Below is an article (1999) on the involvement of the local Miwuk with the ongoing Merced River Project- Meetings are currently ongoing and a ** current status** report is made to our Historic Sites and Records Preservation Commission at each meeting. Carolyn http://wwwdwr.water.ca.gov/DWRNews/fall99/salmon.html A Miwuk Blessing The Miwuk Indian tribe was so enthused about the restoration project they came to bless the construction site. With pleasure, and without fanfare, seven Miwuk Indians gathered onJune 9, 1999, to bless the site of the joint DWR-Department of Fish and Game restoration project along the Merced River. The Miwuks began their blessing by individually purifying the 13 people in attendance with smoke from burning coastal sage plants. “Sage purifies participants and prepares them to receive the good medicine to come,” according to tribal member and DWR employee, Ron Wermuth. Next, Jay Johnson, of the Southern Sierra Miwuk Tribe, sang a gentle song to Mother Earth, while fellow tribe members Lois Martin and Bill Leonard clambered down a steep embankment and sprinkled crushed acorns and tobacco leaves on the water, as offerings to the River Spirit. After a short pause, Wermuth offered a spoken prayer to the Creator -- or “Grandfather” -- and Johnson blessed the river in high-pitched song. Johnson’s singing was accompanied by the sounds of frogs, birds, insects, and rustling cottonwood trees that are abundant along the road to the project site. Following Johnson, Sandra Vasquez of the Mariposa Indian Council joined Frannie Gann, Lois Martin, and Sandra Chapman of the Southern Sierra Miwuk Tribe in a lilting song-blessing to the Salmon Spirit. Miwuks believe that salmon carry this blessing up and downstream, extending its influence to the mountains and the sea. Leonard and Johnson also appealed in song to the Eagle Spirit and the Bear Spirit -- asking them to spread the blessing across the land. Wermuth sang the last song of the day—to the Water Spirit. Johnson accompanied him on an instrument called a clapstick (made from a split and dried elderberry branch), while everyone else gazed across the rippling water at two egrets stretching their wings near the far shore. After the ceremony, the Miwuks joined four DWR staff members and two Department of Fish and Game employees on a walk along the levee. Conversation was easy, with topics ranging from the power of blessings, to the multiple uses of whiteroot plant (plentiful near the river), to the importance of beginning projects “the right way.” “Getting off to a good start means so much,” commented Kevin Faulkenberry, the DWR associate engineer who’s directing this restoration effort. “I can’t imagine a better start than this, and it’s great to have the Miwuks’ support for what we’re doing . . . I think everyone involved will be happy with the results when we’re through.”