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PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

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One old fish sits back on seasoned fins, reminiscing
about the good old days when independent, free-
swimming salmon made it all the way to and from
the spawning grounds, on their own steam -- or died
along the way -- a real test of strength and endurance.

" . . . Nothing like that these days . . . these youngsters
can't find their own way around the harbor -- let alone,
out to sea . . . !"

I wonder what it would take to turn that clock back . . . !!

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THOUGHTS

A Contemporary Winnemem Wintu Story

http://www.winnememwintu.us/thoughts.htm


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WINNEMEM WINTU PEOPLE

{{ Middle Water People }}


Raising Shasta Dam

The US Bureau of Reclamation proposes to raise Shasta
Dam. This would cause extensive damage to remaining
sacred sites and ceremonial grounds of the Winnemem Wintu
People of the McCloud River {traditional guardians/carekeepers
of Mt. Shasta} -- who already have been forced to forfeit most
of their original lands to the flood of 'progress' that has inundated
this continent over the last few centuries.

In a move to undermine civil rights and the ability to defend these
lands, the Federal Government recently declassified the Winnemem
Wintu as an officially recognized Native American Nation.

In a country that lauds freedom of religion and respect
for cultural diversity, {not to mention, truth, justice,
and pursuit of happiness for all people} . . . how do we
honestly justify the disenfranchisement of cultures whose
spiritual and traditional roots have been focussed in these lands

since long before Anglo-Europeans even knew they existed?

Surely, we have other ways to generate energy.
If its more water we need {as much as we do waste}:

. . . why not explore desalinization of sea waters?

With melting polar ice caps, that would be one way
to balance the odds -- without causing destruction
or loss to others. If we do not develop ways to progress
without violating environmental and cultural health,
we will wind up with debts we cannot pay.

We reap what we sow.

A few feet of water for the dam might mean a few
seasons of predicable profits for energy and water
companies -- it would wipe out centuries of traditional
worship and cultural integrity for the Winnemem people.

By now, the precedent has been established -- the
economics of progress are held to be more important
than the cultures and traditions of peoples who, until
recently, have not even been recognized as human.

This is unjust -- it always has been.

Haven't we come far enough in the maturation
of our own culture to address this hypocrisy
and take real steps to turn it around?

We cannot replace what already has been destroyed.
The least we can do is work around what remains
and stop decimating traditional lands and cultures
of 'endangered' populations.

Do Traditional American peoples have a right to peacefully defend
their homeland and cultural tradition -- so integrally bound to
the land of their birth -- ancestral roots -- and the elements in
ways the "western mind" simply does not comprehend . . . ?

Of Course They Do . . . here in . . . America

. . . Land Of The Free . . . Home Of The Brave . . .

first and foremost devoted to the right
to worship freely according to individual
conscience and "religious orientation"

. . . don't they . . . ?!


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Winnemem Wintu Tribe

< < < http://www.winnememwintu.us/ > > >

The U. S. Bureau of Reclamation has
proposed raising the 602 foot Shasta Dam
any where from 6 to 200 feet as part of a
greater CALFED plan to increase water storage
for a thirsty, wasteful and ever growing California.

Raising the dam would flood the many
of the last remaining sacred sites of the
Winnemen Wintu Tribe. Cultural devastation
of this scale is akin to razing the Vatican.

In 1851 the Winnemen signed a treaty with the U.S.
Government ceding all their lands in exchange for a
35 square mile reservation. Congress never ratified
the treaty, no reservation was established, yet the
U.S. government took possession of Winnemen lands.

Additionally, the Tribe was stripped of its tribal
status in the mid-eighties due to a technicality.

Members of the Winnemen have been attending
hearings on the proposed dam expansion in recent
months, but they are at a disadvantage because the
tribe is not formally recognized under federal law.

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Welcome to the Circle of Life

http://www.circleoflifefoundation.org/

The Circle of Life is made up of all of us who share
this precious planet. In the Circle of Life, we recognize
that we are all connected, and that every choice we make
makes a difference. Our purpose is to help you make the kind
of choices that protect, conserve, respect, and honor all life.


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More information:

McCloud River Indians Hold "War Dance"
To Stop Shasta Dam Expansion

by Dan Bacher

For the first time in 117 years, the Winnemem
(McCloud River) Tribe held a four-day "War Dance"
at Shasta Dam that ended at dusk on September 16.

