Famous trout streams depend on waters flowing from the public lands of Sáttítla. These lands and waters should be permanently protected as a national monument.
Few Trout Unlimited (TU) chapters have the embarrassment of riches in their territory as TU’s Shasta Trinity Cascades Chapter. Within a two-hour drive of this chapter’s base in Redding, California are destination fishing rivers like the Klamath, Trinity, Upper and Lower Sacramento, the Pit and the McCloud, as well as the trophy trout fishery of the Fall River, California’s largest spring creek.
Of these, the Fall River may be the most unique. Due to its water chemistry and steady flow––even in periods of extended drought––the Fall is incredibly productive for aquatic vegetation and insects. This translates to one of the highest densities of trout per mile of any stream in California and an unusual population of native rainbows that have evolved to spawn in two different seasons.
The productivity of this water also means that Fall River rainbows grow large and heavy. Like, steelhead-size.
It’s all about the source
The Fall River’s sole source is a remarkable complex of springs at the head of the Fall River Valley. The water that pours out of the ground here comes from public lands some 60 miles to the north known as the Medicine Lake Highlands.
The Medicine Lake Highlands, Sáttítla to the local Pit River Tribe, are the crown of the largest remnant shield volcano in North America. The porous substrate of this geologic rarity absorbs and filters an incredible volume of rain and snowmelt––some studies suggest as much as is contained by California’s 200 largest surface reservoirs combined. Much of this water works its way underground over 5 to 20 years to where it emerges in one of the largest complexes of freshwater springs in the West––and becomes the Fall River.
Without the enormous natural reservoir of cold, clean water under Sáttítla, there would be no Fall River and its trophy wild trout fishery. There would be no discharge of over one million acre-feet of water per year into the Fall, and from there into the Pit River (itself a blue-ribbon trout stream) and from there into Lake Shasta, the centerpiece of the largest water supply project in the state.
That’s why TU, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, California Trout and other fishing, hunting and conservation groups are strongly supporting a campaign led by the Pit River Tribe to permanently protect Sáttítla as a national monument.
Creighton Smith, president of the Shasta Trinity Cascades Chapter, says, “Even when California is struggling with drought, the rugged landscape of the Mt. Shasta and Sáttítla region continues to deliver impressive volumes of high-quality water to surface streams. That’s a major reason this area boasts some of the most famous trout streams in the country, including the Fall River. National monument designation has helped sustain fishing and hunting on a variety of public lands. Our chapter strongly supports permanently protecting the remarkable lands and water of the Sáttítla highlands as a national monument.”
Let’s protect what remains
We have lost a lot of good aquatic habitat over the past 150 years, and now the rapidly warming climate is putting even more pressure on what remains. Trout Unlimited is committed to better protecting places like Sáttítla that continually provide high quality habitat and clean water.
The Pit River Tribe has been fighting to protect Sáttítla and its amazing water reserves from proposed development for decades. Last weekend, some of the emotion of that effort was on full display in a “listening session” hosted by the US Forest Service on the proposed Sáttítla National Monument.
Dozens of Tribal people of all ages came from miles around and spoke reverently of being taken as youngsters to Medicine Lake and other places of importance in the highlands by their grandparents and Tribal elders, who had been taken to these places by their elders in a multi-generational exercise of learning how to understand and care for the land––and how to appreciate the land that cares for them.
This remarkable area of public lands continues to take care of us. Especially, perhaps, if you are an angler. The people who have been in the Sáttítla country the longest, and who likely know it best, think the best way to protect the extraordinary values of their homeland––including its incredible waters and its fishing and hunting opportunities––is to designate it a national monument.
We should listen to them.
The complex of public lands and waters under and around Sáttítla checks every box for qualification as a national monument.You can help TU and the Pit River Tribe put this campaign over the finish line by telling President Biden to establish the Sáttítla National Monument. Go here to learn more and to sign our petition. Go here to see what local fishing businesses are saying in support of Sáttítla National Monument.