We Are Still Here: The Winnemem Wintu
We Are Still Here: The Winnemem Wintu
by Samuel White Swan-Perkins
This is the first of a four part series on the Winnemem Wintu. The goal of the series will be to highlight the myriad issues the Winnemem Wintu are facing in their attempt to retain their sovereignty in their traditional homelands near Shasta and the Shasta Lake area. Michael Preston is the son of the Winnemem Wintu chief, Caleen Sisk.
News from Native California: Michael, what can you tell us about the Shasta Dam Raise project from your perspective as a Winnemem?
Michael Preston: When it was constructed in 1941, the Shasta Dam displaced the Winnemem Wintu and flooded over 4,000 acres worth of indian allotment land that was held in trust by the United States government’s department of the interior. Shasta Dam also cut off the cornerstone species of the ecosystem (salmon) and has starved the region of food for nearly 90 years. It has also caused irreversible damage to the Winnemem Wintu’s ancestral lands and its cosmological order of sacred sites. The Shasta dam has been used as a tool for the CA state government to supply water for big agricultural businesses and fracking in the central valley via the Central Valley Project (federal) and the State Water Project (State). It’s bad policy to begin with and they are trying to pile on more bad policy with their dam raise proposal without due justice to the Winnemem and Winnemem lands. The science is outdated, it’s expensive, the Winnemem Wintu have not been compensated, and there is no regard for the life of the river violating the wild and scenic rivers and endangered species acts. Last but not least big oil, mega agricultural business, and the elite are after the water at the expense of all people. It is bad for the future.
NFNC: What are some specific examples of the negative effect that the dam has had?
Michael Preston: They killed the whole river for miles and threatening to kill off 7 more miles of pristine river. The dam reservoir is adding a tremendous amount of greenhouse gasses to the world. All to grow highly water intensive, poorly managed, monocultured, pesticide ridden, etc. crops in areas not meant to support such monstrous acres worth of one plant. They ruin and destroy the land down there in the central valley. All for a handful of people to become billionaires off of. They try to sell it back to the people and let them work in their plantations. They say they feeding the world and self proclaiming themselves as the breadbasket of the world, but they are feeding the world poison.
NFNC: What is the Army Corp of Engineers planning? What are the benefits they say will come with the construction of the dam? How does this weigh against what you are seeing in your home territory?
Michael Preston: They are planning to send more water down through the central valley project with the inclusion of the twin tunnels peripheral canal at the San Francisco Bay estuary, the largest in the western hemisphere. They say this will help salmon populations and it will be good for the farmers. However, the canal will essentially destroy the estuary and this will not be good for all migratory fish species and could potentially kill many off, including the salmon. This does not line up with our salmon return efforts. Not only do they want water for their monocultural farms, they want water for fracking in Southern California which uses millions of gallons of water per fracking job and highly toxic to ground water supplies. It won’t be good for anyone.
NFNC: What do the Winnemem aim to do about it? What has your Nation been doing to fight this?
Michael Preston: First and foremost we aim to let mother earth know that we still fight and speak as stewards of the Winnemem Waywaket (McCloud River watershed). We as the Indigenous Wintu people of the Winnemem are standing up against this atrocity and calling foul. We are still here! We will always and forever do ceremony along that river on into the spirit world and beyond. No matter what “laws” come into play. God’s law rules. We follow our mother’s way of dancing and praying at sites connected to Olelbus (the one above). Doing our job to protect the blessing way laid down for humans to follow. This is our job and we will continue to speak around the world about this issue that affects the whole state of California. We will continue to push policy every way we can to protect our homelands.
NFNC: What would you like our readers to know about this fight, from the Winnemem perspective? From the perspective of your cousins in New Zealand?
Michael Preston: The Maori people and the Winnemem Wintu are connected as Indigenous people of the world and we should not have to consult with any government when making decisions in regards to the health of our homelands. They want to give us our salmon and we want them back and that should be the end of the discussion. But instead, the US Government wants to step in and accuse the California salmon in New Zealand as being an invasive species if we were to bring them back to our waters. They have no business meddling in our Indigenous affairs. It seems as if they do not want people eating salmon anymore because it is one of the healthiest foods you could ever eat and you don’t have to buy them in the supermarket necessarily. In this salmon’s absence from our lives, the diabetes and cholesterol rate has risen dramatically and we need to eat healthy food from the land again. They are attempting to control all food on the land and we will not go down without a fight.
NFNC: Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about the situation with the Shasta Dam?
Michael Preston: We need help. The land needs help and we better help too because this is starting to get very scary. There is not enough food anymore out there on the land anymore; the food chain is all messed up and in complete imbalance. I do not trust the big agricultural companies to feed me. I don’t want their food. I want whole organic food from the land. I want fresh salmon from my river. I want to pick acorns and I want my deer meat. That is all I need. Our staple foods have long since ceased being our staple foods and my people are suffering because of it. One only need look at the diabetes statistics in Native populations to see that we need to go back to our traditional foods. No Shasta dam raise for corporate water interests. Don’t believe the political soap operas.
Samuel White Swan-Perkins is a freelance journalist based out of Butte County, CA and is the owner of White Swan-Perkins Cultural Consulting. He is a 2016 USC Annenberg Fellow and regular contributing writer to News from Native California. In his free time he enjoys attending powwows and hiking near Bidwell Park.
In our next episode in this serial, Michael and Sam will delve into the particulars surrounding the salmon controversy faced by Winnemem tribal members. If you are interested in ways you can be of assistance, please contact Michael Preston at wintu530@gmail.com
