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<TD class=pheader width=461><FONT size=2><A
href="http://www.mtshastanews.com/articles/2005/05/25/news/01damraising.txt">http://www.mtshastanews.com/articles/2005/05/25/news/01damraising.txt</A></FONT></TD></TR>
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<P><SPAN class=headlinedetail>Shasta Dam raising proposal
questioned</SPAN></P>
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<TD><SPAN class=bylinedetail>By Earl Bolender</SPAN></TD>
<TD class=more align=right>Updated: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 2:02 PM
PDT</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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<TD width=400><SPAN class=cutline>About 60 people, including members
of the Winnemem Wintu tribe of the McCloud River attended Friday's
Watershed Roundtable to discuss the proposal to raise Shasta Dam by
as much as 18.5 feet. </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=storydeck>How much water would the raising of Shasta Dam between
6.5 and 18.5 feet actually produce? What would be the impact on humans and
the environment by raising the dam? How much will it cost to raise the
dam?</P>
<P class=storydetail>These and other questions were asked and debated
during Friday's fourth annual Siskiyou County Watershed Roundtable held to
discuss the proposed raising of Shasta Dam. Approximately 60 people
attended the roundtable, sponsored by the Upper Sacramento River Exchange
and held at the Dunsmuir Community Building in Dunsmuir.<BR><BR>The
overall consensus of the audience, which included city, county and state
officials, state and federal agency representatives and land and home
owners from the south county, Redding and Lakehead, was that raising the
dam would have little or no benefit.<BR><BR>Comments were made that it
would result in the destruction of public and private land around the lake
and adversely affect the environment. Members of the Winnemem Wintu tribe
in attendance voiced their objections, stating it would destroy ancestral
land, much of which was already destroyed when the dam was built in 1938.
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<P class=storydetail>The proposed raising of Shasta Dam is part of the
CalFed Bay-Delta Program initiated in 1995 as a state and federal
partnership designed to help solve water problems associated with the San
Francisco Bay Delta ecosystem. The idea of raising the dam is to provide
additional water storage for the Bay-Delta during times of
drought.<BR><BR>A four-member panel representing both sides of the issue
was on hand to provide updated information and viewpoints on the project
and field questions from the audience.<BR><BR>Members of the panel were:
Vickie Newlin, Sacramento Valley regional coordinator for CalFed; Donna
Garcia, the Bureau of Reclamation's Shasta Dam project manager; Mark
Franco, Winnemem Wintu tribal head; and Steve Evans, Friends of the River
conservation director.<BR><BR>Newlin and Garcia said raising of Shasta Dam
is one of the projects currently under consideration to provide a reliable
water source to the Bay-Delta ecosystem.<BR><BR>"The Bay-Delta system
provides drinking water for 22 million Californians and impacts 750 plant
and animal species," Newlin said. "CalFed is working with 24 different
agencies to study the impact and benefits of raising the dam."<BR><BR>She
said the purpose behind raising the dam is to:<BR><BR>€ Provide water
supply reliability.<BR><BR>€ Improve water quality of a depredated system
that is hampered by drought and flooding.<BR><BR>€ Ecosystem restoration,
including helping in the recovery of threatened salmon and other
anadromonous fish.<BR><BR>€ Improve levee system integrity to provide
flood protection, ecosystem benefits and protect water supplies needed for
the environment, agriculture and urban users.<BR><BR>Garcia said raising
the dam by 6.5 to 18.5 feet could provide between 290,000 to 600,000 acre
feet of water storage respectively.<BR><BR>"It could increase the water
supply during drought years by 70,000 to 150,000 acre feet per year,
depending on how high the dam is raised," she said.<BR><BR>Explaining what
an acre-foot of water is, Evans said, "Imagine a swimming pool that is an
acre in size with a foot of water in it. That's an acre
foot."<BR><BR>Garcia said raising the dam appears to be a feasible
project, but she and Newlin said the proposal is still in its early stages
of development with more studies and public input needed before any
decision is made. They said it could be years before any firm decision is
made.<BR><BR>Garcia said Shasta Dam proposal is one of five surface
storage projects currently being studied. Others are Sites and Los
Vaqueros reservoirs expansion and in-Delta and upper San Joaquin storage
facilities.<BR><BR>Garcia added that there is not enough funding available
at this time for all five projects and it may be discovered that other
projects are more feasible, resulting in the Shasta Dam project being
dropped.<BR><BR>One of the questions brought up was how raising the dam
would result in more water. Evans said the firm yield produced reliably on
an annual basis is solely dependent on annual rainfall and snow
levels.<BR><BR>"Dams do not create water, they simply capture water,"
Evans said. "The fact is that Shasta Lake does not fill to capacity that
often. This year was probably the fullest it's been. The lake has only
filled 18 times in the past 50 years. That's an average of three times in
20 years. Where is the extra water storage going to come
from?"<BR><BR>While Newlin said one of the purposes of raising the dam is
ecosystem restoration, Evans said there is a potential for damage that "is
significant and far-ranging."<BR><BR>"Shasta Dam is already the highest
dam in California," he said. "When the existing dam was built, more than
90 percent of the Winnemem Wintu tribe's homeland was lost. Now they are
in jeopardy of losing the remaining 10 percent.<BR><BR>Evans said raising
the dam even 6.5 feet would destroy the tribe's remaining cultural sites
and be in violation of state law protecting sacred sites. Audience
comments were also made that the proposal does not take into account
recreational activities that could be threatened.<BR><BR>It was suggested
that instead of raising the dam, Bay-Delta water users, including farmers,
look at water conservation measures.<BR><BR>Evans said current projected
construction costs for raising the dam 6.5 feet range from $282 to $356
million, with annual operation and maintenance costs of $19 to $20
million. To raise it 18.5 feet, he said construction costs range from $408
to $483 million with annual costs ranging from $28 to $34
million.<BR><BR>"This is not competitive with the $50 to $150 per
acre-foot currently paid by farmers who are the ones who consume most of
the developed water in the Central Valley," he said.<BR><BR>Franco said
raising the dam even 6.5 feet would be "cultural genocide for our tribe."
He said the water will rise to an elevation of 1,096 feet, destroying
cultural land on the McCloud River, one of three rivers that feed Shasta
Lake.<BR><BR>"We are the Winnemem, meaning 'Middle River,'" he said.
"There is the Sacramento River on one side and the Pitt River on the
other. The McCloud is in the middle."<BR><BR>Franco said if the raising of
the dam is allowed to continue, it would destroy important Winnemem
ceremonial and medicinal plant gathering sites.<BR><BR>"Not having
cultural access to our ancestral land would kill us," he said. "It is
where our children learn how to be good people, gain the knowledge of what
they are going to be in the future, and learn their relationship to the
land and each other. We are fighting to preserve our culture for our
elderly and our children"<BR><BR>On September 12, 2004, members of the
Winnemem Wintu tribe held a four-day "war dance" at the dam, complete with
a sacred ceremonial fire to show they are ready to fight to protect their
land along the McCloud River. It was the first time since 1887 that the
Winnemem had evoked a war dance in opposition of a fish hatchery on the
McCloud.<BR><BR>Franco said it is not just the Wintu Winnemem who are
threatened.<BR><BR>"Nobody is telling you of the land you will lose, the
homes that will be destroyed at Lakehead," he said. "We're in this
together. Hopefully, you will stand by our side in this fight." <BR><BR
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