Stop Shasta Dam Raise - Sign the Petition
Raise your voice, not the dam. Urge our next governor to oppose the Shasta Dam raise and protect the McCloud River.
Illegal since day one
Shasta Dam, impounding the Sacramento, Pit, and McCloud Rivers, creates California’s largest reservoir and is a central feature of the state’s largest single water project, the federal Central Valley Project. The dam’s construction in the 1940s flooded thousands of acres of forest, roughly 90% of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe’s homeland, and cut off chinook salmon from their once-vast breeding habitat upstream.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which owns and operates Shasta Dam, has most recently proposed to raise it by 18.5 feet (and the reservoir 20.5 feet). This expansion would flood more reservoir shoreline and inflowing waterways, at least one national forest roadless area, and parts of the remaining populations of the state-protected Shasta Snow Wreath, a rare plant now found only along the margins of the reservoir. It would also exacerbate the longstanding harms to Tribal cultural sites and resources. It’s also illegal under California law.
It’s Dam Illegal
California’s Wild & Scenic Rivers Act explicitly prohibits raising Shasta Dam because doing so would inundate state-protected segments of the McCloud River. It also bars California public agencies from assisting the federal government in planning or constructing any reservoir enlargement on the McCloud.
In 2019, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Friends of the River successfully sued, securing a ruling that prevented the Westlands Water District (the largest federal irrigation district in the country, located a whopping 280 miles from the reservoir) from preparing an environmental impact report or partnering with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on the project. State agencies—including the State Water Resources Control Board and the Department of Fish & Wildlife—continue to reiterate that the project violates state law.
Unfortunately, federal officials have attempted workarounds, which could set up a showdown over states’ rights. The U.S. House of Representatives even attempted, in vain, to override the California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. But, at present, the law is clear: the Shasta Dam raise cannot proceed under state or federal law.
McCloud Falls, Middle McCloud River
Massive Impacts for Almost No Water
The federal government’s own analysis shows that the project makes no practical sense. Raising the dam would cost $2 billion (with recent unofficial estimates of up to $5 billion) but would add only one-twelfth of 1% to the State’s water portfolio, on average. That’s a negligible amount of water for a price tag that continues to climb.
The environmental impact, however, would be devastating. The project would drown 5,600 acres of forest, including parts of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, and worsen impacts to dozens of threatened and endangered species, including winter-run and spring-run Chinook salmon, steelhead, Shasta salamander, Shasta snow-wreath, and Pacific fisher. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has refused to support the project because it would cut off flows needed for salmon rearing habitat and violate federal protections for listed species.
For the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, the harm is even more profound. The raise would inundate the few remaining cultural, ceremonial, and burial sites not already drowned by the original reservoir. Tribal leaders have called the project a continuation of cultural genocide and warn it would undermine ongoing federal–state–Tribal work to restore winter-run Chinook salmon to the McCloud River.
Friends of the River is Fighting the Damn Raise
Friends of the River has been and continues to be a leader of statewide efforts to block the Shasta Dam raise. Our work to ensure that this destructive project does not move forward includes:
- Stopping the Westlands Water District’s illegal efforts to advance the project
- Defending California’s Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, ensuring state protections for the McCloud River remain fully enforceable
- Working with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe and partner organizations to protect the McCloud River, Tribal cultural sites, and support salmon restoration on the McCloud
- Opposing federal attempts to override state law or fund the raise.
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