Group swims from Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz to call for protection of Sáttítla

SAN FRANCISCO - Ahead of Indigenous Peoples' Day, a small group of swimmers swam the three miles from the Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz to raise awareness about a piece of cultural land they want to see protected: Sáttítla.

Sáttítla is an area of cultural significance for the Pit River Tribe and Modoc Nation. It's in the Medicine Lake Highlands in Northeastern California, about 30 miles from Mount Shasta. 

The group of swimmers call themselves the SF Dream Team, combining their activism with their love of open-water swimming. 

"We usually do swims to raise scholarship dollars for undocumented students. And right now we’re doing it for a different cause, just to bring awareness to Sáttítla," said swimmer and organizer Karla Castillo. 

"This area of Sáttítla encompasses the Modoc Forest, Shasta Lake Forest, and the Klamath Forest, and it’s just home to such geological treasures like Glass Mountain, a mountain made of obsidian. And then Medicine Lake, which is a caldera of the purest water," said Jose Carrasco, another swimmer and fellow organizer. 

The tribes have been fighting for more than 20 years to keep geothermal development and other harmful activities away from the land. 

They want to protect the volcanic aquifer below the surface that captures snow melt and delivers clean water to the Fall River Springs, which then flows from Shasta Lake to the San Francisco Bay.

"Protecting what we have for our future is really, really key. We all really need to be working together," said Radley Davis, a member of the Pit River Tribe who was at the Bay cheering on the swimmers. 

In August, Rep. Adam Schiff, along with Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler called on President Joe Biden to use his authority to designate the more than 200,000 acres as a national monument. 

The area of the proposed national monument is shown below: 

In a press release from Schiff's office, it says Sáttítla is home to one of the headwaters of the entire California watershed, storing as much water as the state's 200 largest surface reservoirs. 

"For them, they’re looking at this to be part of this proposal to protect resources. We’re looking at it as a way that this is something we have a common value here, we have a common interest," said Davis. 

He said the land is a ceremonial space and part of the Pit River Tribe's creation narrative. 

With the Pit River flag flying with them, the swimmers hope to inspire people to do their research and sign a petition at protectsattitla.org.