The dance's purpose was to protest the Bureau of
Reclamation's proposal to raise the dam anywhere
from 6 1/2 to 200 feet as part of the CalFed Program.

The tribe of 125 members, based in Redding,
lost much of their remaining homelands and their
salmon when the dam was constructed in 1937.

"Any raising of the dam, even a few feet,
will flood some of our last remaining sites on
the McCloud River - sites we still use today,"
said Caleen Sisk-Franco, Winnemem Spiritual
and Tribal Leader. "Village sites, burial ground
and ceremonial grounds will all be lost forever."

On September 12, just before dusk,
tribal members lit a sacred ceremonial fire,
beat a drum, began singing and started their fast.

Eight barefoot men danced from dusk
on Sunday through dusk on Thursday.
The tribe held the dance under a permit
from the Bureau.

Over 125 people supported the tribe
either in the press conference held
before the dance or during the dance.

Representatives of environmental and fishery
restoration groups, including Steve Evans
of Friends of the River and Dave Fink of
California Trout, spoke in support of the tribe.

The Hoopa Valley Tribe from the Trinity River
and members of the Miwok, Redding Rancheria,
Pit River and Shasta Toyon tribes also supported
the dancers.

Besides flooding sacred sites, a higher dam
would hurt salmon, steelhead and other
fisheries on the Sacramento River, since
the main purpose of the proposal is to
provide more water to export to southern
California and San Joaquin Valley farmers.

It would result in a smaller cold-water pool in
Lake Shasta, creating the possibility of increased
pre-spawning mortality of chinook salmon.

"We received emails of support from people
all over the world as we conducted our dance,"
said Charlotte Berta, a member of the tribe.

"The War Dance is used to ask for protection
before we go into battle. We danced to tell the
dam that it is our enemy and not the people.

We danced for our people and all our relations.
We danced to ask for protection of the waters,
the salmon and ourselves. We are going into
battle, though not a physical one, and we
danced to give notice to the dam."

Sisk-Franco said the last time the tribe
invoked the "War Dance" was in 1887
when a fish hatchery on the McCloud
River was considered the enemy
and protecting the salmon and the
Winnemem way of life was the focus.

"We prayed on what it was we were
supposed to do about the raising of
the dam and we were told to hold
a war dance," said Fisk-Franco.

"Our ancestors showed the way with
the dance against the fish hatchery and
this is the path that was shown to us.

We gave up our homeland for the sake
of the California people and got nothing in
return. Now you want to take our sacred
places and again we get nothing in return."

The tribe lost all of its ancestral land on
the McCloud River in 1851 when the federal
government signed a treaty with them. In return,
the tribe was supposed to receive a 25 square mile
reservation, but the treaty was never ratified, and
the government illegally seized the land anyway.

Eventually, individual tribal members were given
allotments along the McCloud River, but their land
was completely flooded by Shasta Dam in 1937.

When Shasta Dam was first proposed, Congress
passed a law authorizing the federal government
to take the lands and the burial grounds that
the Winnemem had for a thousand years.

"Promises were made to the tribe that
still have not been kept," said Sisk-Franco.

"The tribe is asking the BOR to resolve these
long standing debts before proceeding with
these studies. The tribe, as part of the ongoing
CalFed process to meet water storage and meet
California's growing thirst, wants to study alternatives
to raising the dam such as better management practices
for the existing reservoir and conservation options, as
well as better protection of the fish populations."

The dam expansion would flood the burial ground
that includes victims of the massacre at Kaibai Creek;
Puberty Rock, where the young women's coming of
age ceremonies are held; and Children's Rock, where
the young ones place their hands for blessings to make
them good people and to help them understand and
magnify whatever special gifts they hold, according to
Mark Franco, Headman of the tribe's Kerekmet Village.

Bureau of Reclamation officials claim that dam
expansion could help salmon by providing steadier
flows in the Sacramento River and maintaining colder
water temperatures for migrating salmon and steelhead,
but the tribe and environmental groups disagree.

"The Bureau says a higher dam is needed to benefit
the salmon, but in fact they are changing the operations
in a way that will eliminate the cold water pool in Shasta
Lake," said Steve Evans, conservation director of Friends of
the River. "They are actually proposing to reduce the amount
of water in the reservoir by exporting more water south.

