winter-run chinook, the only winter run salmon on the 
Pacific coast, historically spawned in the cold, glacial runoff of the 
McCloud River before the construction of Shasta Dam. The winter run, along 
with the fall and spring runs, are integral to the tribe’s culture and 
history.

“We eventually want to bring the salmon back to the McCloud,” said Mulcahy. 
“But to do that, the salmon fishery has to be alive.”

Due a series of cooperative measures by the state and federal governments 
spurred by years of political pressure by fishery conservation 
organizations, the number of endangered winter-run Chinook salmon returning 
to spawn in the Sacramento River continues to increase, according to Ryan 
Broddrick, DFG Director.

The run now exceeds 15,000 fish, based on surveys conducted this summer by 
the DFG and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This preliminary estimate is 
the highest since 1981 and continues the trend seen since the mid-1990s.

However, the continued recovery of this run is greatly threatened by state 
and federal plans to raise Shasta Dam and export up to 27 percent more water 
from the Delta. The tribe and fish groups believed this proposal should be 
shelved, especially in light of the unprecedented Delta food chain collapse.

The Winnemem Wintu Tribe’s villages traditionally were concentrated on the 
McCloud River, but the tribe also had villages on the Pit River, Sacramento 
River and Squaw Creek. Built in 1945 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 
Shasta Dam flooded over 90% of the Winnemem homeland. The tribe has 
approximately 125 to 127 members, with the majority now residing in the 
Redding area.

The new proposal, part of the joint federal-state CALFED storage project, 
would raise the dam an additional 6 to 200 feet in order to guarantee 
increased water exports to agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin 
Valley. “Raising Shasta Dam even 6 feet will flood most of our remaining 
sacred sites on the McCloud River that we still use today,” said Caleen 
Sisk-Franco, Spiritual and Tribal Leader for the Winnemem.

The mural was a cooperative project between San Francisco artists fighting 
gentrification and the Winnemem Wintu tribe, who are fighting displacement 
from their homeland, according to lead muralist Claude Moller.  The mural 
will be on display through March 2006. Sponsored by Hypersea and 
Intersection for the Arts, this project is the fourth in a series of 
community based murals known as the “Living Walls Mural Project.”

During the War Dance (“Hu’p Chonas,”) in September 2004, the Winnemem Wintu 
fasted and danced for 4 days and nights at Shasta Dam – and drew hundreds of 
supporters from other Indian tribes and environmental groups. It was the 
tribe’s first war dance in over 100 years, called because of the threat to 
cultural, historical and sacred sites by the Bureau’s proposed enlargement 
of the dam.

“We thank Evan and Claude for this great gift they have given us with this 
mural," emphasized Sisk-Franco, Great Niece of Florence Jones, the Winnemem 
Wintu’s Spiritual and Tribal Leader who passed away on November 22, 2003. 
“It not only depicts our struggles, but also represents the principles 
taught to us by our ‘Grams’ Florence Jones and what we stand for as a 
people. On this day, as we sing, dance and pray for the water, we give 
thanks in memory of Grams.”