Preston, also known as Pomtahatot Tuiimyali, is an artist, activist and the son of the current Winnemem Wintu Tribal Chief, Caleen Sisk. If you believe in the work we do, please consider making a tax-deductible year-end donation to our Green Journalism Fund. He has been dancing in the Winnemem way since he was 4 years old and grew up going to his sacred places. Find contact's direct phone number, email address, work history, and more. “We’re talking about seven generations here and getting people to think that far ahead in timeline to make it all survivable,” he said. Politically we’ll be able to use federal Indian law to our advantage and use it the way we should have been able to use it a long time ago to further protect our sacred sites – that’s vitally important to the continuation of the tribe. But I definitely feel like I am a bridge in certain situations, as far as talking to media goes, as far as going and giving a presentation to the public. Since last year’s prayer run wrapped up in August, Preston has been continuing the work with his documentary by doing online screenings and hosting speaking engagements at public schools and universities. I want to get my tribe off the grid. Michael Preston (Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Northern California): "We are speaking on behalf of Mount Shasta and the McCloud River. His meeting with Giraudie felt like a “spirit-led” moment, planting the seed for their collaboration on a documentary about water through the eyes of the Winnemem Wintu tribe. There are also spiritual repercussions. (Photo: Rucha Chitnis) Hāwane Rios, Native Hawaiian, brought to life the spiritual and cultural beliefs of Native Hawaiians, along with her mother Pua Case. Photo / Peter McIntosh. The time has come to listen to Michael and to the Winnemem Wintu tribe. “Our tribal goal is to bring the salmon back, which is stuck in New Zealand. Being a representative of the salmon and of the mountains, and speaking for the mountains and for protecting the water sources from being completely polluted and sucked dry due to farming and mismanagement. MICHAEL “POM” PRESTON is a member of the Winnemem Wintu tribe and the son of the current tribal chief, Caleen Sisk. New wind and solar power projects in China, Europe, and the US spurred 45 percent rise in capacity. In 2018, when Michael Preston met filmmaker Natasha Giraudie at a conference in Point Reyes National Park, she asked him to reveal one word from his ancestral language that changed his life — a word he wants to share with humanity to influence their consciousness. The Winnemem are born out of Bullyum Puyuuk or so called, Mt. With the lack of salmon, which is a keystone species, other animals, such as bears, eagles and mountain lions are being starved. How would federal recognition change the situation? The Winnemem lost most of their land during the Gold Rush and through construction of the Shasta Dam in 1945. There’re only 125 of us and out of that, there’re only a few left who are dedicated to these ways. He grew up in his tribal ceremonies and continues to advocate for sacred site protection along the McCloud River, which have been under threat of inundation from the Shasta Dam raise effort by the US Bureau of Reclamation. A lot of our young warriors are in prison. Michael Preston (Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Northern California): "We are speaking on behalf of Mount Shasta and the McCloud River. You mentioned the word “messenger.” Do you feel like you are a bridge between your people and the more urban world? We don’t have to depend on nothing. The Winnemem Wintu is one of nine bands of Wintu that once lived in northern California, and it constitutes one of the few Wintu bands remaining today. 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Radio reporter Andrew Stelzer helped produce Michael Preston’s story for a documentary on the program Making Contact. ONE WORD SAWALMEM. For Winnemem Wintu young man Michael "Pom" Preston Sawalmem represents an entire worldview, a vital vision for healing the world and for healing from the legacy of the Shasta Dam that, since the 1940s, has harmed salmon and the Sacramento River and the Winnemem Wintu people of Shasta Mountain, California. They had a big, 400,000-person march. Being in the school and having access to the whole thing, it really opened my eyes to how much money there is in that place and what dealing with big money feels like. We are nonprofit publication. Oh yeah, most definitely. That’s how I can affect the most.”. You’re Native American as a whole for one, and then you’re also Wintu. He grew up going to his tribe’s sacred places and has been dancing in the Winnemem way since he was four years old. For Winnemem Wintu young man Michael "Pom" Preston Sawalmem represents an entire worldview, a vital vision for healing the world and for healing from the legacy of the Shasta Dam that, since the 1940s, has harmed salmon and the Sacramento River and the Winnemem Wintu people of Shasta Mountain, California. Martha's Vinyard project could mark the start of a thriving offshore wind sector in the North America, but obstacles remain. The Winnemem Wintu, one of the several Wintu-speaking tribes, lived for thousands of years in Northern California’s McCloud River watershed. Sawalmem, meaning Sacred Water. He grew up in his tribal ceremonies and … “Because it’s not going to last seven generations with where it’s going right now.”, Public Media Group of Southern California is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.Tax ID: 95-2211661, © 2021 - Public Media Group of Southern