Mission

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The Pit River Tribe has called on President Biden to protect their ancestral homelands by designating Sáttítla (aka Medicine Lake Highlands) as a national monument. We flew over the gorgeous 200 square miles to see what is at stake. From the air, the region’s spectacular character is clear. Prime wildlife habitat supports excellent hunting and fishing, and has done so since time immemorial, as the land has sustained the Pit River Tribe for many generations. This land is spotted with deep blue lakes that fade into shallow wetlands abutting dark timber, truly perfect habitat for all manners of wildlife. However, this ecosystem supports more than just the critters on its surface.

The region is home to outstanding public land and recreational opportunities like hunting and fishing, and provides critical geologic, hydrologic, and wildlife values. Sáttítla is central to the Pit River Tribe’s spiritual practices and cultural heritage.

Medicine Lake sits within the caldera of the Medicine Lake shield volcano, an enormous pristine hydrological storage area for California’s water supply, storing as much water as California’s 200 largest reservoirs and discharging over 1.2 million acre-feet of snowmelt annually, which feeds the Fall River Springs - one of the largest spring systems in the West - and its world-renowned trout fishery.

These critical headwaters provide water resources for downstream agriculture and millions of people and currently, this area is without proper and meaningful protections and has been threatened by harmful industrial geothermal development. A national monument designation would honor the Tribe’s longstanding efforts to protect their ancestral homelands, and the proposed designation has seen widespread additional support from local Tribes, recreation and conservation groups, and Senators Padilla and Butler.

Thank you for working to protect this sacred landscape, its wildlife, and water. EcoFlight will continue to fly in support of a designation protection for Sáttítla Medicine Lake Highlands and the preservation of California’s public lands.

Click for photos from your flight, geo-reference aerial images, and aerial GoPro footage. PAST 6/26/24 PHOTOS