November 29, 2025 – Yosemite National Park officials announce that Yosemite is home to seven Traditionally Associated American Indian tribes: the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation, the Bishop Paiute Tribe, the Bridgeport Indian Colony, the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a Tribe, the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California, the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians.

The ancestors of these tribes have lived in the Yosemite region for at least 8,000 years, traveling from the Eastern Sierra to areas known today as Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite Valley, Hetch Hetchy, Wawona, the western foothills, and beyond. They hunted and gathered, visited family and friends, and served as the original stewards of the land by taking care of the places that sustained them.

But the tribes’ role as caretakers of the land is not just historic. Today’s tribal members continue the stewardship traditions of their ancestors by sharing a diverse variety of languages, stories, and cultural practices with the public.

While in Yosemite Valley, stop by the Yosemite Museum to see cultural demonstrators practicing traditional and modern crafts, including stone toolmaking, basket-weaving, and beadwork. Take a tour through the Indian Village of Ahwahnee to learn about the plants used by native people and interact with historic recreations of native structures, such as the umacha (a Miwok and Paiute cedar bark house). Inside the museum, observe art and displays that interpret the cultural history of the park’s original, continuing, and future stewards.

NPS Photos

Source: NPS