This dam expansion is tied into supplying Bureau contracts
with irrigations while increasing Delta diversions."

Whereas under current operations the Bureau has to
maintain cold water 58 degrees and lower in the river
down to Red Bluff, the Bureau's proposal would move
the required cold water zone upstream to Balls Ferry.

Operational changes could result in 26 percent
mortality on Sacramento River spring chinooks
in dry years and in up to 100 percent mortality
in critically dry years, according to Evans.

Raising the dam would also impact houseboat
owners, marina operators and fishermen on
Shasta Lake, as well as potentially inundate
sections of the McCloud River, a world-class
wild trout fishery.

"The Bureau claims that the purpose of the
dam is to help the salmon," concluded Berta.
"But look at the facts: the Bureau in 1937
put in a big dam with no fish ladder that
prevented salmon from getting upstream.
Now they are saying that making the dam
higher is supposed to help the salmon?

They are not talking to native people who
know all about the habitat of the salmon.
We could provide them with a lot of information
that would help them restore salmon populations."

The Winnemem is not a federally recognized tribe
-- in a bureaucratic snafu, the federal government
mistakenly {{??!!}} left the tribe out when it transcribed
a list of recognized tribes -- and the tribe supported
a bill authored by Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse
Campbell that would make a " technical correction"
to give the tribe federal recognition.

However, the Winnemem rider to the technical
correction bill , slated to be submitted to the
Senate the week of September 20, was pulled.

Passage of the technical correction was considered
a sure thing until Senator Feinstein's office said she
would not vote for it if it contained the language for
the Winnemem restoration of federal recognition,
according to Berta. Since it's a technical correction,
it contained several other issues, and based on the
100% requirement for passing, the Winnemem rider
was pulled in order to get the other issues passed.

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For more information, visit

www.winnememwintu.us


Juliette Beck
California Campaign Director
Water for All
Public Citizen
510-663-0888 ext. 101
www.citizen.org/california

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On 9/15/04, the Senate passed by unanimous consent a
compromise bill that would authorize the California
Bay-Delta Restoration program, or CALFED.

CALFED is a joint project between California and the federal government
to restore the Bay-Delta system and improve water management in the
state. Sponsored by Sen. Feinstein (D-CA), the Senate bill was based
on the House-passed bill (H.R. 2828) sponsored by Rep. Calvert (R-CA).

Like the House bill, the Senate version would authorize
$389 million in federal funding over four years.

Sen. Feinstein eliminated a damaging provision in the House version
that would give the Bureau of Reclamation the authority to fund new
dams without congressional approval. Both bills, however, threaten
fisheries in the Delta region and do not include adequate funding
for ecosystem restoration or water use efficiency.

The House is now considering whether to accept the Senate bill
or take the two bills to conference to resolve the differences.

last revised 9.23.04

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QUESTION:

If "stealth riders" attached to "must-pass" bills
{DOD/DOT/DOE} become "law" in clear violation
of federal, state and popular mandates, why is this
"Technical Correction"
not allowed the same
free passage?

Is this the self-proclaiming superior 'sonofasonofason's way'
of letting us know he can do what he bloody well pleases,
and NO WAY can anyone say or do anything about it
that will make one whit of difference?

Is this really just about blatant Lust for Profit and Power
on the part of a handful of self-interested brokers

. . . In The Name Of God -- NO LESS!?!

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" . . . Jesus went into the temple of God,
and cast out all them that sold and bought
in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the
moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves,

And said unto them, 'It is written, "My House
shall be called the house of prayer;"
but ye have made it a
den of thieves.' "

{{ Matthew XXI: 12, 13 }}

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The Salmon Planning Act (HR 1097)

In March 2003, Representatives Jim McDermott (D-WA)
and Tom Petri (R-WI) re-introduced the Salmon Planning
Act (SPA) in the 108th Congress as a backup plan
for Northwest wild salmon and steelhead.

This common sense fact-finding bill has three main sections.

First, it calls for a scientific study by the National Academy
of Sciences to see if removal of the four Lower Snake River
dams is truly needed to recover imperiled salmon.

Second, it authorizes several economic studies to
examine transportation and energy alternatives and
community transitions in the event that dam removal
becomes necessary to comply with legal and tribal
treaty obligations.

Third, the Salmon Planning Act provides the federal
agencies provisional authority to plan for the removal
of the four Snake River dams if needed to restore
our imperiled salmon.

