Native Voice One

Native American Radio Network

A Prayer for Salmon – Five-Part Hour Long Specials

By

KALW’s Spriritual Edge presents A Prayer for Salmon, the story of the Winnemem Wintu people and their clash with Northern California’s Shasta Dam. A Prayer for Salmon is a limited series of five one-hour episodes.

A Prayer for Salmon winds its way through spirituality, environmentalism, politics, and California’s violent history of colonization to tell the powerful story of the Winnemem Wintu people through exceptional research and intimate conversations with voices rarely heard on air.

Episode 1: A Protest at Shasta Dam
In a peaceful protest, the Winnemem Wintu call out the U.S. government for its refusal to acknowledge the destruction caused by Shasta Dam. The protest at the Shasta Dam Visitor Center reveals an ongoing reality. They are ignored and a security guard threatens to forcibly remove them.

Episode 2: It’s Illegal
We go to Shasta Dam and learn about the history behind its construction in the late 1930s and early 1940s. We hear from Chief Caleen Sisk about how a federal proposal to raise the dam another 18 1/2 feet opens old wounds for the Winnemem Wintu, further threatening their tenuous survival.

Episode 3: A Habitat Destroyed
The Winnemem Wintu and supporters start a two-week Run4Salmon prayer to call salmon back to the waters above Shasta Dam. The Run follows the salmon’s migration path from the ocean to the mountains. It starts in the Bay Area where the Winnemem Wintu and supporters encounter environmental devastation first set in motion 200 years ago.

Episode 4: Speaking for Salmon
At a sacred spring high up on Mt. Shasta, the Winnemem Wintu recount the beginnings of the world when salmon gave up their voices so that humans could speak. They now feel a special obligation to defend salmon in return for this gift. A biologist details Chinook salmon’s catastrophic decline since the arrival of Euro-American settlers to California and the Northwest.

Episode 5: The Return of Salmon
A War Dance held on top of Shasta Dam in 2004 brought about a surprising discovery: the Winnemem Wintu’s fish swam in rivers on the other side of the world. Determined to bring them home, they board a plane bound for Christchurch, New Zealand. With the help of the Maori people, they hold a ceremony on the Rikkaia River and sing to the salmon there. Once back in the US, Chief Caleen Sisk meets with every government agency she can to push the idea of bringing the New Zealand back to Winnemem Wintu homelands on the McCloud River.

A Prayer for Salmon

By

A Prayer for Salmon is an 11 part audio documentary series from KALW’s The Spiritual Edge that tells the story of the Winnemem Wintu people and their clash with Northern California’s Shasta Dam. The dam’s construction turned California into an agricultural powerhouse. It also left the Winnemem Wintu displaced and without say over their land. The series details their fight to resist a proposed Shasta Dam Enlargement Project. It also highlights the Winnemem Wintu’s aspirations to return Chinook salmon to their homeland on the McCloud River, a major tributary of the dam. 

Chapter 1. A Protest at Shasta Dam
In a peaceful protest, the Winnemem Wintu call out the U.S. government for its refusal to acknowledge the destruction caused by Shasta Dam. The protest at the Shasta Dam Visitor Center reveals the Winnemem Wintu’s ongoing reality. They are ignored and later a security guard threatens to forcibly remove them. Read More

Chapter 2. A Visit to Sacred Sites
We accompany the Winnemem Wintu to sacred sites near the McCloud River. The federal government’s Shasta Dam and Reservoir Expansion Proposal threatens these sites and the Winnemem Wintu way of life. Read More

Chapter 3. A Visit to Sacred Sites
We go to Shasta Dam and learn about the history behind its construction in the 1930s and 1940s. We hear from Chief Caleen Sisk about how the federal proposal to raise the dam another 18 and a half feet opens old wounds for the Winnemem Wintu and further threatens their tenuous survival. Read More

Chapter 4. It’s Illegal
An elder remembers indigenous life back before Shasta Dam was built. The legality of the proposal to raise Shasta Dam is considered. Meanwhile, Chief Caleen Sisk considers a new strategy to fight back: turning an adversary — the Westlands Water District — into an ally. Read More

