Introducing A Prayer for Salmon – Trailer

The Spiritual Edge

A Prayer for Salmon is a new audio documentary series from The Spiritual Edge podcast that tells the story of the Winnemem Wintu people of Northern California and their clash with Shasta Dam. The dam’s construction turned California into an agricultural powerhouse, but it left the Winnemem homeless and without say over their land. The series details the Winnemem’s fight to resist a proposed Shasta Dam Enlargement Project. It also highlights the Winnemem's aspiration to return Chinook salmon to their homeland on the McCloud River, a major tributary of the dam.

We will investigate the Shasta Dam Enlargement Project, which gained traction during the Trump years and proposes to raise the 602-foot dam even higher. It's an alarming prospect for the Winnemem who worry they'll lose sacred sites critical for their way of life. We then travel with the Winnemem and allies on a two-week, 300-mile Run4Salmon ceremony as they walk, run, bike and boat, following the migration of Chinook salmon from the Pacific Ocean up the Sacramento River to spawning grounds. Along the way, we study the environmental and political issues that threaten the survival of salmon, whose numbers plummeted after Shasta Dam was built. The Winnemem believe caring for the salmon is their spiritual and moral obligation and that their two fates are linked.

This isn’t necessarily going to be a piece of traditional journalism where you hear from one side and then you hear from the other. The way we think about is that colonial ideology is inextricably entwined with the American way of life. With it, comes assumptions about history, culture and property that most of us don’t question. We all know that point of view. So we invite you to listen to A Prayer for Salmon with an open mind. Allow yourself to walk in the shoes of another culture. Our hope is that you will come away with an understanding of the Winnemem Wintu, who they are and what they’re fighting for — and what all of us will lose if they disappear.

A Prayer for Salmon drops August 2022.