More than ever, wild salmon need a backup plan to ensure
their survival. The Salmon Planning Act (H.R. 1097) will plan
for the future with sound science and hard economic principles.
Contact your representative in Congress and urge him or her
to join the other 110 members of Congress in co-sponsoring
the Salmon Planning Act. Please Act now!

Save Our Wild Salmon / Action Center
http://www.wildsalmon.org/actioncenter/

For more information: Salmon Planning Act (HR 1097)

http://www .wildsalmon.org/library/congress.cfm

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November 30, 2004 has now been renamed "Extinction Tuesday"
by all who care about Northwest wild salmon. On that day, the
Bush administration finalized the new Federal Salmon Plan
abandoning all hope of recovering salmon to abundant,
harvestable populations, redefining dams as immutable
parts of the natural landscape and taxing Americans $6
billion to pay for ineffective techno-fixes at the dams. These
ineffective and even harmful policies are costing taxpayers
billions, while time is running out for endangered salmon.

In short, the Bush Administration made two announcements
affecting wild salmon and steelhead in the Northwest and
across the Pacific Northwest -- refortifying its first-term
attack on West Coast wild salmon and steelhead --
and salmon-reliant businesses and communities.

First, the Administration released a plan for the Columbia and
Snake Rivers that abandons recovery and actually allows salmon
extinction. It will cost $6 billion over the next 10 years.

To learn more about the Columbia Basin Salmon Plan:

http://www.wildsalmon.org/library/fed-salmon-plan.cfm


Second, the Administration announced a proposed rule that
significantly rolls back previous critical habitat designations
designed to protect and restore wild salmon and steelhead
under the Endangered Species Act.

To learn more about the Critical Habitat Rollbacks:

SALMON AND STEELHEAD MAY LOSE PROTECTIONS

The administration proposes to roll back
'critical habitat' for the ever-declining fish
by up to 90%. Developers applaud the plan.

By Kenneth R. Weiss, LA Times Staff Writer

http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=36852


Forest Conservation Portal

http://forests.org/

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PUBLIC HEARINGS:

The Administration is holding public hearings on the Proposed
Critical Habitat Rule. So far, hearings in the Northwest are
scheduled in Portland, Kennewick, Boise and Seattle.

For More Information, please contact:

Save Our Wild Salmon / Home Page
http://www.wildsalmon.org/

sos@wildsalmon.org
1-800-SOS-SALMON

Joseph Bogaard mailt joseph@wildsalmon.org
Kell McAboy mailt kell@wildsalmon.org
206-286-4455


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Bruce Babbit, former Secretary of the Interior under President
Clinton published an excellent op-ed in the Seattle Times,
advocating (finally!) for solutions for salmon recovery
instead of continued conflict and failure.

This is exactly the type of conversation our region and Congress
needs to have right now. SOS and the businesses, organizations,
citizens, and scientists have been asking for exactly this discussion
-- what are the true costs and the true benefits of restoring wild
salmon and steelhead by removing the 4 high-cost but low-value
dams on the lower Snake River?

When we have an honest conversation about these issues,
we will find a lot of common ground that can help us all
-- salmon-reliant businesses, conservationists, renewable
energy advocates, taxpayer advocates, farmers, and others
-- move forward together.

PLEASE WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR AND HELP
KEEP THIS CRITICAL CONVERSATION ALIVE!

Thank you for your support and help!

jb
Joseph Bogaard
206-286-4455, x13

For further information:

joseph@wildsalmon.org

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An Administration Roadmap To Salmon Extinction

By Bruce Babbitt

January 4, 2005

Special to the Los Angeles Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002139300_salmon04.html

"Wild salmon are drifting toward extinction in the northern
Rocky Mountains. Last fall, the Bush administration delivered
a decision that will be the death blow, if it stands: Four obsolete
dams on the Snake River in eastern Washington state will not be
dismantled.

The administration's plan is a very expensive roadmap to salmon
extinction. It's time to admit a mistake and set about fixing it -- for
the sake of fishermen, farmers, Native Americans, the salmon, the
inland Pacific Northwest ecosystem -- and the taxpayers."

{{Bruce Babbitt was secretary of the
Department of Interior from 1993 to 2001.
He is a former governor and attorney general of Arizona.}}

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2005 / www.tahomahome.com / k. allen