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<P><B>Tribe sees dam plan as cultural genocide</B> <BR><B>Raising lake level
would drown sites sacred to the Winnemem Wintu</B> <BR>- Glen Martin, Chronicle
Environment Writer <BR>Sunday, February 27, 2005
<P>A plan to raise Shasta Dam could help ease California's water crisis, but a
band of California Indians says the project will obliterate their culture and
way of life.
<P>The dam proposal is a centerpiece strategy of CalFed, the joint federal and
state agency empowered to distribute the state's water to its various
stakeholders.
<P>The idea is to raise the dam 16 feet or more, vastly increasing the holding
capacity of Shasta Lake -- and the state's water supply -- for a relatively
small investment. Raising the dam by even 16 feet could boost Shasta's storage
capacity by 300,000 acre-feet -- enough to supply 900,000 families with water
for a year.
<P>Agriculture and municipalities are bullish on the proposal. California
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was instrumental in securing recent key
authorizing legislation for CalFed, is supporting feasibility studies for the
plan.
<P>But fisheries advocates and environmentalists generally are opposed to the
project, saying it would provide no benefit for downstream fisheries and
wildlife.
<P>And for the Winnemem Wintu -- a tribe of about 125 members that historically
occupied the McCloud River drainage -- a higher dam would be an unmitigated
catastrophe.
<P>Raising the dam would submerge several sacred sites permanently, tribal
members say. And because these sites are essential to the tribe's religious
ceremonies, the project, they say, amounts to cultural genocide.
<P>"We feel like Catholics would feel if it was decided that flooding the
Sistine Chapel was a good public works project," said Caleen Sisk-Franco, the
tribe's leader. "To us, the project would be the worst kind of sacrilege."
<P>Sisk-Franco made her comments at Kaibai, an ancient Winnemem village site on
the McCloud River arm of Shasta Lake. According to a U.S. Forest Service
archaeologist in the area, the Winnemem may have lived here for more than 2, 000
years.
<P>Typically, Kaibai is underwater for much of the year, appearing only after
the reservoir has been drawn down in the summer. But due to unusually heavy
releases from Shasta Dam, the tribe has had access to Kaibai for months. The
McCloud is running free and clear past the ancient village site.
<P>If Shasta Lake is raised by 16 feet, Kaibai probably will disappear forever.
<P>Sisk-Franco gently placed her hand on a large rock cratered with numerous
mortar holes for grinding.
<P>"We hold the puberty rites for our kids here," Sisk-Franco said. "We use this
rock every year for grinding medicinal plants -- just as our ancestors have
done, for hundreds of years."
<P>She pointed to a huge boulder across the river and downstream from the
grinding rocks.
<P>"That's Children's Rock," she said. "Our children are taught to climb there
in our initiation ceremonies, to gain confidence for later observances, when
they have to climb -- that."
<P>She turned, and nodded at a steep, rocky peak looming over Kaibai.
<P>"That's Hamaleokus," she said. "Our boys are taken up there to fast when they
come of age. When the white men came into the McCloud drainage, we flew a flag
at the top of Hamaleokus, to say, 'We're still here.' "
<P>Mark Franco, a tribal member and Sisk-Franco's husband, said the tribe has
tried to contact CalFed, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Feinstein about its
concerns, but have received little substantive feedback.
<P>"It's clear they don't really want to be bothered with us," Franco said.
<P>But representatives of the agencies involved in the dam proposal say they
have no intention of ignoring the Winnemem.
<P>Keith Coolidge, a spokesman for CalFed, said raising Shasta Dam is one of
five new surface water storage projects contemplated for the state.
<P>"The participating agencies will look at the comparative merits (of the
different projects) and should arrive at a decision by the end of 2006,"
Coolidge said. "I'm sure the concerns of the Winnemem will be addressed as the
Shasta Dam proposal goes through the process."
<P>Jeff McCracken, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the agency
that administers the Shasta Dam and reservoir, said all stakeholders will be
heard before a decision is made.
