Tribal Leaders Urge NO Vote On Prop. 1, the Water Bond

Tribal Leaders Urge NO Vote On Prop. 1, the Water Bond

by Dan Bacher

Four California Indian Nations – the Yurok, Hoopa Valley, Winnemem Wintu and Concow Maidu Tribes – are urging people to vote NO on Proposition 1, Governor Jerry Brown’s water bond, on November 4.

The Yurok Tribe, on its Facebook page election recommendations, urged its members to vote NO on Proposition 1. The Tribal Government said it is “concerned that Proposition 1 may divert more Trinity River water, which harms the Klamath River.”

The Yurok Nation is the largest tribe in California, with over 5500 members. The Tribe has federally recognized subsistence, commercial and ceremonial fishing rights on the Klamath River, the largest producerof salmon in the state after the Sacramento River.

The Tribe has also been one of the strongest critics of the terminally flawed "science" and violation of traditional fishing and gathering rights that has taken place under the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.

The Hoopa Tribal Council also recently agreed across the table to oppose California's ballot measure Prop. 1.

Danielle Vigil-Masten, Chairwoman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe on the Trinity River, urges people to get out and Vote NO on Prop. 1. today, November 4.

"California - vote NO on California Prop. 1," Vigil-Masten wrote on Facebook. "This bill will kill the natural ecosystem and rivers and tributaries on the North Coast. This is for money to construct a dam in Maxwell or in that area."

"There has been no information provided about the damage this can cause to environment as well as to who will receive the benefit. It will also flood SACRED SITES of tribes," she noted.

"Northern California does not have enough water to supply the State of California - it's time for people to CONSERVE and use common sense to not build or grow farms where there is NO Water! Vote NO, and Stop this MADNESS! Please share this with everyone you know in the State of California! Water Warriors.....stand up now!" she emphasized.

Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, said the water bond, peripheral tunnels, Shasta Dam raise and other water projects now being planned by the state and federal governments are in in reality "one Big Project" that will destroy salmon, rivers and groundwater supplies.

“It does not make sense that people are separating the water puzzle into individual pieces, such as: the raising of Shasta Dam, Proposition 1, the Delta tunnels, BDCP, Sites Reservoir, Temperance Flat, CALFED, Delta Vision, BDCP, OCAP, the Bay Delta, Trinity/Klamath Rivers, the Sacramento River, the San Joaquin River, and water rights," said Chief Sisk. "It is all one BIG Project."

She emphasized, "You have to look at the whole picture and everything in between from Shasta Dam to the Delta estuary. We need to ask what is affected by our actions and who is benefitting from them? These are not separate projects; they are all the same thing that the State is asking us to fund - California water being manipulated for the enrichment of some and the devastation of cultures, environments, and species all in the name of higher profits.”

The Pulga Rancheria Concow Maidu Indians are also officially opposed to the Water Bond. Jessica Lopez, Tribal Chairwoman, has been very vocal against the peripheral tunnels and fracking at protests and rallies at the State Capitol over the past year.

The Tribes join a broad coalition of fishing groups, grassroots environmental organizations, family farmers, consumer organizations and a labor union in opposition to Prop. 1.

Opponents of Proposition 1 say Governor Jerry Brown’s $7.5 billion water bond is an expensive and unfair taxpayer giveaway to special interests, including Big Oil and Big Ag, that won’t solve the drought or help secure California's water future.

The water bond allocates over $3.6 billion, without oversight by the legislature, to build dams and pay for water transfers for subsidized corporate agribusiness interests growing almonds, pistachios and other crops on toxic, drainage-impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Prop. 1 with interest will cost CA taxpayers $14.4 billion or $360 million per year for 40 years out of our state’s general fund, money that could be used for other needs like education and healthcare.

Save water, save money - vote NO on Proposition 1!

For more information go to http://www.noonprop1.org

Below is an updated list of Prop. 1 opponents:

AFSCME District Council
Ballona Institute
Butte Environmental Council
Cal Berkeley Democrats
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
California Striped Bass Association
California Water Impact Network
Coast Action Group
Center for Biological Diversity
Central Delta Water Agency
Chico Conservation Voters
Concerned Citizens Coalition of Stockton
CREDO Action
Delta Fly Fishers
Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC)
Environmental Water Caucus
Factory Farm Awareness Coalition
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Friends of the Eel River
Friends of the River
Food and Water Watch
Foothill Conservancy
Green Democratic Club of Sacramento County
Hoopa Valley Tribe
Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations
Potrero Hill Democratic Club
Progressive Democrats of Santa Monica Mountains
Pulga Rancheria Concow Maidu Indians
Restore the Delta
Sacramento River Preservation Trust
San Francisco Baykeeper
San Francisco Crab Boat Association
Save the American River Association
Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fishermen’s Association
Sherman Island Duck Hunters Association
Sonoma County Conservation Action
South Delta Water Agency
Southern California Watershed Alliance
Tar Sands Action
Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry of California
Wetlands Defense Fund
Wild Heritage Planners
Winnemem Wintu Tribe
Yurok Tribe