[env-trinity] Winnemen Wintu and Allies Protest Governor’s California Water Summit - Story and Photos

[Dan Bacher]

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/07/04/18774455.php

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/03/1398994/-Winnemen-Wintu-and-Allies-Protest-Governor-s-California-Water-Summit-in-Sacramento

Photo of protest against the California Water Summit in front of the  
Westin Hotel in Sacramento on June 30 by Dan Bacher.

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Winnemen Wintu and Allies Protest Governor’s California Water Summit

by Dan Bacher

The Winnemem Wintu Tribe, other tribal representatives and their  
allies rallied, chanted, sang and waved signs on the sidewalk in front  
of Westin Hotel on June 29 and 30 outside the Second California Water  
Summit in Sacramento.

They were there to protest Governor Jerry Brown’s efforts to exclude  
California Tribes, environmentalists, fishermen and other key  
stakeholders in this public meeting about massive state water  
infrastructure projects proposed under Proposition 1, the $7.5 billion  
water bond.

Members of the Concow Maidu, Miwok, Hoopa Valley, Pomo, Wailaki and  
other tribes and Native Hawaiian groups joined with local activists as  
they shouted, “Water is sacred, water is life, protect the salmon,  
protect water rights.”

Representatives of the Klamath Riverkeeper, Restore the Delta, United  
Native Americans and Occupy Sacramento also participated in the event.  
Around 40 people were there at the protest at any given time; over 100  
people showed up at the event between the two days.

Protesters also chanted, “Fight, Fight, Water Rights!” and “Corporate  
Graft, Corporate Greed, this is something we don’t need!,” as cars  
drove by on Riverside Boulevard in front of the hotel.

The Brown administration advertised the event as a conference to  
discuss the latest developments including project selection for the  
$7.5 billion water bond money that is now available after the passage  
of the Water Quality, Supply and Infrastructure Act of 2014, Brown’s  
controversial Proposition 1.

The website for the event proclaimed, "With 7.5 billion bond funds  
available, come and learn about funding and financing opportunities  
for water infrastructure projects at the must attend event for  
California water.”

The keynote speaker was Debbie Davis-Franco, the Local Government  
Drought Liason for the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research  
(OPR), She was originally scheduled to speak on Monday, but then was  
rescheduled to speak on Tuesday, apparently due to the protest outside  
the hotel on Monday.

The website also proclaimed, “Key Decision-Makers and Stakeholders  
Gather
• To discuss the latest developments including project selection for  
the $7.5 billion water bond.
• Provide updates on the new regulations governing groundwater  
management in California.
• Hear private investment perspectives on financing and investment  
opportunities in California water through Public Private  
Partnerships(P3).”

Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe,  
emphasized that registration for the three-day summit was nearly an  
astounding $1,500 per person – and that been no efforts to “include  
tribal representatives, environmentalists or anyone who is advocating  
for sound water policy that will benefit future generations, local  
ecosystems and salmon and other fisheries.”

“Most of the California Indians who are working on tribal water rights  
and for healthier rivers can’t afford a $1,500 registration fee,” said  
Chief Sisk. “This is clearly an effort by Governor Brown to exclude  
the tribal voice, shove out anyone who disagrees with his destructive  
water plans and provide an opportunity for government and the big  
water power brokers to collude behind closed doors.”

A review of the agenda and website reveals that the conference was  
designed for water districts’ staff, government scientists, corporate  
representatives and other advocates to advance Governor Brown’s pet  
water projects like the Shasta Dam raise and the twin Delta Tunnels.  
Both of these would be devastating for salmon and tribal cultural  
resources and sacred sites, including many of the Tribe’s sacred sites  
on the McCloud River that weren’t inundated by Shasta Dam, according  
to Sisk. (http://www.infocastinc.com/events/california-water)

Gerald Thomas, an Elem Pomo member who was holding a sign proclaiming,  
"Warrior Up For Water," outside the Hotel, agreed with Sisk.

“This exclusion of Tribes from a major water conference affects all of  
us. Without water we can’t live; without water we can’t breathe. I am  
here standing here in defense of the people and the earth,” he said.

The corporate and water agency domination of the event was no  
surprise, when you consider that Big Money interests dumped  
$21,820,691 into the Prop. 1 campaign. There is no doubt that these  
wealthy corporate interests are expecting a big return for their  
"investment" in California’s play-to-pay politics system, including  
the construction of the twin tunnels and new dams.

The contributors were a who’s who of Big Money interests in  
California, including corporate agribusiness groups, billionaires,  
timber barons, Big Oil, the tobacco industry, corporate  
“environmental” NGOs including the Nature Conservancy, and the  
California Chamber of Commerce (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2015/04/29/why-governor-brown-broke-his-prop-1-promise-big-money-interests-dumped-218-million-into-the-prop-1-campaign 
)

Rosa Rivera Furamoto, Nanea Young and Mikilani Young, Native  
Hawaiains, came from Los Angeles to emphasize the connections between  
the current direct action blockades to stop the construction of the  
Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on the sacred mountain of Mauna Kea in  
Hawaii and water struggles in California.