California. Sundays forecast for the Canterbury High Country is for the winds to be light at around 6kms. At UC Berkeley where our hero, a member of the Winnemem Wintu tribe studies, nobody talks about spirituality, yet already over 140 dams have been removed from California’s rivers. That’s when I really learned about what activism is on that level, as far as making official statements and using higher international laws to affect federal lands, because the feds haven’t really done anything to protect native lands and so we’ve had to go to higher-up international courts. So that creates a certain energy field around it that is negative.”, According to Preston, spirituality exists within governmental agencies. In his uplifting and internationally-acclaimed short film One Word Sawalmem, co-director Michael “Pom” Preston of the Winnemem Wintu tribe of Mt. I’m just a messenger. It’s always about Indigenous people being affected by corporations coming into their lands and displacing them and polluting everything, polluting the water, and it’s all the same story. It’s a true human heart connection.”. I first met Michael Preston, a war dancer, Indigenous rights activist, and son of Winnemem Wintu chief Caleen Sisk, in 2008. A lot of people get caught up in drinking and this stupid stuff, the social ills that everybody gets caught up in and that communities of color seem to be highly susceptible to. View Michael Preston's business profile as Cultural Preservation Officer at Winnemem Wintu. Michael Preston is a student at UC Berkeley. We say that if you mess up too many sacred places, which [the government] has, and destroy sacred places on Earth, it causes an energetic blockage,” he said. When Shasta Dam began holding water in 1944, 4,000 acres of those ancestral lands were flooded. One Word Sawalmem, Natasha Deganello Giarudie, Michael “Pom” Preston . Berkeley with a B.S. It definitely felt like two worlds. Michael Preston grew up in the old village site of the Winnemem Wintu tribe, along the McCloud River in Northern California where the Shasta Dam has flooded spiritual and cultural lands. But the awareness really kicked off through going to the United Nations and going to the [2014] World’s Indigenous People’s Conference. We don’t have to be dependent on grocery stores. Directed by MICHAEL "POM" PRESTON and NATASHA DEGANELLO GIRAUDIE - For Winnemem Wintu young man Michael "Pom" Preston Sawalmem represents an entire worldview, a vital vision for healing the world and for healing from the legacy of the Shasta Dam that, since the 1940s, has harmed salmon and the Sacramento River and the Winnemem … In his uplifting and internationally-acclaimed short film One Word Sawalmem, co-director Michael "Pom" Preston of the Winnemem Wintu tribe of Mt. January 8, 2019. From the Sacred Land Film Project:. Above: Chief Caleen Sisk and Michael Preston from the Winnemem Wintu release salmon smolt at Whiskey Creek. And then we go into policy, lawyers, and the everyday stuff that everybody thinks advocacy work is.”, These ideas coincide with the annual Run4Salmon event, which is a 300-mile prayer journey organized by Chief Caleen Sisk and allies to raise awareness about policies that threaten water and the Indigenous way of life. This Land is Their Land: A Future for Indigenous Fire in Southern California. “The main way in which I can affect the world, do my job, and help my people, the land, the spirits, the salmon, the laws of creation — is through dancing,” he said. What do you see as your role within the Wintu over the next 50 years and where do you see the tribe in 50 years? This interview has been edited for length and clarity. This article is part of our series examining the Indigenous movement of resistance and restoration. When did you start connecting with other Indigenous peoples and how have those connections aided or affected you in terms of your awareness and your particular struggles? What are some of the stories or things you say that you’ve found really connect with people and create some understanding? This limits their legal standing to oppose the project and also deprives them of many other cultural and economic rights and privileges granted to tribes recognized by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. Are there aspects that you felt were unique to the Wintu? Sawalmem means sacred water, an infinite entity with divine intelligence. Just to be with our sacred sites and fulfilling our obligation to the land, to making the world spin right. Since the 1940s, the creation of the dam has also blocked the usual migration of winter-run salmon, effectively endangering the species. We are working on restoring our salmon population on our river that was blocked by Shasta dam, which covered up to 90 percent of our homelands. It’s a very isolating feeling. I want the salmon back so we can be off the grid. One word ripples outward, vibrating with healing power. “The job for us is to direct energies into those systems to try to affect the hearts and minds of the people who work inside of there. Shasta, California gives us a rare look into the life of local Native wisdom keepers - people who hold humanity's most intimate knowledge about how to live in balance with the Earth and how to thrive with the natural world. Michael Preston (pomtahatot tuiimyali) Michael Preston (pomtahatot tuiimyali) is the Winnemem Wintu cultural preservation officer and works to restore traditional ways. In Point Reyes National Seashore, the National Park Service caters to cattle industry profits over the preservation of public land. 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