On November 4th, the California State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) will make a decision that could permanently devastate sacred cultural landscapes, ancestral burial grounds, and irreplaceable cultural resources of our Tribe, the Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community. This decision concerns the proposed Sites Reservoir, a massive State-advanced project of water extraction and capture.
The story of the Sites Reservoir is one of deception, dispossession, and destruction. For us Indians, these three acts seemingly always go hand-in-hand. This three-part story of the proposed Sites Project is one that has not been widely told to the California public. But we know it all too well.
Over a hundred years ago, our ancestors were invited to share a meal by settlers under the guise of social exchange. These settlers poisoned our food and killed many of our people. This act of deception was in furtherance of the so-called “war of extermination,” as articulated by California’s first Governor Peter Burnett, to make Indian peoples extinct. The impetus of this genocidal act was the dispossession of our people from the lands, air, and waters that we have existed with since time immemorial.
Today, this story continues for us in different forms. For the Sites Project, the lead authors are the Sites Project Authority and the State of California; its co-authors include California Governor Gavin Newsom. The Water Board and its Chair, E. Joaquin Esquivel, are implicated in its ending. The story the Water Board chooses to tell will depend on the decision it makes on November 4th.
The Sites Project Authority promises water supply and environmental benefits, but financial profit through resource extraction is the motive of Sites Reservoir. Jerry Brown, its Executive Director (not the former governor by the same name), told our Tribe that the Sites Project would only be implemented if it would be financially profitable. What the Sites Project treats as a cost of doing business to extract profit is, to our people, an immeasurable harm and irreversible loss.
In 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-15-19, presenting the first formal recognition “that the State historically sanctioned over a century of depredations and prejudicial policies against California Native Americans.” Governor Newsom further acknowledged that “denying the existence of tribal government powers persisted well into the twentieth century.” With his advocacy for the Sites Project and outright neglect of the damage and violence it will impose on our peoples and landscapes, it appears that Governor Newsom has forsaken meaningful measures to uphold the principles outlined in N-15-19 for his own political aspirations and gains.
In fact, since 2019 Governor Newsom has signed legislation streamlining environmental review processes, limiting possible challenges to the Sites Project as deceptively and destructively designed. These reviews are one of the most effective ways for Tribes to legally participate in the protection and preservation of our sacred geographies, cultural sites and landscapes, and interdependent lifeway systems. Streamlining erodes the rights of participation and consultation of Tribes and the California public to better ensure that the Sites Project and others like it get jammed through with as little oversight or accountability as possible.
Through such streamlining processes, Governor Newson has directly worked to undermine Tribal rights and contributed to ongoing State depredations and prejudicial policies on Indian peoples well into the twenty-first century.
If approved by the Water Board, the proposed Sites Reservoir Project will be part of a legacy of extractive industries that are built on the dispossession and destruction of Native peoples and landscapes.
If approved by the Water Board, the proposed Sites Reservoir Project will be part of a legacy of extractive industries that are built on the dispossession and destruction of Native peoples and landscapes.
We ask the wider California public to be wary of the numerous deceptions and falsehoods sold by Sites. It is designed not for the needs and benefits of the people, but to grow the bank accounts of a select few. The Sites Project will not fulfill the Water Board’s legal obligation to protect all uses of water, even those that are not financially profitable. It will also fail to meet the Water Board’s mission “to ensure proper water resource allocation and efficient use, for the benefit of present and future generations” inclusive of our Indian generations.
If the Sites Project is approved by the Water Board, its story of deception will be finalized, setting the stage for its next acts of dispossession and destruction: if current landowners refuse to sell their property, they have been told that their land will be condemned and dispossessed through government powers of eminent domain. Over half of the water extracted from the proposed Sites Reservoir in Northern California is allocated to be sent to Southern California. Prices for clean drinking water will skyrocket for those who even have access to it.
The wider California public deserves to know the truth of what the proposed Sites Project is attempting to do—to what and for whom. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the State’s advancement of the Sites Project led by Governor Newson and the Sites Project Authority is upholding, aggregating, and facilitating a system of cultural genocide against our Indian peoples.
So much has already been taken from us, yet we are once again being told by the State that we and that which we value and depend on as Indian peoples must be sacrificed in the interests of water resource extraction for profit. California’s leaders often speak of reconciliation, environmental justice, and respect for Tribal sovereignty. This is the Water Board’s opportunity to demonstrate that those commitments actually mean something.
To these ends, we call on the Water Board to begin to live up to the promises and proclamations of its legal obligations and mission inclusive of present and future generations of Indian peoples—and to make its November 4th decision accordingly. The only ethical decision that aligns with the Water Board’s stated mission, promises to Tribes, and obligations to the California public is to reject the Sites Project.
