As we embark on our 6th Year of Calling Back the Salmon, are we becoming a Stage 4 or Stage 5 Tribe? Contact us with your thoughts... Another few thoughts on what Tribes are about, and how they can change the world! Seth Godin Video : On Tribes We Lead This area is set aside for newspaper articles, blog posts, or other Calling Back the Salmon words that may appear in printed form. Please send us stories or links that may be of interest to the Calling Back the Salmon ceremony.
For information, contact: Bill Jacobson: 530.268.7367 2010 Information here soon... 2009's Press Info: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE………………………………..….. TRADITIONAL MAIDU RIVERSIDE CEREMONY “CALLING BACK THE SALMON,” HIGHLIGHTS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAYS Tribal and Community Groups Combine Efforts to Return Salmon to the Upper Yuba River WatershedMaidu runners will spear and carry a salmon 7 miles upriver to the site of an ancient Maidu river side ceremony called “Calling Back the Salmon” on Saturday, October 10th. 2009 As part of a four day celebration of Indigenous Peoples Days, set in and around Nevada City, California, a unique combination of tribal and environmental activists are joining forces to bring back the traditional Salmon ceremony. The Tsi-Akim Maidu Tribe hosts the four day event and South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) and The Sierra Fund are working with the tribe to lead the coordination of Saturday’s “Calling Back the Salmon” celebration. “Calling Back the Salmon” begins with a sunrise ceremony led by Fred "Coyote" Downey near the Parks Bar Bridge over the Yuba River on Highway #20. Then a special salmon will be ceremonially speared, then carried by hand upriver over Englebright Dam and portaged by boat to the covered bridge at Bridgeport State Park. At noon, when the salmon arrives, elder J. D. Smith will conduct the Calling Back the Salmon Ceremony. The program begins at 11 AM, and ends with a salmon lunch. The traditional Salmon Calling Ceremony at the Yuba River was resurrected in 2006 after over 150 years, absence due to the catastrophic effect of the Gold Rush, which destroyed 99.5% of the native population. The public is invited to learn about Maidu history, come together to heal the wounds of the past, and celebrate our common destiny. There is no charge for this public event, which is alcohol, drug and dog free. For more information, please visit: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…………………………………………Sept. 15, 2009 TSI AKIM MAIDU TRIBE CELEBRATES TENTH ANNUAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAYS Descendants of Famous Native Americans Join Effort to Honor and Heal For more information, contact the Tsi Akim Maidu Thrift Store, 530-477-0711 GRASS VALLEY, CA. Descendants of famous Native Americans, including Geronimo, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse, will join members of the local Maidu tribe in a four day celebration October 9-12, 2009. The tenth annual Indigenous Peoples Days is expected to draw hundreds of native and non native supporters, including Mohawk musicians from the East Coast and Maori healers from New Zealand. The gathering of descendants is a new addition to a local cultural event that has grown in ten years from a small candelight vigil on Broad Street to a four day gathering. The event opens Friday night in downtown Nevada City with a round dance in the street. On Saturday traditional runners will carry a salmon seven miles from Parks Bar to Bridgeport State Park at the South Yuba River, to an ancient riverside Maidu gathering called “Calling Back the Salmon”. This year the town of Smartsville will honor the runners as they pass through the town. On Sunday, descendants of famous natives will join Navajo flutists, Maori healers, Hawaiian dancers, and a women’s drum circle for a day of celebration at the site of a traditional Maidu village, now the Maidu Active Cultural Center, or MACC, just outside Nevada City. Story telling, a round dance, and fry bread are part of the children’s celebration on Monday morning at Miners Foundry, in downtown Nevada City. A ‘mother drum’ will hold the stage during an afternoon of discussions. Descendants, elders, and others will talk about healing soul wounds and reviving the Maidu language. The four day celebration ends with the Richard Prout Memorial Dinner. IPD is an effort by local Tsi Akim Maidu tribal members to honor ancestors and heal the wounds of a history of genocide that began long before the Gold Rush. “Indigenous Peoples Days is not just a celebration of American Indian culture, but every culture that has been oppressed by colonial power.” according to Michael Ben Ortiz, a Choctaw man and a primary organizer. “People gain a greater sense of their identity. We share a deeper sense of respect for each other and the land we live on.” The all volunteer, drug and alcohol free event is free and open to the public. Contributions are requested, especially for food. Guests are asked to bring table ware and seating to the outdoor events. For more information, see <indigenouspeoplesdays.org> or <callingbackthesalmon.org>, or call the Tsi Akim Maidu Thrift Store, 530-477-0711. Gold on the river BottomKaruk Tribe files lawsuit against CaliforniaBy Don Baumgart, Today correspondentSACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Karuk Tribe has joined fishermen and conservationists in a taxpayer lawsuit against the California Department of Fish and Gameclaiming tax money is being used illegally to fund suction dredge gold mining in California rivers. FULL STORY Response to OpinionRecently, a letter writer to The Union stated that nobody need be concerned about exposure to certain toxic materials associated with historic mining activities. This opinion is misleading. The Sierra Fund’s report Mining’s Toxic Legacy was written and advised by scientists, professors, medical doctors and policymakers and considers several of these substances including mercury, arsenic, asbestos and acid mine drainage. The report, including references and advisors, is at: www.sierrafund.org/campaigns/mining. Mercury, arsenic, asbestos and lead are well-documented to cause cancers, reproductive