The Role of Critical Cartography in Environmental Justice: Land-Use Conflict at Shasta Dam, California

Abstract

The United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) is conducting a feasibility study to increase the height of Shasta Dam. The Winnemem Wintu Indian Tribe contend that any increase in the storage capacity of Shasta Lake would inundate their remaining cultural and historic sites, tribal lands, and current homestead, an act they describe as “cultural genocide.” Critical Cartography plays a valuable role evaluating the Winnemem Wintu claim, revealing how the tribe’s claim to land was mapped, then unmapped, over the past two-hundred years.