The Land Remembers: The Enduring Legacy of the Nuum and Yokutch Peoples

Story contributed

 All around the lake lived many California Central Valley Tribal Communities. They fished for tulle perch, gathered materials for baskets, and paddled tule boats across the rippling blue lake. Every season, families met on the shores to give thanks to the lake for feeding and caring for them. Drawing used with permission from Roman C. Rain Tree. All rights reserved.

Since time immemorial, the Nuum (Mono) and Yokutch (Yokuts) peoples have regarded what is now called California’s Sierra Central Valley region as the center of their universe—their Mother, their home. This relationship encompasses not only the living, but all those who came before, those who still walk among us, and those whose presence endures within the memory of the land itself. The land holds their footsteps, stories, and teachings, carrying them forward across generations. “Nuum” means “a human being,” and “Yokutch” means “people,” with the Nuum living primarily throughout the Sierra Nevada foothills and the Yokutch residing in the Valley below.

Across this region flourished a vast constellation of Indigenous communities, each with distinct languages, cultures, and social systems shaped by the land itself. At the foundation of life were sophisticated foodways rooted in deep ecological knowledge. Acorns formed the primary dietary staple, carefully harvested, processed, and stored, complemented by deer meat, fish, waterfowl, and a wide range of local plants and berries gathered according to precise seasonal cycles. Basketry emerged as a highly sophisticated and world-renowned art form—both utilitarian and ceremonial—integral to food preparation, storage, and cultural expression. While Nuum communities traditionally follow patriarchal structures and many Yokutch communities are matriarchal, both peoples ground their identity in a reciprocal and enduring relationship with the land.

Oral histories teach that long before humans existed, the world was shaped by the First People—beings who were both human and animal. Coyote, Grizzly Bear, Deer, Eagle, Condor, Falcon, and others brought order to the world and imparted knowledge of food, water, fire, music, medicine, and the origins of life itself. These teachings remain foundational to cultural memory and identity.

The arrival of outsiders marked the beginning of profound disruption, trauma, and environmental change. Prior to European intrusion, population estimates for the Sierra–Central Valley range from 50,000 to over 70,000 Indigenous people. Today, their descendants represent less than 10% of that number. Spanish incursions beginning in 1776, followed by Mexican rule and early United States expansion, fundamentally altered Tribal life through violence, forced labor, displacement, and disease.

But one day, things began to change. New people came with tools and plans and papers. They built dams on the rivers that fed Pa’ashi. They dug canals to carry the water away to far-off farms. Little by little, the great lake began to shrink. Drawing used with permission from Roman C. Rain Tree. All rights reserved. 

Among the most devastating impacts was the destruction of Pa’ashi—Tulare Lake, once the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi River. For countless generations, Pa’ashi was the heart of Yokutch homelands and a vital source of food, culture, ceremony, and identity. Beginning in the late 1800s and accelerating through the 20th century, the lake was deliberately drained and its tributary rivers—the Kings, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern—dammed and diverted to serve large-scale agricultural interests. This eradication collapsed ecological systems, destroyed traditional foodways, and displaced Tribal communities whose lives were inseparable from the lake.

California’s Indian policy is marked by extreme and unique acts of violence. In 1851–1852, eighteen treaties negotiated with California Tribes were never ratified and were hidden from public view for decades, leaving most Tribes—especially in the Sierra and La Central Valley—without land or federal recognition. Nearly half of all Non-Federally Acknowledged Tribes in California today are located in this region. State-funded militia campaigns, massacres, and removals openly pursued the eradication of Indigenous peoples.

This era of extermination unfolded alongside another deliberate campaign: the near-total slaughter of the California grizzly bear. Once abundant, the grizzly was systematically hunted and eliminated to clear land for settlement. Today it survives only as a symbol on the California state flag—celebrated while disconnected from the violent reality of its destruction. For Non-Federally Acknowledged California Indian Tribes, the grizzly bear stands as a powerful parallel: once numerous, land-based, and viewed as obstacles to progress, many Tribes now exist primarily in symbolic form while being denied land, recognition, and protection. In some regions, this eradication was complete.

While outright eradication of Grizzly Bears and the California Indian Genocide is no longer legally sanctioned, the genocide did not end—it evolved. For many Non-Federally Acknowledged Tribes, it continues today as cultural genocide, expressed through systematic denial of land access, confinement to land-locked burial grounds, and policies that sever relationships between people, place, language, and ceremony. When a people’s way of life is inseparable from land, denying access to that land constitutes an assault on identity itself.

 At first, people called it a flood, but the Tribal elders smiled and said, “No – this is Pa’ashi remembering herself.” The waters spread again across the valley floor, covering the fields that once covered her. Drawing used with permission from Roman C. Rain Tree. All rights reserved. 

Yet despite these ongoing assaults, the Nuum (Mono) and Yokutch (Yokuts) peoples continue to survive, remember, and assert their presence. Their oral histories, foodways rooted in acorns, deer, plants, and berries, kinship systems, and enduring relationship to the land remain acts of resistance, resilience, and sovereignty. Their existence in California’s Sierra and Central Valley is not only ancient—it is living, unresolved, and central to the unfinished story of California.

This story is part of the Central Valley Community Foundation’s “Sixty Stories That Shaped Us” initiative, marking 60 years since our founding. Join us in celebrating this milestone and the special place we call home. To learn more, visit centralvalleycf.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn @centralvalleycf.