The area contains countless tribal cultural resources that are reflective of the long standing history of the region. Safeguarding those resources is one of the driving forces behind the effort to ensure permanent protections for the Medicine Lake Highlands.

Much of the land in the area was illegally taken from the Pit River people, who were forcibly removed and nearly exterminated in the mid 1850s. Although 113 square miles of the Medicine Lake Highlands has been designated a Native American Traditional Cultural District, and the area is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, neither of these distinctions provides any protection for the important natural and cultural resources, nor do they fully acknowledge the continued relationship Tribes have with the area today.

*Indigenous people continue to honor tradition and preserve their cultural identities through their deep spiritual connection and being one with the land and water. *

The ongoing and continued use of the area by Tribes not only includes practicing traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), gathering plant and animal materials for food and making ceremonial items, but the natural features also have a deeper spiritual significance connected to the Pit River Tribe’s creation story.

Pit River families continue to utilize ceremonial spaces within the region for renewal, naming their children, healing, training, and to experience the high quality of silence.