WAKING UP FOR WATER

Issue 01

Oct 1

When I visited Chief Caleen Sisk at the Winemmem Village in Redding CA, Governor Brown had just declared a “state of emergency” on the Carr Fire that was due to burn 229,651 acres; it was a stark reality to step into as she spoke about how the fires only further destroy the finer watersheds that make up the water systems of varying microclimates in Shasta.

It was an apocalyptic atmosphere, a visceral sign of the times we so often forget. A ring of fire surrounded us on the highway that night as we drove over the grade into Shasta, thick with smoke and silence. The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season on record in California but in the midsts of the flame Caleen was mobilizing the Run 4 Salmon, a 300 mile prayerful pilgrimage along the migrational path of the salmon; from San Francisco Bay back to the Winemem’s Ceremonial lands north of the Shasta Dam on the McColoud River known for being the most pristine river in California perfect for Salmon, if they could only get there.