Redwood National and State Parks guide · 1 min read
Yurok and Tolowa Homelands in the Parks
Native nations with historical ties to the redwood region include the Yurok, Tolowa, Karuk, Chilula, and Wiyot.
Many peoples have lived here for thousands of years, and a historian has counted more than thirty nations in northwestern California. Of these, the Yurok, Chilula, and Tolowa were most closely tied to the land that is now parkland.
The Yurok were the most populous people in the area, and one historian estimated around 55 villages. An anthropologist working from an 1852 census put the Yurok population near 2,500 that year. Until the 1860s, the Chilula made their home in the central Redwood Creek valley, living among redwood trees and settling mainly along the creek.
The Tolowa keep their traditions active through public performances. Renewal Dance demonstrations take place at the Jedediah Smith Campground day-use area, off Highway 199 just west of Hiouchi. Dances passed across generations express the spiritual bond Native communities share with the land. The dances show that Tolowa traditions are still alive today.
The one-mile Yurok Loop Trail starts at a marked trailhead on the north side of the Lagoon Creek picnic area lot. The path has a few grades, none steep, with views of False Klamath Cove and Lagoon Creek. Pack binoculars for seabirds on the seastacks, rock formations that erosion has shaped. Brown pelicans, common murres, pigeon guillemots and cormorants are among the species you might spot.
The National Park Service and the California Department of Parks and Recreation jointly manage the parks, and local communities help care for them. Three federally recognized tribes, the Resighini Rancheria of the Yurok People, the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation, and the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria, act as sovereign governments protecting the Yurok-Tolowa-Dee-ni' Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area. It covers 700 square miles of ocean waters and coastline.
