We are not an invisible people!
March 20, 2009 by Neerdaels
Filed under Northwest / Coastal
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September 24, 2008
By Samantha Young of The Associated Press
Caleen Sisk-Franco, leader of the Winnemen Wintu tribe,stands at a
now-endangered special rock along the McCloud River where tribal
members celebrate the womanhood of teenage girls.
AP Photo by Rich Pedroncelli
SHASTA LAKE, Calif. (AP)—In this valley where four rivers meet, the Winnemen Wintu tribe fished and farmed for centuries, its villages always near the water’s edge.
Much of that heritage was lost during California’s era of dam building. The tribe’s ancestral land in Northern California was submerged when the federal government built a 602-foot dam downstream of their ceremonial and prayer grounds in 1945.
Now the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is considering enlarging Shasta Dam as a way to boost California’s water supply. If allowed to go forward, the project would flood what little remaining land once belonged to a tribe whose name translates as “middle water.”
“These sacred places help keep the tribe healthy. They help keep it balanced and they help us to heal,” said tribal chief Caleen Sisk-Franco. “There is no replacement. There’s not an option to move it.”
The desire by tribal members to preserve the remnants of their homeland is running headlong into the desires of Central Valley farmers, the main beneficiaries of the federal proposal to enlarge Lake Shasta.
New longhouse opens for Suquamish Tribe
March 11, 2009 by Neerdaels
Filed under Northwest / Coastal
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Wednesday, March 11, 2009 – Page updated at 02:10 PM
By DEREK SHEPPARD Kitsap Sun
The Suquamish Tribe has traditional gathering place for the first time since its longhouse was burned more than a century ago.t’s only been 139 years coming.
The Suquamish Tribe on Tuesday celebrated the opening of a new longhouse near the waterfront downtown, the first time the tribe has had such a facility since 1870.
“There’s no words to describe how each of us are feeling today about this new home you have given to us,” tribal elder Marilyn Wandrey said during a blessing and prayer. “Our spirits are excited and our ancestors are here and celebrating with us. It’s been a long, long time since we’ve had a home to call our own.”
For Pacific Northwest Native American tribes, the longhouse was historically a community gathering place for celebrations and ceremonies, and for the Suquamish a place to gather in the fall after the salmon harvest.
“So many of these things were not allowed for us to do for a long, long time,” Wandrey said. “So it is with excitement that these things are coming back.”