Note: The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Maven’s Notebook.
More on Sites Reservoir posted at Maven’s Notebook …
Detractors of the reservoir includes environmentalists and Native tribes that say they’re being ignored in favor of “Big Agriculture.” By Alan Riquelmy, Courthouse News Service California’s water board on Wednesday granted a permit to the Sites Reservoir project, a 1.5 million acre-foot lake intended as an answer to the problems of a changing climate and the state’s evolving water needs. The decision by the State Water Resources Control Board was a crucial step to make the long-simmering project a reality. […]
Permit balances water supplies, protections for fish and water quality From the State Water Resources Control Board: As California responds to a changing climate, more extreme droughts and floods, and a growing need to store water during wet periods, the State Water Resources Control Board today approved a water right for a new reservoir that incorporates critical environmental safeguards to protect the state’s largest river. The Sites Reservoir Project, located about 65 miles northwest of Sacramento, is an off-stream storage […]
By: Jeff McCreary, Director of Operations, Western Region, Ducks Unlimited; Tim Johnson, President and CEO, California Rice Commission; and David Guy, President, Northern California Water Association California’s water future depends on capturing water when available and putting that water to work when communities, farms, and ecosystems need it most. Sites Reservoir embodies this approach. Combining modern infrastructure, dedicated environmental water, and collaborative management, Sites Reservoir offers an innovative investment in healthy rivers, landscapes, and communities—and a more resilient California. We encourage the […]
Cutting corners leads to a bad project – we all suffer the hidden costs and damages By Keiko Mertz, Friends of the River There’s only one day remaining for the State to divert from its collision course on one of the most consequential and expensive water decisions to be made in our state in decades. On November 4, the State Water Resources Control Board will vote on whether to grant the proposed Sites Reservoir a water right permit, and if […]
By Ric Ortega, General Manager of Grassland Water District For those of us responsible for delivering water to California’s remaining wetlands, Sites Reservoir offers a more dependable water supply when habitat needs it most, including in dry years when wildlife has few places to go. Although Sites would be built in the Sacramento Valley, environmental water from the project would be delivered south of the Delta, sustaining the Grassland Ecological Area wetlands and other vital links along the Pacific Flyway. […]
COMMENTARY: For California Indians, the Sites Reservoir project is one more story of cultural genocide
By Chairman Wayne “Rick” Mitchum Jr.
On November 4th, the California State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) will make a decision that could permanently devastate sacred cultural landscapes, ancestral burial grounds, and irreplaceable cultural resources of our Tribe, the Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community. This decision concerns the proposed Sites Reservoir, a massive State-advanced project of water extraction and capture.
The story of the Sites Reservoir is one of deception, dispossession, and destruction. For us Indians, these three acts seemingly always go hand-in-hand. This three-part story of the proposed Sites Project is one that has not been widely told to the California public. But we know it all too well.
Over a hundred years ago, our ancestors were invited to share a meal by settlers under the guise of social exchange. These settlers poisoned our food and killed many of our people. This act of deception was in furtherance of the so-called “war of extermination,” as articulated by California’s first Governor Peter Burnett, to make Indian peoples extinct. The impetus of this genocidal act was the dispossession of our people from the lands, air, and waters that we have existed with since time immemorial.
Today, this story continues for us in different forms. For the Sites Project, the lead authors are the Sites Project Authority and the State of California; its co-authors include California Governor Gavin Newsom. The Water Board and its Chair, E. Joaquin Esquivel, are implicated in its ending. The story the Water Board chooses to tell will depend on the decision it makes on November 4th.
The Sites Project Authority promises water supply and environmental benefits, but financial profit through resource extraction is the motive of Sites Reservoir. Jerry Brown, its Executive Director (not the former governor by the same name), told our Tribe that the Sites Project would only be implemented if it would be financially profitable. What the Sites Project treats as a cost of doing business to extract profit is, to our people, an immeasurable harm and irreversible loss.
In 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-15-19, presenting the first formal recognition “that the State historically sanctioned over a century of depredations and prejudicial policies against California Native Americans.” Governor Newsom further acknowledged that “denying the existence of tribal government powers persisted well into the twentieth century.” With his advocacy for the Sites Project and outright neglect of the damage and violence it will impose on our peoples and landscapes, it appears that Governor Newsom has forsaken meaningful measures to uphold the principles outlined in N-15-19 for his own political aspirations and gains.
In fact, since 2019 Governor Newsom has signed legislation streamlining environmental review processes, limiting possible challenges to the Sites Project as deceptively and destructively designed. These reviews are one of the most effective ways for Tribes to legally participate in the protection and preservation of our sacred geographies, cultural sites and landscapes, and interdependent lifeway systems. Streamlining erodes the rights of participation and consultation of Tribes and the California public to better ensure that the Sites Project and others like it get jammed through with as little oversight or accountability as possible.
