McCloud River Watershed In 2000, California’s water wars entered
a new phase with an ambitious plan called the CALFED Bay-Delta
Program. Included in the plan was the proposal to raise Shasta
Dam, on the McCloud River, by between six and 200 feet, which
would impact the native people in the area; however, their
voices have been largely left out of the debate. In 2004,
Congress adopted the plan, appropriating $395 million for
feasibility studies, including raising the dam and enlarging the
reservoir. The threat posed by raising the dam led the Sacred
Sites International Foundation to include the McCloud River
Watershed on its 2008 list of endangered sacred sites. “Raising
Shasta Dam even six feet will flood most of our remaining sacred
sites along the McCloud River,” said Caleen Sisk, spiritual
leader and tribal chief of the Winnemem Wintu, whose cultural
identity as winnemem or “middle river people” derives from their
ancestral homeland along the river. “We feel like Catholics
would feel if it was decided that