This part of the McCloud is off limits to almost everyone except a few Native Americans and some well-heeled fly fishermen. Its gatekeeper is an unlikely one, an organization that also happens to be a hugely controversial player in California water politics.
Eleven years ago, Westlands Water District, headquartered in far-away Fresno, bought the land for a single purpose – to flood it.
Westlands' property includes seven miles of the river. The district supports the federal government's efforts to heighten Shasta Dam, about 30 miles away. A taller dam would increase the lake's storage capacity during wet years. That, in turn, would provide more water for the farms and orchards Westlands serves in the perpetually parched San Joaquin Valley.
A higher structure also would inundate parts of the McCloud, altering its current state.
"This is unquestionably a beautiful stretch of river," said Westlands general manager Tom Birgmingham, as he walked along its banks last month. "The river deserves to be protected in its current form, but that's going to have to give a little bit to raise the dam."
Opponents of the dam project, however, are refusing to give at all. They include the state of California, a local Native American tribe and environmental and fishing groups.
They say raising the dam by 18.5 feet, under the current federal proposal, would submerge sacred sites of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe and ruin a stretch of a river prized by recreational trout anglers. They say it also would be a violation of the 1972 Wild and Scenic Rivers act, which prohibits the state from supporting projects that alter certain natural waterways.
Disagreement over raising Shasta Dam has been going on for decades. The Obama administration essentially tabled the issue over questions about who would foot the bill.
Now the $1.3 billion project has returned with force. Congress in March appropriated $20 million for pre-construction planning. The appropriation, part of a massive federal budget bill signed into law by President Donald Trump, was enough to touch off a political fracas stretching from Washington to Sacramento.
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