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:
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.
Achomawi, are the northerly nine bands of the Pit River tribe of Native Americans who live in what is now northeastern California in the United States. These nine autonomous bands of the Pit River Indians historically spoke slightly different dialects of one common language, and the other two bands spoke dialects of a related language, called Atsugewi. The name "Achomawi" means river people and properly applies to the band which historically inhabited the Fall River Valley and the Pit River from the south end of Big Valley Mountains, westerly to Pit River Falls. The nine bands of Achumawi lived on both sides of the Pit River from its origin at Goose Lake to Montgomery Creek, and the two bands of Atsugewi lived south of the Pit River on creeks tributary to it in the Hat Creek valley and Dixie Valley.
The Trinity River is a major river in northwestern California in the United States, and is the principal tributary of the Klamath River. The Trinity flows for 165 miles (266 km) through the Klamath Mountains and Coast Ranges, with a watershed area of nearly 3,000 square miles (7,800 km2) in Trinity and Humboldt Counties. Designated a National Wild and Scenic River, along most of its course the Trinity flows swiftly through tight canyons and mountain meadows.
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 an endangered American Indian language spoken in Northwestern California in the region surrounding the Klamath River. It is classified as severely endangered by UNESCO with only around 12 fluent native speakers of the language left. It is the traditional language of the Karuk people, most of whom now speak English. The name is derived from the word Káruk, which means 'upriver'. Since 1949, there have been efforts to revitalize the language and increase the number of speakers by linguists such as Dr. William Bright and Susan Gehr as well as members of the Karuk community. Bright and Gehr published a Karuk dictionary in 2005, which is available online as a resource for learners.
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 Indian Reservation is a Native American reservation for the Yurok people located in parts of Del Norte and Humboldt counties, California, on a 44-mile (71 km) stretch of the Klamath River. It is one of a very few tribes who have never been removed from their ancestral lands in California.
The Whilkut also known as "(Upper) Redwood Creek Indians" or "Mad River Indians" were an Pacific Coast Athabaskan tribe speaking a dialect similar to the Hupa to the northeast and Chilula to the north, who inhabited the area on or near the Upper Redwood Creek and along the Mad River except near its mouth, up to Iaqua Butte, and some settlement in Grouse Creek in the Trinity River drainage in Northwestern California, before contact with Europeans.
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. Like most Indigenous peoples in the United States, the Yurok have been dispossessed of most of their land, the majority of which is now owned by timber corporations or has been taken by the National Parks System.
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.
Indian termination was the policy of the United States from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and policies with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream American society. Assimilation was not new since the belief that indigenous people should abandon their traditional lives and become what the government considers "civilized" had been the basis of policy for centuries. However, what was new was the sense of urgency, that with or without consent, tribes must be terminated and begin to live "as Americans." To that end, Congress set about ending the special relationship between tribes and the federal government.
The Blue Lake Rancheria of the Wiyot, Yurok, and Hupa Indians is located northwest of the city of Blue Lake in Humboldt County, California on approximately 76 acres (0.31 km2). As of 2007, there were 53 enrolled members. As of the 2010 Census the population of Blue Lake Rancheria was 58.
Fort Gaston was founded on December 4, 1859, in the redwood forests of the Hoopa Valley, in Northern California, on the west bank of the Trinity River, 14 miles (23 km) from where the Trinity flows into the Klamath River. It was located in what is now the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. Fort Gaston as part of the Humboldt Military District was intended to control the Hupa Indians and to protect them from hostile white settlers. The post was named for 2nd Lieutenant William Gaston, of the First Dragoons, who had been killed May 17, 1858, during the Spokane–Coeur d'Alene–Paloos War.
The 2002 Klamath River fish kill occurred on the Klamath River in California in September 2002. According to the official estimate of mortality, about 34,000 fish died. Though some counts may estimate over 70,000 adult chinook salmon were killed when returning to the river to spawn, making it the largest salmon kill in the history of the Western United States. Besides the chinook salmon, other fish that perished include: steelhead, coho salmon, sculpins, speckled dace, and Klamath smallscale sucker.
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.
