ABOUT THE

NORTHERN VALLEY

YOKUT OHLONE

TRIBE

"Rebuilding through cultural preservation."

The Yokuts

The Yokuts (persons or people) once occupied the largest area of any group in California, with an area of about 300 miles long and 75 miles wide, which contained over 36,000 individuals from over 60 Yokuts tribes. Due to the massive size of the Yokuts, tribes are often consolidated into two groups, southern and northern valley Yokuts.
The Northern Valley Yokuts footprint consists of the entire San Joaquin valley, Mount Diablo Range of the Coast Mountains to the upper reaches of the Sierra Foothills, from north of Cosumne River basin to Tejon Canyon on the east, and from Carquinez Strait to Paleta on the west. Our numbers were impacted by the forcible removal of our people to missions Santa Clara, San José, and San Juan Bautista.
The tribe’s footprint is much larger today, due to the intermarriages with the Miwoks, Patwin, and Ohlone people and these intermarriages assisted with replenishing the numbers that were lost. Despite these facts, the federal government has failed to recognize the Northern Valley Yokuts/Ohlone tribe and in turn left the members of the tribe to rebuild our nation alone.
As the Federal Government treaties were left unratified even after their discovery, our tribe, like many others, are left dealing with yet another obstacle to our tribes’ existence. We are currently left with the duty to help our tribe become self-sufficient; the chairperson of the tribe formed a Nonprofit called Nototomne (people of the valley) in representation of our intermarriages with other valley tribes.
The Purpose of the Nonprofit is to allow the tribe to protect our cultural resources from being destroyed from westernized development. Throughout the nonprofit’s 25 years, the tribe has been able to save over 400 ancestral burials and twice as many associated artifacts.
The tribe has been able to accomplish feats in the community as well, through their active involvement in protecting and preserving areas in state parks, providing cultural sensitivity training to companies and universities to help reduce negligence, and encouraging communities that reside on tribal land to build monuments to honor those who were forcibly removed.
The tribe has formed a new Nonprofit, Northern Valley Yokut/Ohlone Tribe Inc. The purpose of this new nonprofit is to assist in rebuilding the tribe through cultural and ancestral research. Helping the tribe achieve self-sustainability through acquisition of land for reinterment purposes and the development of infrastructures to increase the quality of life for each tribal member.
Learn More About
NORTHERN VALLEY

YOKUT OHLONE

TRIBE
Read more about our History