Winnemem Wintu Tribe plans blockade of lake during ceremony

Wednesday, May 23, 2012  

The Winnemem Wintu Tribe of California plans to block part of Lake Shasta during a war dance this weekend.

The non-recognized tribe asked the U.S. Forest Service to close a section of the lake for its coming-of-age rites. Prior ceremonies have been interrupted by non-Indians but the agency has refused to take action.

So the tribe will protest during a war dance this Memorial Day weekend. The blockade comes at one of the busiest times at Lake Shasta.

“We have been backed into a corner with no other choice,” Caleen Sisk, the tribe's spiritual leader and chief, told The Redding Record-Searchlight.

The tribe was promised a reservation by an act of Congress when the Shasta Dam was created. But the Bureau of Indian Affairs hasn't included the tribe on the list of federally recognized entities.

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Tribe plans to blockade part of Lake Shasta during war dance (The Redding Record-Searchlight 5/23)