LAKEPORT, Calif. — Spring runs of a large minnow numbering in the millions have nourished Pomo Indians since they first made their home alongside Northern California’s Clear Lake more than 400 generations ago.
The Clear Lake hitch glinted like silver dollars as they headed up the lake’s tributaries to spawn, a reliable squirming crop of plenty, steeped in history and tasty when salted and dried like jerky.
In all that time, the hitch’s domain, about 110 miles northwest of Sacramento, had never suffered the degradation of recent years.