Through such streamlining processes, Governor Newson has directly worked to undermine Tribal rights and contributed to ongoing State depredations and prejudicial policies on Indian peoples well into the twenty-first century.
If approved by the Water Board, the proposed Sites Reservoir Project will be part of a legacy of extractive industries that are built on the dispossession and destruction of Native peoples and landscapes.
We ask the wider California public to be wary of the numerous deceptions and falsehoods sold by Sites. It is designed not for the needs and benefits of the people, but to grow the bank accounts of a select few. The Sites Project will not fulfill the Water Board’s legal obligation to protect all uses of water, even those that are not financially profitable. It will also fail to meet the Water Board’s mission “to ensure proper water resource allocation and efficient use, for the benefit of present and future generations” inclusive of our Indian generations.
If the Sites Project is approved by the Water Board, its story of deception will be finalized, setting the stage for its next acts of dispossession and destruction: if current landowners refuse to sell their property, they have been told that their land will be condemned and dispossessed through government powers of eminent domain. Over half of the water extracted from the proposed Sites Reservoir in Northern California is allocated to be sent to Southern California. Prices for clean drinking water will skyrocket for those who even have access to it.
The wider California public deserves to know the truth of what the proposed Sites Project is attempting to do—to what and for whom. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the State’s advancement of the Sites Project led by Governor Newson and the Sites Project Authority is upholding, aggregating, and facilitating a system of cultural genocide against our Indian peoples.
So much has already been taken from us, yet we are once again being told by the State that we and that which we value and depend on as Indian peoples must be sacrificed in the interests of water resource extraction for profit. California’s leaders often speak of reconciliation, environmental justice, and respect for Tribal sovereignty. This is the Water Board’s opportunity to demonstrate that those commitments actually mean something.
To these ends, we call on the Water Board to begin to live up to the promises and proclamations of its legal obligations and mission inclusive of present and future generations of Indian peoples—and to make its November 4th decision accordingly. The only ethical decision that aligns with the Water Board’s stated mission, promises to Tribes, and obligations to the California public is to reject the Sites Project.
More on Sites Reservoir posted at Maven’s Notebook …
COURTHOUSE NEWS: California water board approves permit for Sites Reservoir project
Detractors of the reservoir includes environmentalists and Native tribes that say they’re being ignored in favor of “Big Agriculture.” By Alan Riquelmy, Courthouse News Service California’s water board on Wednesday granted a permit to the Sites Reservoir project, a 1.5 million acre-foot lake intended as an answer to the problems of a changing climate and the state’s evolving water needs. The decision by the State Water Resources Control Board was a crucial step to make the long-simmering project a reality. […]
PRESS RELEASE: State Water Board approves water right for Sites Reservoir
Permit balances water supplies, protections for fish and water quality From the State Water Resources Control Board: As California responds to a changing climate, more extreme droughts and floods, and a growing need to store water during wet periods, the State Water Resources Control Board today approved a water right for a new reservoir that incorporates critical environmental safeguards to protect the state’s largest river. The Sites Reservoir Project, located about 65 miles northwest of Sacramento, is an off-stream storage […]
COMMENTARY: The time is now: Sites Reservoir can strengthen California’s water future
By: Jeff McCreary, Director of Operations, Western Region, Ducks Unlimited; Tim Johnson, President and CEO, California Rice Commission; and David Guy, President, Northern California Water Association California’s water future depends on capturing water when available and putting that water to work when communities, farms, and ecosystems need it most. Sites Reservoir embodies this approach. Combining modern infrastructure, dedicated environmental water, and collaborative management, Sites Reservoir offers an innovative investment in healthy rivers, landscapes, and communities—and a more resilient California. We encourage the […]
COMMENTARY: The Sites Reservoir is a bad deal for Californians
Cutting corners leads to a bad project – we all suffer the hidden costs and damages By Keiko Mertz, Friends of the River There’s only one day remaining for the State to divert from its collision course on one of the most consequential and expensive water decisions to be made in our state in decades. On November 4, the State Water Resources Control Board will vote on whether to grant the proposed Sites Reservoir a water right permit, and if […]
COMMENTARY: Sites Reservoir can help sustain wetlands in the San Joaquin Valley
By Ric Ortega, General Manager of Grassland Water District For those of us responsible for delivering water to California’s remaining wetlands, Sites Reservoir offers a more dependable water supply when habitat needs it most, including in dry years when wildlife has few places to go. Although Sites would be built in the Sacramento Valley, environmental water from the project would be delivered south of the Delta, sustaining the Grassland Ecological Area wetlands and other vital links along the Pacific Flyway. […]
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