California Assembly Committee Supports Recognition of Winnemem Wintu Tribe

By Gary A. Patton

Yesterday, the Governmental Organization Committee of the California Assembly passed a Joint Resolution (AJR 39) calling upon the federal government to restore formal recognition of the Winnemem Wintu tribe of the McCloud River.

Although the tribe received all the federal services afforded to recognized tribes throughout the beginning of the 20th century, including housing, education, and healthcare, in the 1980s the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs terminated the tribe's services without warning or explanation.

The Winnemem Wintu (along with PCL) are members of the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water (EJCW), which works to advance environmental and social justice throughout our state. As a water people (Winnemem means "middle water"), they feel a spiritual obligation to protect the McCloud River, which supports one of the state's premier trout fisheries.

Winnemem headman Mark Franco and Caleen Sisk-Franco, the tribe's spiritual leader, were joined at the Capitol on Wednesday by a dozen of their tribal members in ceremonial clothes as well as other members of EJCW, including PCL.

AJR 39, sponsored by EJCW and authored by Assemblymember Jared Huffman, will now proceed to the Assembly floor.

Gary Patton is the Executive Director of the Planning and Conservation League, a statewide, nonprofit lobbying organization. For more than thirty years, PCL has fought to develop a body of environmental laws in California that is the best in the United States. PCL staff review virtually every environmental bill that comes before the California Legislature each year. It has testified in support or opposition of thousands of bills to strengthen California's environmental laws and fight off rollbacks of environmental protections.

Comments

Posted by: AL DANIEL at April 20, 2008 08:30 AM

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