Indigenous Californians Fight To Save Delta Salmon

Here’s a really good story in The Guardian chronicling tribal Californians’ fight to save salmon from drought conditions and political infighting and grandstanding for water diversion that fish desperately will need to survive the tough times. Here’s more from the story:

Meanwhile, roughly 95% of historic wetlands in the delta have been lost, water pollution has caused calamity, and species that once flourished across the 61,000-square-mile watershed are collapsing. Among them, the Chinook salmon are dramatically declining. Known as Nur to the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, they are not only an essential resource but part of the culture. 

“We used to be 20,000 people along the river and we’re dwindling out like the salmon,” said Chief Caleen Sisk in a statement following the petition filing. “We only have 126 members of the Tribe left and so if the salmon are going extinct, we can only guess that so will we.” 

The only way to slow the devastation, the tribes and environmental groups say, is to enact stricter regulations curbing water use.