and developmental disorders, and other serious health threats. It can take decades, sometimes, for symptoms of chronic, low-level exposure to these toxins to appear. As documented in our report, Sierra residents are exposed to low levels of these toxins through everyday activities, but no studies have been done to assess this exposure and how much it is a factor in current health issues. Since virtually no Sierra medical clinics collect information on a patient’s environmental exposure, it has been difficult to tie health issues to exposure. Consequently, The Sierra Fund’s report recommends increased research into the health effects of historic mining toxins, and it is negligent to assume at this point that these substances pose no danger to human health. For More Information Contact Mike Thornton. Mining Project Organizer The Sierra Fund 530-262-7335 (cell) mike.thornton@sierrafund.org State Assembly Committee says “Aye” to Suction Dredging Moratorium Bill SACRAMENTO, 17 JUNE 2009 –After an emotional hearing at the California Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee on Tuesday morning, committee members showed unanimous, bi-partisan support for SB 670 (Wiggins) with a vote of 11-0. This bill would place a moratorium on recreational suction dredge mining due to the negative effects that this type of hobby mining has on fish, habitat, and the spread of mercury left over from California’s Gold Rush. Senator Pat Wiggins (D, Santa Rosa) states in SB 670 that “the bill will prohibit suction dredge mining in rivers and streams that provide critical habitat to spawning salmon until [Department of Fish and Game] completes its court-ordered overhaul of regulations governing this recreational activity.” The Senator goes on to state that suction dredging disturbs streambeds, kills fish eggs and immature eels, and churns up mercury left over from the gold mining era. “Our salmon fisheries in particular are in crisis, with salmon fishing banned along the California coast for the second year in a row, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of commercial fishermen and others,” Senator Wiggins says, “while allowing status quo for recreational gold mining.” The Sierra Fund CEO, Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin testified to the committee that during the Gold Rush, 13 million pounds of mercury were lost into the environment in the course of mining activities, and that suction dredging “explodes this Gold Rush-era mercury like a bag of flour,” greatly increasing the likelihood that said mercury will become toxic methyl-mercury, a potent neurotoxin that is contaminating the State’s fish and endangering the health of the people and wildlife that consume those fish. Martin also commented about the many problems associated with the elemental mercury that suction dredge miners publically admit finding, sometimes in large quantities, while mining. “Current suction dredge permit regulations are silent on the rules regarding handling, storage, transportation and storage of mercury recovered as part of the mining activity. While some miners handle this hazardous material responsibly, we know that some are throwing in the trash, down the toilet, back into the river, or worse, burning it off to find the gold within. This is an example of how out-dated the regulations really are, and how urgent the case is for reforming those rules based on a rigorous environmental review.” Opponents of the bill have made numerous unsubstantiated accusations in the past, which continued at Tuesday’s hearing. Under repeated questioning from Legislators, however, suction dredge mining advocates were unable to back up many of their claims, including claims that SB 670 supporters had tried to sabotage funding for the court-mandated California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) environmental review.
SB 670 now moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee and then to the full Assembly for a vote. If passed, it will come to the Governor for his signature or veto. SB 670 is an “Urgency” bill, so if passed with a 2/3rd’s vote in the Assembly and if signed by the Governor, it will go into effect immediately. Mercury Update The Sierra Fund is happy that the issue of mercury left from historic gold mining in California is finally getting the attention and generating the vigorous debate it deserves. It is important that this debate be based in fact and grounded in science. There’s been a lot written when it comes to the topic of “suction dredging” and The Sierra’s Fund’s support of a bill (SB 670, sponsored by the Karuk Tribe) that would place a moratorium on this type of ”hobby” mining until a court-mandated and long delayed study of its impacts are reviewed and new regulations developed. Much of this debate has included direct testimony from miners who, largely unintentionally, prove that rules governing suction dredging need improvement. In a recent article in The Union (5/22/09 page C1) one suction dredge miner, Mike Leslie, tells reporter Laura Brown “Without rules in place for handling the metal, some throw mercury back in the river or burn it. There are no incentives by land management agencies to collect and dispose of mercury properly... I store it right now until we find out what we’re supposed to do with it”. We applaud Mr. Leslie’s concerns, and are glad that he agrees there need to be new rules, programs and incentives to handle this problem. Handling mercury from dredging can be not only highly dangerous but also illegal. This is because mercury is a highly regulated, highly toxic material. The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) regulates use and disposal of mercury because, according to Cal/EPA, “Mercury is toxic to people. