New Campaign Opposes Shasta Dam Plans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Kathleen Russell
January 26, 2005 415-459-9211

New Campaign Opposes Shasta Dam Plans
Native Land & Water in Jeopardy

Entire Week of Benefits Unites

Winnemem, Hopi & Environmental Leaders



San Francisco/Oakland/Sacramento — March 1 - 4, 2005



Much has been written about California’s water and energy crises, yet the impact of these crises on Native American tribes remains an untold story. A week of events in early March will expose the impact of both crises on two Native American tribes whose struggle to preserve their sacred lands heated up recently with the passage of Senator Feinstein’s Cal-Fed legislation and the weakening of environmental protection regulations by the Bush administration.



The events mark the launch of a unique grassroots campaign that unites some of the state’s most effective environmental organizations with Native communities in an effort to stop the enlargement of Shasta Dam near Redding. The proposed dam raising would flood some of the Winnemem Wintu’s remaining sacred sites and destroy a stretch of what remains of the free-flowing McCloud River.



Film & Panel Events

The award-winning PBS documentary In the Light of Reverence will be coupled with a panel discussion with Native American leaders Caleen Sisk-Franco (Winnemem Wintu) and Vernon Masayesva (Hopi)

These events will also premiere a new seven-minute short, Winnemem Wintu War Dance at Shasta Dam, which depicts the Winnemem’s September 2004 ceremony against the Shasta Dam. Proceeds from the three benefits will support the Winnemem Wintu Tribe’s participation in the new campaign.



Screening details follow below:

San Francisco: Wednesday, March 2 at 7 pm — Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center — Admission $15 — with Julia Butterfly Hill — 5:30 pm Reception $50



Oakland: Thursday, March 3 at 7 pm — Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave. — Admission $15 — with Julia Butterfly Hill



SacrSacramento: Friday, March 4 at 7 pm — Crest Theater, 1013 K St. Admission $12



Academic Symposium

The week begins on Tuesday, March 1 at 1 pm, when the American Indian Studies Department of San Francisco State University will host an afternoon “Sacred Land & Water Symposium” featuring presentations by Native American leaders and a 4 pm screening of In the Light of Reverence. Professor Melissa Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis) will moderate a panel with Caleen Sisk-Franco (Winnemem Wintu), Vernon Masayesva (Hopi) and Ann Marie Sayers (Mutsun Ohlone). The symposium and screening will be held in Humanities 133 on the San Francisco State University campus.


All four panel discussions will focus on creating a new relationship with water, finding alternatives to destructive projects that encourage increasing consumption, better management of existing water supplies and conservation. The evening panels after the film screenings will be moderated by Christopher “Toby” McLeod, Director of Earth Island Institute’s Sacred Land Film Project and Director/Producer of In the Light of Reverence.


Environmental organizations participating in the campaign include: Alliance for Democracy, Cal Trout, Center for Biological Diversity, Circle of Life, Earth Island Institute, Ecology Center, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, Environmental Water Caucus, Friends of the River, Indigenous Environmental Network, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers, Public Citizen, Public Media Center, Public Trust Alliance, State Water Coordinating Committee, The Cultural Conservancy and others.



Sponsored by The Christensen Fund, Sacred Land Film Project and Kathleen Russell Consulting. Presented by arrangement with Fort Mason Foundation.





In the Light of Reverence is a presentation of the Independent Television Service in association with Native American Public Telecommunications with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Distributed by Bullfrog Films: 800-543-3764 • A project of Earth Island Institute

For more information visit http://www.sacredland.org.





S. Craig Tucker, Ph.D.

Outreach Director

Friends of the River

http://www.friendsoftheriver.org

916-442-3155 x205

915 20th Street

Sacramento, CA 95814