Chapter 5. A Prayer For Salmon
The Winnemem Wintu and supporters start a two-week Run4Salmon prayer to call salmon back to the waters above Shasta Dam. The Run follows the salmon’s migration path from the ocean to the mountains. It starts in the Bay Area where the Winnemem Wintu and supporters encounter environmental devastation first set in motion 200 years ago. Read More

Chapter 6. The Delta, A Habitat Destroyed
As the Run4Salmon continues to travel upstream, the Winnemem Wintu and supporters witness more obstacles faced by migrating salmon. Once a vast marshland, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta was an important haven for juvenile salmon, but now is a gauntlet of human engineering. Chief Caleen Sisk stands up for salmon and water health at a bureaucratic meeting of Sacramento Valley water districts. Read More

Chapter 7. Agriculture and Genocide
The Run4Salmon bikes through rural areas in the upper Sacramento Valley where Euro American settlers changed the land to better suit an agrarian economy. The Winnemem Wintu and supporters remember the indigenous people who were forcibly removed and killed. An apology in Redding for the genocide may be well intentioned, but Chief Caleen Sisk insists action must accompany words. Read More

Chapter 8. Speaking For Salmon
At a sacred spring high up on Mt. Shasta, the Winnemem Wintu recount the beginnings of the world when salmon gave up their voices so that humans could speak. They now feel a special obligation to defend salmon in return for this gift. A biologist details Chinook salmon’s catastrophic decline since the arrival of Euro-American settlers to California and the Northwest. Read More

Chapter 9. A War Dance and a Prophecy
When plans for the Shasta Dam Enlargement Project accelerate, the Winnemem Wintu decide to hold a war dance, their first in more than 100 years. Members of the community dream into existence songs, dances and regalia. News of the ceremony, and the tribe that declared war against the U.S. government on top of Shasta Dam, goes around the world. That leads to an unexpected message from Down Under. Read More

Chapter 10. Bringing Salmon Home
The Winnemem Wintu board a plane bound for Christchurch, New Zealand. With the help of the Maori people, they hold a ceremony on the Rikkaia River and sing to the salmon there. Once back in the United States, Chief Caleen Sisk meets with every government agency she can to push the idea of bringing the New Zealand salmon back home. Read More

Chapter 11. The Return of Salmon
Spurred by drought, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service accelerates a plan to restore winter-run Chinook salmon to the McCloud River. Chief Caleen Sisk weighs whether to collaborate with federal officials. Salmon spotted on Dry Creek for the first time in 30 years are celebrated as an answer to the Winnemem Wintu’s Run4Salmon prayer. Read More

“Championship of Champions”2023 Indian Relay Horse Racing, Day 3

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Blackfeet Indian relay horse racing team Carlson Relay won the Championship of Champions September 24, 2023 in Casper, Wyoming. The jockey, 35 year old Chaz Racine, lead the team to victory in the $100,000.00 event hosted by the Northern Arapaho’s Wind River Casino and Hotel. We have results of Championship Sunday and a word with the champ.

Fort Pierre, SD – The 10th Annual HNIRC Championship of Champions was held at the Stanley County Fairgrounds Sept. 22-24, 2023.

America’s oldest known competition, Indian Relay is exploding onto the western sporting scene as the most exciting extreme sport! The Championships are the culmination grueling competitions between Native Americans and First Nations of Canada athletes.

The 2023 Championship of Champions may be the largest gathering to ever witness Indian Horse Relay, with the best inter-tribal competition ever assembled.

“Championship of Champions” 2023 Indian Relay Horse Racing, Day 2

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The Championship of Champions Saturday September, 23, 2023 enjoyed Indian relay horse racing at its finest in Casper, Wyoming. We have results with the winner of each heat race of 67 teams competing for over $100,000.00 presented by the Northern Arapaho’s Wind River Casino and Hotel. Also a comment from legendary track announcer Kennard Real Bird of the Crow Nation.

