Ms Caleen SISK

Chief, Winnemum Wintu Tribe

Spiritual leader and tribal chief of the Winnemem Wintu, who practice their traditional culture and ceremonies in their territory along the McCloud River in Northern California, USA.  Caleen has dedicated her life to advocating for the restoration of salmon and the McCloud River, and the tribe’s resistance against the U.S. proposal to raise Shasta Dam 18-feet and inundate or damage Winnemem sacred sites.

“Our creation story begins on Mount Shasta. There’s a sacred spring there that we say was the doorway. We came out of that sacred fire inside, so did all of our spirit beings— trees, fish, birds, deer, bear. All things that were living took form to take care of the land that the creator made for us.”