<P>"Where the Winnemem are concerned, we will do cultural surveys and look at
the impacts that could arise," McCracken said. "This isn't 50 years ago, when
whole towns were moved for water projects without a second thought."
<P>But Franco said the Winnemem generally have found government agencies
unresponsive to their concerns over sacred sites -- not just the Bureau of
Reclamation and CalFed, but also the U.S. Forest Service.
<P>He cited one recent point of conflict: Dekkas, a steep hillside site near the
McCloud River used by the tribe for a variety of rites, including a spring
ceremony honoring Winnemem elders who have survived the winter.
<P>On a tour of Dekkas, Franco and Sisk-Franco pointed out a large number of
brush piles that had been stacked recently, a fuel reduction effort carried out
by the Forest Service. The brush was all old-growth manzanita, Franco noted, and
had been part of a grove sacred to the tribe.
<P>"This is where we get our wood for our ceremonial fires," he said. "Now - -
it's all gone."
<P>Franco shook his head, visibly upset. "This has completely desecrated
Dekkas," he said. "We had explicit agreements with the Forest Service that they
would stay away from this site."
<P>Next to a gate blocking a rutted road that led to Dekkas, Sisk-Franco pointed
out a rock that had been covered by manzanita, and was now ringed by stumps.
<P>"There was a rattlesnake that lived there," she said, "the guardian to
Dekkas. I doubt he's there now -- it's too exposed. Dekkas is unprotected."
<P>Jennings Sharon Heywood, the supervisor for the Shasta-Trinity National
Forest, said contract crews working for the agency cut the brush around Dekkas.
<P>"Our original information told us those bushes were far enough away from the
ceremonial site to have no impact," Heywood said. "That said, it seems to me
this was an obvious error, and I don't know why the tribe wasn't contacted, but
we intend to get out there and work this out with them."
<P>Some government representatives suggest the tribe's problems could be solved
if members were more responsive to federal procedure. Most significantly, they
say, the tribe has refused to pursue official recognition from the U.S. Bureau
of Indian Affairs, the federal agency that deals with tribal issues.
<P>Howard Gantman, a spokesman for Feinstein, said the senator's office has
written to the bureau seeking a clarification of the Winnemem's status.
<P>"They informed us the tribe had provided insufficient documentation for
recognition," said Gantman, who added that Feinstein understands the concerns of
the Winnemem and wants to help.
<P>Franco said the tribe is not actively seeking recognition from the bureau.
The federal government, he said, recognized the tribe in 1851, when Winnemem
representatives signed the Cottonwood Treaty, an agreement that granted the
tribe a 35-square-mile reservation on their traditional lands. Federal Indian
agent O.M. Wozencraft, representing the United States, also signed the treaty.
<P>But the treaty was left unratified by Congress at the behest of the
California delegation, Franco said.
<P>Tribal members ultimately received some land allotments in the McCloud River
area, Franco said, but the holdings were condemned under later legislation that
ultimately allowed for the construction of Shasta Lake.
<P>"We can document a history of federal recognition followed by broken
promises," Franco said, "so we're standing by the original 1851 treaty. It's a
valid document, and it's unrealistic to think we would get through any new
process before our sacred sites go underwater forever."
<BR>------------------------------------------------------------------------
<BR>Awareness about the Winnemem
<P>A series of Bay Area events this week will highlight the Winnemem Wintu
tribe's opposition to the raising of Shasta Dam.
<P>Tuesday: The American Indian Studies Department at San Francisco State
University will host the Sacred Land and Water Symposium at 1 p.m. in Room 133
of the Humanities Building. Caleen Sisk-Franco will participate in the panel
discussion, which will be followed by two films about the Winnemem -- "In Light
of Reverence" and "The Winnemem War Dance at Shasta Dam." Admission is free.
<P>Wednesday: The two films will be screened at 7 p.m. in the Cowell Theater at
Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Admission: $15.
<P>Thursday: The films will be shown at 7 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater at 3200
Grand Ave., Oakland. Admission: $15.
<P>E-mail Glen Martin at glenmartin@sfchronicle.com.
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