Shasta Dam: raise or raze?

The federal government is mulling a plan to extend the height of the Shasta Dam in California. That would raise the level of the reservoir, permanently submerging even more of the sacred land cherished by the Winnemem Wintu and other tribes upstream. It also further diminishes hopes of restoring salmon runs to the levels the tribes once counted on as sustenance and ceremony. A new podcast A Prayer for Salmon explores the tribal connections to the rivers and documents efforts to not only halt the dam expansion, but to build momentum to remove the 1945 dam completely.

Today on Native America Calling, we hear highlights from the podcast and learn more about the federal plan with Caleen Sisk (Winnemem Wintu), chief of the Winnemem Wintu tribe; Judy Silber, executive editor of the Spiritual Edge and reporter for A Prayer for Salmon series; Dr. Lyla June (Diné and Tsétsêhéstâhese [Cheyenne]), musician, scholar, and community organizer; and Joseph Orozco (Hoopa), website content coordinator and a member of the advisory board for A Prayer for Salmon.