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that affects every aspect of brain and nerve function. Mercury is especially dangerous to the developing fetus as it impairs brain development, resulting in lowered intelligence and other brain deficits… Mercury is also toxic to the environment. Bacteria from river and estuary bottom sediments convert mercury into its highly toxic form through a process called “methylation.” This methylated mercury accumulates in aquatic organisms, making the fish from those bodies of water dangerous to eat.” Alex Breitler of the Stockton Record wrote on May 5th 2009, “It’s no secret that the Delta is contaminated with mercury, PCBs and pesticides. A new study sampling fish from a fraction of California’s 9000 lakes suggests that most upstream water bodies are also tainted…The biggest culprit is mercury, a poisonous metal that lingers from the Gold Rush era in streams draining from the Sierra Nevada.” (Contaminates in Fish from California Lakes and Reservoirs, www.waterboards.ca.gov/swamp) Storage, transportation and disposal of mercury are regulated by various state agencies. It is illegal to handle, store, transport or dispose of more than a small amount of mercury without the appropriate license and tools. Even the smallest mercury spill is considered a toxic release under Prop 65, requiring a hazardous materials clean-up procedure. Storing mercury in the garage is not only illegal but dangerous. Mercury is instantly fatal when inhaled in its gas form, from accidents such as jars loaded with mercury exploding in a fire. Nobody wants someone’s child to find a jar of fascinating silver liquid that’s been buried in a garage pour it on a fire to see what happens. As Mr. Leslie points out even those miners who have the best of intentions are currently forced to engage in illegal and highly dangerous activities that can put themselves and their families at risk. In repeated statements the pro-dredging community says that there are serious problems with mercury recovery and that they have no guidelines to help them when they want to do the right thing. It seems fairly obvious that the rules governing suction dredging need to be strengthened. We believe that an immediate moratorium on this historic but dangerous activity is in order until new regulations can be developed. We think there’s a bigger conversation ahead about how to get as much mercury as possible out of Sierra water bodies, thereby helping to protect human health and the environment, saving millions of dollars in downstream treatment costs and at the same time creating large numbers of good paying “green” jobs cleaning up this “legacy” mercury. It’s a conversation that we welcome having with the dredging community because we recognize that they have essential skills and experience to offer this process. We hope that miners will consider this an invitation to talk with us. Please feel free to contact us at The Sierra Fund, (530) 265-8454 x 10 (Mike Thornton, Mining Project Outreach Coordinator) or visit our website at www.sierrafund.org. For Immediate Release For More Information, Contact: Elizabeth "Izzy" Martin (530) 265-8454 x11 (office) (530) 913-1844 (cell)
Senate Natural Resources Committee Passes Bill to Put Moratorium on Suction Dredging for Gold Pending Environmental Review
SACRAMENTO, 28 April 2009 – California's Senate Natural Resources Committee today passed SB 670 (Wiggins) with bi-partisan support, placing a temporary moratorium on the issuance of recreational suction dredge mining permits by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) until a thorough scientific review of the impacts is completed and regulations are revised. The bill will next go to Senate Appropriations for consideration and approval before going before the full Senate. The bill includes an urgency clause, requiring 2/3 vote to pass in each house, which would result in the law going into effect immediately upon signing by the Governor. Elizabeth "Izzy" Martin, CEO of The Sierra Fund, testified at the request of Senator Wiggins on the importance of the bill. "In light of the state’s budget crisis, we are concerned that funding for the review and rule-making will be slowed down, and the review could take years. We are also concerned that the well-documented impacts of suction dredging on water quality and endangered species will continue while this environmental review is underway, despite evidence of the harm of suction dredging." Suction dredging disturbs fish habitat, putting endangered species such as Coho salmon and green sturgeon at risk. In addition, repeated government studies have shown that suction dredge activities disturb and mobilize the mercury left behind from gold mine operations. Gold miners in the 19th century used an estimated 26 million pounds of mercury to extract gold from ore in California, with an estimated 13 million pounds lost to the waters and soils of the Sierra Nevada and Trinity Mountains. Suction dredgers often encounter mercury and gold-mercury amalgam, which tend to fall into the cracks of the riverbed like gold. Dredgers collect the mercury and amalgam, and treat it to release any gold that may have amalgamated with the mercury. They then recover the mercury and usually store it, though some miners dispose of it in an unauthorized manner, such as pouring it back into the river, onto the ground, or in to municipal sewer systems. Suction dredges re-suspend and “flour” mercury, increasing the surface area and making it more readily available for bacteria to methylate. Methylmercury has been a regulatory concern of the State for years due its known serious effect on human health. "The rules that govern this practice are woefully outdated," noted Martin. California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) was ordered by the California courts to undergo a CEQA review and rule change as a result of a lawsuit filed in 2005. The courts ordered DFG to complete the review and make appropriate rule changes by July 2008, but DFG has not met this deadline. The Sierra Fund has worked with the state’s leading scientists as part of our Initiative to assess and address the impact of gold mining on our state. Our report, Mining’s Toxic Legacy includes research developed by the US Geological Survey as well as SWRCB on the impacts of suction dredging. The full text of Mining’s Toxic Legacy with photos of suction dredging activities can be downloaded from The Sierra Fund’s website: www.sierrafund.org/campaigns/mining Environmental and Fishing Communities Speak Out on Salmon Crisis by Dan Bacher Tuesday Mar 10th, 2009 7:58 AM 03.05.2009 Salmon recovery plan before U.S. judge by Matthew Preusch, The Oregonian |