Fort Pierre, SD – The 10th Annual HNIRC Championship of Champions was held at the Stanley County Fairgrounds Sept. 22-24, 2023.

America’s oldest known competition, Indian Relay is exploding onto the western sporting scene as the most exciting extreme sport! The Championships are the culmination grueling competitions between Native Americans and First Nations of Canada athletes.

The 2023 Championship of Champions may be the largest gathering to ever witness Indian Horse Relay, with the best inter-tribal competition ever assembled.

“Championship of Champions” 2023 Indian Relay Horse Racing, Day 1

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Fort Pierre, SD – The 10th Annual HNIRC Championship of Champions was held at the Stanley County Fairgrounds Sept. 22-24, 2023.

Day one of three of the Horse Nations Indian Relay Council had a good day September 22. Sixty seven teams competing for over $100,000.00 and the 2023 world championships in the year end finals of Indian relay horse racing. We have results and a word with Charlie Bendele of the White Mountain Apache, production manager of the Championship of Champions in Casper, Wyoming.

As America’s first extreme sport, Indian Relay is exploding onto the western sporting scene! The Championships are the culmination grueling competitions between Native Americans and First Nations of Canada athletes.

The 2023 Championship of Champions may be the largest gathering to ever witness Indian Horse Relay, with the best inter-tribal competition ever assembled.

A Prayer for Salmon: Chapter 11. The Return of Salmon

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Spurred by drought, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service accelerates a plan to restore winter-run Chinook salmon to the McCloud River. Chief Caleen Sisk weighs whether to collaborate with federal officials. Salmon spotted on Dry Creek for the first time in 30 years are celebrated as an answer to the Winnemem Wintu’s Run4Salmon prayer. Read More

“This is something that can actually happen. And those salmon already know it. I feel like they’re helping to explain this to the fish experts who think, well, they haven’t been there for 30 years, they’re not coming back. If we put those songs and prayers on the water. If we take that all the way to the ocean and we sing to the ocean and we dance to the ocean, they respond.”

— Chief Caleen Sisk, Hereditary and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu people
Shasta-Trinity National Forest, CA—The granddaughter of Chief Caleen Sisk holds salmon eggs before dropping them into an incubator (the blue barrel) where they will hatch and juvenile salmon will swim out into the McCloud River. July 11, 2022. Tom Levy/The Spiritual Edge

A Prayer for Salmon is an 11 part audio documentary series from KALW’s The Spiritual Edge that tells the story of the Winnemem Wintu people and their clash with Northern California’s Shasta Dam. The dam’s construction turned California into an agricultural powerhouse. It also left the Winnemem Wintu displaced and without say over their land. The series details their fight to resist a proposed Shasta Dam Enlargement Project. It also highlights the Winnemem Wintu’s aspirations to return Chinook salmon to their homeland on the McCloud River, a major tributary of the dam.

A Prayer for Salmon: Chapter 10. Bringing Salmon Home

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The Winnemem Wintu board a plane bound for Christchurch, New Zealand. With the help of the Maori people, they hold a ceremony on the Rikkaia River and sing to the salmon there. Once back in the United States, Chief Caleen Sisk meets with every government agency she can to push the idea of bringing the New Zealand salmon back home. Read More

“Yeah, I felt so deeply for the people. I thought to myself, if there’s one thing I do on this earth, I’d love to be able to be in a position that would help to see, in shape or form, that that happens. That they get their fish back.”

– Dirk Barr, fish culturist, New Zealand
Chief Caleen Sisk holding the Winnemem Wintu salmon baton in New Zealand. Photo: Richard Cosgrove

A Prayer for Salmon is an 11 part audio documentary series from KALW’s The Spiritual Edge that tells the story of the Winnemem Wintu people and their clash with Northern California’s Shasta Dam. The dam’s construction turned California into an agricultural powerhouse. It also left the Winnemem Wintu displaced and without say over their land. The series details their fight to resist a proposed Shasta Dam Enlargement Project. It also highlights the Winnemem Wintu’s aspirations to return Chinook salmon to their homeland on the McCloud River, a major tributary of the dam.

