Oppose Raising of Shasta Dam at Watershed Roundtable

River Exchange News

PRESS RELEASE Contact: Vince Cloward
For Immediate Release 235-2012

Impacts of Raising Shasta Dam Shared

Winnemem Tribe Representatives, Government, Land Owners and Environmentalists all Share Perspectives and Knowledge at Upcoming Watershed Roundtable

“We are all in this together. We want to help people to wake up and see that this is not a good thing – and not necessary.” Mark Franco, Tribe Headman

Dunsmuir, CA - The impacts of the proposed raising of Shasta Dam will be the focus of the upcoming Watershed Roundtable at the Dunsmuir Community Center on Friday, May 20, 2005. Hosted by the Upper Sacramento River Exchange and sponsored by CALFED Bay Delta Water Program, the Shasta Valley Resource Conservation District and Bureau of Reclamation the day is designed to get all the facts, timelines, and opinions on the table. The general public is encouraged to attend to ask questions and provide their input.

“If the Shasta Dam is raised even 6.5 feet, the level of the water will rise to an elevation of 1,096 feet,” says Winnemem Wintu Headman, Mark Franco. “This flooding event will be an action of cultural genocide for our tribe. Not having cultural access to our ancestral land would kill us. 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.” If the raising of the dam was to proceed at the minimum level important Winnemen ceremonial sites and medicinal plant gathering sites will be covered.

Bureau of Reclamation Project Manager, Donna Garcia, was invited out by the Winnemem (meaning Middle Water) to see first hand the impact on the land of actual flooded water levels. “We showed her what the minimum 6.5 rise would end up flooding. We saw that she did not realize how deep the water would be until we showed her,” said Franco. “She was actually shocked.”

The minimum proposed rise would provide for 300,000 acre feet of water storage to be used downstream. “We have been to about 15 different meetings now about the Dam rising and we hear different messages to different audiences,” says Franco. “In one meeting in Redding, the Bureau of Reclamation real estate representatives were already there helping people understand the benefits and how to sell their property for public domain. Another strategy seems to be that the government is already signing water contracts downstream and promising 100% delivery. If they don’t then raise the Dam for this water, they can get sued by the contract holders. This may be used as a pressure tactic to say they then have to then raise the Dam. This is something we can find out more about at the Roundtable.”

At the upcoming Watershed Roundtable meeting, the Winnemem hope to help educate the public about the impacts of the project along with other invited agencies, environmentalist leaders, community leaders, and land owners.

“We are all in this together,” says Franco. “We want to help people to wake up and see that this is not a good thing – and not necessary. There is a human face that needs to be put on this deadly project so that we can all come to the defense of our heritage and the river.”

Interested people can find out for themselves the specifics of the flooding impacts and history of the Winnemen Wintu Tribe by contacting Mark Franco at 530-275-2737, or at their Tribal website at http://www.winnememwintu.us. For more information about the development of the project itself contact Donna Garcia, Project Manager, Bureau of Reclamation, at 916-978-5009, or attend the Watershed Roundtable, Friday, May 20th, from 12:30 to 4:30 pm at the Dunsmuir Community Center.

For a Watershed Roundtable invitational flyer, general and membership information, contact the River Exchange at 530-235-2012. The Upper Sacramento River Exchange’s mission is to foster watershed stewardship, education, restoration and community.