Winnemem Wintu Tribe 1,080 Acres #LandBack

We are the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.

We were born from Buliyum Puyuuk (Mt. Shasta) and made our homes along the shores of the Winnemem Waywaket (McCloud River) where we have done our best to care for and adhere to our spiritual responsibility of upholding the Sacred in place for millenia. We still uphold this protocol and continue to pray, act, and speak on behalf of our Winnemem Wintu Worldview and live to bring balance to our area of the world. These sacred obligations are at the heart of who we are and we will always uphold them. In our creation story, the salmon gave us our voice and we promised to always speak for them. Our elders prophesied that “if there are no more salmon, there will be no more Winnemem Wintu people”. Restoring the Chinook salmon is our sacred responsibility. We are working to clear the way against forces that would erase us both.

After many years of prayer and organized efforts, on October 9th, 2023, Indigenous Peoples day we closed on the purchase of 1,080 acres of our #LandBack at the feet of one of our sacred sites- Bear Mountain. The opportunity to steward this land will enable us to realize our ancestral obligation to bring back our traditional sustainable village systems, protect the waters, conduct ceremonies, restore our salmon runs, and raise the next generation of Winnemem Wintu in a safe, sovereign, and traditional way.

We are launching this GoFundMe campaign to reach out goal of 3 million dollars to secure the land long-term and begin some much needed land restoration work. With the help of many partners and good people we were able to raise over 2 million dollars towards the purchase and now we need your support to help us reach the finish line!

Money raised will go towards;

TOTAL: ~$1,000,000.00

#LandBack will help us heal and allow us not only to survive but to thrive.

When California first became a state, there was a government-funded genocide and ecocide that decimated 14,000 of our peoples, stole over 32,000 acres of our ancestral lands in California’s largest watershed. The federal government decided we didn’t exist. The lands and waters kept pure by our ancestors for thousands of years were bought and sold, and the Sacred Water of Mt. Shasta was dammed and redirected to industrial agriculture to make California one of the richest economies in the world.

In the face of climate change, ecological collapse, pandemics and lethal wildfires, indigenous-led ecological restoration is key to building real climate resilience. Indigenous peoples represent less than 5% of the population yet we steward over 80% of the world's biodiversity. In 2021 a devastating wildfire came within feet of our Village, and we were forced to evacuate not knowing if we’d come back. We asked our Sacred Fire to keep our Village safe and we were lucky to be able to return, but the wildfire reaffirmed us once again of the importance of bringing back our cultural burns and traditional land management practices for the benefit of all life. In 2022 during our Run4Salmon journey we co-lead the historical efforts of reintroducing chinook salmon above Shasta Dam for the first time in over 80 years. We’ve spent years building our movement through Run4Salmon, and need to fortify our home base to continue that advocacy and ceremony work in a good way.

Will you join us? It’s proven that indigenous stewardship of land is the most significant and proven land strategy for climate adaptation. Our efforts are not only for the benefit of the Winnemem Wintu, but for all peoples and beings who rely on healthy lands and waters to survive. By stepping deeper into stewardship of our lands we hope to save our Winnemem Worldview, bring our salmon home, and bring back the cultural burns that will help us all create a climate resilient future for the next 7 generations. We are grateful for the opportunity to bring about this land restoration and invite you to join us in making it happen. Thank you!

PS- How we got our #LandBack In order to rematriate our lands and waters, we established a new entity with church status called Sawalmem (Sacred Water) with the help of the Sustainable Economies Law Center. Our colleagues at the Center for Ethical Land Transition helped us develop our real estate strategy for purchase and Canticle Farm supported us with fiscal sponsorship and technical assistance throughout the journey. We could not have gotten this far without the help of the many people who joined us to make it happen, thank you!