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<div class=Section1>
<h1><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Land
sale fuels fear of higher dam at Shasta</span></font><o:p></o:p></b></h1>
<p class=author><font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><!-- START WRITER CREDIT--><span
style='font-size:7.5pt'><a href="mailto:glucas@sfchronicle.com"><!-- END HEADLINE/DECK & SUBHEADLINE/SUBDECK -->Greg
Lucas, Tom Stienstra, Chronicle Staff Writers</a><img border=0 width=261
height=440 id="_x0000_i1031" src="cid:image002.jpg@01C742D4.E1A73480"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=date><b><font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
7.5pt;font-weight:bold'>Sunday, January 28, 2007</span><!-- END WRITER CREDIT--></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
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<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The Fresno-based Westlands Water District -- already the
largest agricultural user of Northern California water -- has spent nearly $35
million to purchase 3,000 acres of land on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">McCloud</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
to make it easier to one day raise Shasta Dam. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The land acquired by Westlands would be sold to the federal
government and inundated if officials and lawmakers decided to raise the dam. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Located on the property is the private Bollibokka fishing
club, built in 1904 by the founders of Hills Brothers Coffee, and 26 Winnemem
Wintu Indian villages with burial grounds. The Indians worry that their access
to sacred sites could be blocked by Westlands. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"Our purpose in buying the property was only to ensure
there would be no additional impediments if the (federal) Bureau of Reclamation
concludes it's feasible to raise the dam," said Tom Birmingham, general
manager and general counsel for Westlands. The Indians "have conducted
cultural activities there. I don't see any reason why they couldn't continue to
do that." </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Westlands' goal of capturing more water in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Shasta</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>
would help make more water available to the 600 farmers it serves. Those
farmers now, on average, receive only 65 percent of the annual 1.15 million
acre-feet they are entitled to under the district's contract with the federal
government. Any extra water the district receives could be sold at higher
prices to urban users. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>An acre-foot is 325,853 gallons -- roughly the annual amount
of water used annually by a family of four. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Indians, anglers and environmentalists, who all oppose
raising Shasta Dam, decried the sale to Westlands, which was completed Jan. 12,
saying a higher dam represents a loss of irreplaceable river. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"It's going to inundate some wonderful, wonderful trout
water and some very beautiful natural resources," said Duane Milleman,
manager of guide services at the Fly Shop in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Redding</st1:place></st1:City>. "That's scaring a lot of
people." </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>One prospective buyer of the property wanted to develop the
property and create a subdivision of vacation homes. Westlands feared that more
residents living in an area inundated by a higher dam "would create a
greater impediment to the potential raising," <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Birmingham</st1:place></st1:City> said. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>That fear -- and what Birmingham described as a "bidding
war" for the property -- led the water district to pay the Hills family
$11,600 an acre -- a purchase price nearly $5 million higher than the Hills'
$30 million asking price. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Birmingham</st1:place></st1:City>
said the water district would contract with someone to operate the fishing
club. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"This was a case of a willing buyer, willing
seller," said U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a supporter of raising the dam. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"It is in <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>'s
long-term interest to preserve the option of providing additional flood
control, more cold water for the <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place>
salmon fishery, more generation of electricity from clean hydropower and
additional surface space at Shasta Dam," Feinstein said. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The federal government has been studying the environmental
impact and feasibility of heightening the dam since 2000 and expects to
complete its review by fall 2008. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Birmingham</st1:place></st1:City>
predicted it would be decades before the dam was raised, if Congress approves
the project. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>For the 120 Winnemem Wintu tribe members who live near the
McCloud, the land around Bollibokka contains sacred places and 26 village
sites, each with undisturbed burial grounds. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"We need those lands to survive. By facilitating the dam
being raised, Westlands is engaging in cultural genocide," said Mark
Franco, whose tribal title is "head man." </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>In the 1850s, there were some 14,000 Winnemem Wintu on the
McCloud. By 1900, just 395 remained, according to Caleen Sisk-Franco, the
tribe's chief and spiritual leader. Tribal members who fought in World War II
returned home in 1945 to find Shasta Dam completed and their old homes
underwater. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>In 2000, the Bureau of Reclamation first proposed raising the
602-foot tall dam by 6.5 to 18.5 feet, prompting the remaining Winnemem Wintu
to declare war on the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The Winnemem Wintu are not a federally recognized tribe,
which means they have less power to prevent potential destruction of their
village sites and sacred places. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"This land is what makes us what we are," said
Sisk-Franco. "We will fight to the end." </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Leighton Hills, who managed Bollibokka fishing club for his
elderly parents, said one of the conditions of sale to Westlands was that the
water district continue to allow the Wintu access to their sacred sites. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"Westlands has a varied reputation in some parts of the
state relative to environmental issues," Hills said in an interview.
"But in terms of their willingness to be responsive to our concerns,
they've been great." </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Sale of the property was driven by estate planning and a
desire to avoid having 50 percent of the asset lost to federal inheritance tax,
Hills said. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>It was purchased for $5 an acre by Hills' great-grandfather <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Austin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Hills</st1:PlaceName>
and his brother Rueben after Southern Pacific decided to lay its tracks along
the <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place> instead of the McCloud. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>A number of wealthy San Franciscans have been members of the
club over the past 103 years. Its members opposed raising the dam because it
would destroy the prime trout water running through the 7-mile stretch of river
where the property is located. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"The McCloud certainly ranks among the best fly-fishing
streams I've been on," said <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Birmingham</st1:place></st1:City>,
who has fished at Bollibokka, which means "black manzanita" in Wintu,
and elsewhere in the West. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Unlike some of the Winnemem Wintu sites, the club's buildings
will survive even if the dam is raised by 18.5 feet, Hills said. The lowest
building, called "The Rock House" and built by Winnemem Wintu tribe
members, is 33 feet above maximum reservoir level. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Allied with the Wintu are several environmental groups,
including the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is working with the
tribe to win recognition by the federal government. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"This purchase is a five-fer for Westlands," said
Barry Nelson, senior policy analyst for the NRDC. "It eliminates an
opponent of the dam, heads off the tribe, blocks any development, the district
will be bought out with public funds if the dam is raised, and they can use the
fishing club to lobby for the project." </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Westlands has long been a target of criticism from
environmentalists. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Farm drainage water from some of Westlands' 600,000 acres
along the western side of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
carries heavy amounts of selenium, which can poison wildlife. Westlands has
successfully sued to force the federal government to clean up the toxic water. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Jack Trout, a guide on the McCloud for 16 years, learned of
the possible land sale when he was taking a group out to the Bollibokka last
October and encountered Birmingham, whom he had guided before, and a local real
estate agent looking over Bollibokka. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Trout wrote an angry blog about the potential sale and his
chance encounter with <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Birmingham</st1:place></st1:City>,
who disputes Trout's account. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Trout remains angered by the sale, fearing not just a loss of
livelihood but of something deeper. </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"The river has given me life. The river was there before
the Hills family, before the Wintu Indians. All we have in the end is the
river, and we have to protect it." </span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=2 color=gray
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Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:10.0pt;color:gray'>Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place>, Chair</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=2 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
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