“From one mountain to another, we are trying to protect the sacred  
land,” said Mikilani Young. "We are taking a stand to say enough is  
enough. We came up from Los Angeles to stand with the native people of  
California.”

“As the sacred sites and salmon are threatened by the Shasta Dam  
raise, the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea will sit  
upon a protected aquifer. Once they start digging into the ground to  
build the telescope, they will use hazardous chemicals that will  
impact the entire island," said Young.

Ryan Camero, representing Restore the Delta and the Beehive  
Collective, also participated in the protest Tuesday to express  
solidarity with Tribes fighting their exclusion from California water  
discussions. “The tunnels and the Shasta Dam raise are part of the  
corporate takeover of our water by Big Oil and agribusiness,” said  
Camero.

Though California is suffering through five years of drastically low  
rainfall, Chief Sisk said the water problems are all man-made, due to  
poor management and greed. As the low rainfall puts a stress on  
California’s boondoggle of a water system, it has never been more  
important for the indigenous perspective to be heard and for tribal  
water rights to be acknowledged and upheld, according to Sisk.

She said the Winnemem Wintu have an especially important stake in the  
bond funds, as many think they could be used to support the Shasta Dam  
raise to enlarge Shasta Lake’s capacity, which in turn would flood or  
damage about 40 sacred sites vital to the Winnemem’s religion and  
cultural practices.

“This is a summit that is meant to help these people peddle Brown’s  
projects that will benefit his buddies: agribusiness and water sellers  
in Southern California,” Sisk said. “They are not interested in what’s  
best for the people of California and their children.”

Michael Preston of the Winnemem Wintu said he tried to get into the  
meeting, but was told by the organizers that it would cost $1500 for  
just one day! “I didn’t think it was worth it to spend $1500 for one  
day,” he said.

On Tuesday, protesters also marched up to the hotel and back to the  
sidewalk to challenge the destructive water infrastructure projects  
being planned at the California Water Summit.

After the protest on Tuesday, people gathered in front of the hotel to  
pray, sing songs and talk about the opposing the corporate water grab  
by Big Ag, Big Oil and other corporate interests.

“I think we accomplished our major goal to let people know that we  
want to be involved in water discussions, but are being excluded by  
the Governor’s staff at the California Water Summit now. We need water  
for salmon - and Tribes are first in time and first in rights for  
water,” concluded Sisk.

Governor Jerry Brown's exclusion of Tribes, along with his exclusion  
of fishermen, Delta residents, grassroots environmentalists and public  
trust advocates from water discussions, is part of a larger pattern of  
the administration's environmentally unjust policies that the  
mainstream media and most "alternative" media refuse to report about.

While the media and corporate "environmental" NGOs gush about Brown's  
cynical grandstanding about "green energy" and pollution trading at  
carefully staged photo opportunities, Brown has in fact continued and  
expanded the worst policies of the Schwarzenegger administration.

Brown has fast-tracked the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build  
the twin tunnels; has implemented questionable "marine protected  
areas" under the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA)  
Initiative; has presided over record water exports and fish kills at  
the Delta pumps; has put Delta smelt, winter run Chinook and other  
imperiled species on the scaffold of extinction; and has presided over  
the expansion of fracking, an extreme oil extraction technique, in  
California.

Brown is without a doubt the worst Governor for fish, water and the  
environment in recent California history, as I have documented in  
article after article. For more information, read my investigative  
piece about Brown's war on the environment at: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/04/15/18771135.php
§Water Summit for the Rich
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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Jessica Lopez, Vice Chair of the Concow Maidu Tribe, lets Governor  
Brown know how she feels about the California Water Summit. Photo by  
Dan Bacher.
§Protesters in front of hotel
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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Protesters line the street in front of the Westin Hotel in Sacramento  
to blast Governor Brown's exclusion of Tribes and their allies from  
the summit. Photo by Dan Bacher.
§Water Warriors
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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Native Hawaiian activists drew the connection between the federal plan  
to raise Shasta Dam and the plan build the Thirty Meter Telescope on  
sacred Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Photo by Dan Bacher
§Caleen Sisk Interviewed
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe,  
is interviewed by FOX 40 TV News. Photo by Dan Bacher.
§Ryan Camero
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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Ryan Camero of Restore the Delta and the Beehive Collective sings a  
song. Photo by Dan Bacher.
§Protest at the Westin
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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Protesters gather in front of the Westin Hotel to protest Governor  
Brown's Water Summit for the Rich. Photo by Dan Bacher.
§Michael and Mashalle
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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Michael Tuiimyali, Winnemum Wintu, and Mashalle Zarlasht Olomi on the  
sidewalk protesting. Photo by Dan Bacher.
§Four legged friend
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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A four-legged friend joins the protest of the California Water Summit.  
Photo by Dan Bacher.
§Native Voice Matters!
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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"Native Voice Metters!" - did you hear that Jerry Brown? Photo by Dan  
Bacher.
§Warrior Up for Water
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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Gerald Thomas, Elem Pomo, holds up a sign proclaiming, "Warrior Up For  
Water." Photo by Dan Bacher.
§Raise Consciousness
by Dan Bacher Saturday Jul 4th, 2015 10:55 AM

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Raise Consciousness, Not The Dam! Photo by Dan Bacher.

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