The Klamath people are a Native American tribe of the Plateau culture area in Southern Oregon and Northern California. Today Klamath people are enrolled in the federally recognized tribes:
Siskiyou County is a county in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,076. Its county seat is Yreka and its highest point is Mount Shasta. It falls within the Cascadia bioregion.
The Klamath River flows 257 miles (414 km) through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second largest river in California after the Sacramento River. It drains an extensive watershed of almost 16,000 square miles (41,000 km2) that stretches from the arid country of south-central Oregon to the temperate rainforest of the Pacific coast. Unlike most rivers, the Klamath begins in the high desert and flows toward the mountains – carving its way through the rugged Cascade Range and Klamath Mountains before reaching the sea. The upper basin, today used for farming and ranching, once contained vast freshwater marshes that provided habitat for abundant wildlife, including millions of migratory birds. Most of the lower basin remains wild, with much of it designated wilderness. The watershed is known for this peculiar geography, and the Klamath has been called "a river upside down" by National Geographic magazine.
Hupa are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group in northwestern California. Their endonym is Natinixwe, also spelled Natinook-wa, meaning "People of the Place Where the Trails Return". The Karuk name was Kishákeevar / Kishakeevra. The majority of the tribe is enrolled in the Federally recognized Hoopa Valley Tribe.
The Karuk people are an indigenous people of California, and the Karuk Tribe is one of the largest tribes in California. Karuks are also enrolled in two other federally recognized tribes, the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria and the Quartz Valley Indian Community.
Karuk or Karok is the traditional language of the Karuk people in the region surrounding the Klamath River, in Northwestern California. The name ‘Karuk’ is derived from the Karuk word káruk, meaning “upriver”.
The Shastan peoples are a group of linguistically related indigenous peoples from the Klamath Mountains. They traditionally inhabited portions of several regional waterways, including the Klamath, Salmon, Sacramento and McCloud rivers. Shastan lands presently form portions of the Siskiyou, Klamath and Jackson counties. Scholars have generally divided the Shastan peoples into four languages, although arguments in favor of more or less existing have been made. Speakers of Shasta proper-Kahosadi, Konomihu, Okwanuchu, and Tlohomtah’hello "New River" Shasta resided in settlements typically near a water source. Their villages often had only either one or two families. Larger villages had more families and additional buildings utilised by the community.
State Route 96 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that follows the Trinity and Klamath Rivers between State Route 299 in Willow Creek and Interstate 5 near Yreka in Northern California. For most of the route it goes through the Karuk Tribal Reservation, the Yurok Tribal Reservation, and the Hoopa Tribal Reservation. Over half of the length is the Bigfoot Scenic Byway, passing through "the region boasting the most sightings of Bigfoot of anywhere in the country" according to the National Forest Scenic Byway Program.
The Resighini Rancheria, located just south of Klamath, California, is a federally recognized tribe of Yurok people.
The Tolowa people or Taa-laa-wa Dee-ni’ are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethno-linguistic group. Two rancherias still reside in their traditional territory in northwestern California. Those removed to the Siletz Reservation in Oregon are located there.
The Yurok are an Indigenous people from along the Klamath River and Pacific coast, whose homelands are located in present-day California stretching from Trinidad in the south to Crescent City in the north.
Happy Camp is a census-designated place (CDP) in Siskiyou County, California in the United States. Its population is 905 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,190 from the 2010 census.
Klamath River is an unincorporated community in Siskiyou County, California, United States, situated on the Klamath River. It is located on State Route 96, near the Oregon border. The name "Klamath" was derived from an Indian word Tlamatl which means "they of the (Klamath) river," from /-matl/ "river." in Chinook. The community of Klamath River is about 11 miles (18 km) long and includes both sides of the river from Gottville to Kohl Creek. The population is 190. In 2022, a forest fire destroyed most of the structures in the town.
Karuk traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Karuk (Karok) people of the Klamath River basin of northwestern California.
Yurok traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Yurok people of the lower Klamath River in northwestern California.
Klamath, also Klamath–Modoc and historically Lutuamian, is a Native American language spoken around Klamath Lake in what is now southern Oregon and northern California. It is the traditional language of the Klamath and Modoc peoples, each of whom spoke a dialect of the language. By 1998, only one native speaker remained, and by 2003, this last fluent Klamath speaker who was living in Chiloquin, Oregon, was 92 years old. As of 2006 there were no fluent native speakers of either the Klamath or Modoc dialects; however, as of 2019, revitalization efforts are underway with the goal of creating new speakers.
Seiad Valley is a small unincorporated community in Siskiyou County, California situated 15 miles south of the Oregon border. A population of approximately 300 people is clustered around the Klamath River, State Route 96, and spread out along the surrounding creeks. The three craggy peaks of the Lower Devils look over the forested valley, which is completely surrounded on all sides by the green Klamath Mountains, just north of the Marble Mountains Wilderness area. The Pacific Crest Trail, which runs all the way from Canada to Mexico, passes through the West Side of Seiad Valley. A general store/cafe/post office, an elementary school, a small trailer park, a volunteer fire house, forest service station, gas station and the historic Wildwood Tavern and Lodge make up central portion of the town; beyond that are small agricultural/herding fields, a scattering of residences, and the bridges crossing the Klamath River. Seiad Valley is within zip code 96086, but itself is not incorporated and so has no strictly defined boundaries.
The Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe with members who are descendants of Chetco, Hupa, Karuk, Tolowa, Wiyot, and Yurok people in Humboldt County, California. As of the 2010 Census the population was 132.
Un-Dam the Klamath (#UnDamtheKlamath) is a social movement in the United States to remove the dams on the Klamath River primarily because they obstruct salmon, steelhead, and other species from accessing the upper basin which provides hundreds of miles of spawning habitat. The dams have also significantly harmed Hupa, Karuk, Klamath, and Yurok lifeways and communities. Copco #1, Copco #2, Iron Gate and J.C. Boyle are the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River that are being advocated for removal.
The McKinney Fire was a destructive wildfire that burned in the Klamath National Forest in western Siskiyou County, California, in the United States as part of the 2022 California wildfire season. The fire is named after McKinney Creek Road, near where the fire ignited on July 29, 2022, at approximately 2:15 PM PDT before undergoing explosive weather-driven growth over the next day and a half. The fire consumed more than 50,000 acres in less than 36 hours, destroying at least 185 structures and causing 4 fatalities. The cause of the wildfire is unknown and currently under investigation.
United States (
California)