I am writing from the traditional homelands of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe just north of Redding, California. It's past 11 p.m. after a long hot day, and Winnemem Wintu Tribal members and supporters are still chatting in small groups close to rows of long tables illuminated by strings of lights on a nearby fence. We are gathered in service of salmon.
Winnemem Wintu oral histories recount salmon giving their voice to Winnemem ancestors in exchange for the Winnemem's promise always to speak for them. The relationship between Winnemem Wintu and Chinook salmon, or nur in the Winnemem Wintu language, extends past voice. “Whatever happens to the salmon happens to us,” says Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk. Currently there are no adult winter-run Chinook salmon in the McCloud River, and there are fewer than a hundred and twenty Winnemem Wintu Tribal members. It was the completion of the Shasta Dam in...