A Prayer for Salmon: Chapter 9. A War Dance and a Prophecy

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

When plans for the Shasta Dam Enlargement Project accelerate, the Winnemem Wintu decide to hold a war dance, their first in more than 100 years. Members of the community dream into existence songs, dances and regalia. News of the ceremony, and the tribe that declared war against the U.S. government on top of Shasta Dam, goes around the world. That leads to an unexpected message from Down Under. Read More

“The message came through of the salmon going through the ice waterfall. It was going to go away from the river. At the time, they’re like, what? How are the salmon going to go away?”

– Michael Preston, Winnemem Wintu
McCloud, CA — A Winnemem Wintu dancer during an annual ceremony held near the foot of Mt. Shasta. August 11, 2019. Tom Levy/The Spiritual Edge

A Prayer for Salmon is an 11 part audio documentary series from KALW’s The Spiritual Edge that tells the story of the Winnemem Wintu people and their clash with Northern California’s Shasta Dam. The dam’s construction turned California into an agricultural powerhouse. It also left the Winnemem Wintu displaced and without say over their land. The series details their fight to resist a proposed Shasta Dam Enlargement Project. It also highlights the Winnemem Wintu’s aspirations to return Chinook salmon to their homeland on the McCloud River, a major tributary of the dam.

A Prayer for Salmon: Chapter 8. Speaking For Salmon

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

At a sacred spring high up on Mt. Shasta, the Winnemem Wintu recount the beginnings of the world when salmon gave up their voices so that humans could speak. They now feel a special obligation to defend salmon in return for this gift. A biologist details Chinook salmon’s catastrophic decline since the arrival of Euro-American settlers to California and the Northwest. Read More

“I just I can’t emphasize enough though how precarious the situation for winter-run Chinook is.”

– Jonathan Ambrose, biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service
Lower McCloud River Falls, CA — Every year the Winnemem Wintu and supporters jump into three pools on the McCloud River as part of a ritual to remember the salmon who used to swim there. August 10, 2019. Tom Levy/The Spiritual Edge

A Prayer for Salmon is an 11 part audio documentary series from KALW’s The Spiritual Edge that tells the story of the Winnemem Wintu people and their clash with Northern California’s Shasta Dam. The dam’s construction turned California into an agricultural powerhouse. It also left the Winnemem Wintu displaced and without say over their land. The series details their fight to resist a proposed Shasta Dam Enlargement Project. It also highlights the Winnemem Wintu’s aspirations to return Chinook salmon to their homeland on the McCloud River, a major tributary of the dam.

A Prayer For Salmon: Chapter 7. Agriculture and Genocide

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The Run4Salmon bikes through rural areas in the upper Sacramento Valley where Euro American settlers changed the land to better suit an agrarian economy. The Winnemem Wintu and supporters remember the indigenous people who were forcibly removed and killed. An apology in Redding for the genocide may be well intentioned, but Chief Caleen Sisk insists action must accompany words. Read More

“Colonization is the act of being a bad guest in someone else’s house. It is the act of destroying something you don’t understand because you don’t think it’s worth understanding.”

—Lyla June Johnston
Glenn County, CA. May 28, 2022. Nuts such as walnuts, almonds and pistachios are water-intensive and major export crops in California. Judy Silber/The Spiritual Edge

A Prayer for Salmon is an 11 part audio documentary series from KALW’s The Spiritual Edge that tells the story of the Winnemem Wintu people and their clash with Northern California’s Shasta Dam. The dam’s construction turned California into an agricultural powerhouse. It also left the Winnemem Wintu displaced and without say over their land. The series details their fight to resist a proposed Shasta Dam Enlargement Project. It also highlights the Winnemem Wintu’s aspirations to return Chinook salmon to their homeland on the McCloud River, a major tributary of the dam.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use our site, we will assume you have given your consent. Click here to opt-out.