Local Tribes

California had the largest population per-capita of Native Americans before colonization. In Butte County, Native people practiced circular and regenerative economies, including trade from neighboring tribes. Environmental management and scientific practice included the use of fire to enhance favorable eco-zones and increase certain plant harvests. The California Gold Rush resulted in mass colonization and a state-sanctioned genocide of the Native people of present-day Butte County. The Native people living in the “city of gold” Oroville, the Yahi people, were murdered by vigilantes paid by the state. Relentless resource extraction and colonial mindsets worsened wildfire, as land stewardship practices in State and National Parks were outlawed for decades. Permanent ecological scars are a product of the government outlawing cultural burning. Despite state violence, Butte County Native people today actively represent the Mechoopda, Maidu, Mountain Maidu, and Konkow peoples with pride. Today, the 5 federally recognized Tribes in Butte County promote cultural knowledge sharing, understanding of relationships within the natural world, tribal member resource support, and practice sovereignty from the federal government. These educational outreach efforts and internal support programs facilitated solely by Butte County tribes have had a profound positive impact. It has resulted in persevering biodiversity ,creating more resilient ecosystems, and leadership training opportunities for tribal members. Today, decades of loss of intergenerational wealth opportunities, repression tactics, cultural genocide, and exclusion from decision making have left the Indigenous community with larger gaps in health insurance coverage, greater cost burdens as renters, and lower socioeconomic status compared to Butte County averages. Economic inequality can cause vicious cycles of deprivation that impacts individuals’ health as they struggle to afford housing, transportation, and food as the cost-of-living increases. Despite equity, inclusion, and diversity being a federally recognized executive order, structural racism in Butte County has prevented such progress in this arena.