Northern Paiute

The American Indian Studies Center is leading several research projects, including Indigenous perspectives on water issues, such as the diversion of snowmelt and groundwater from Northern Paiute tribal homelands — known as the Owens Valley — to Los Angeles.

A variety of Indigenous cultures, including the Molalla, Kalapuya, Tenino, Wasco, Klamath, Northern Paiute and Cayuse, probably used the area for trading, hunting and the collection of plants.

We meet Northern Paiute Sarah Winnemucca, whose grandfather, a tribal leader, considered white men his “brothers” until they began “killing everybody that came in their way” and set fire to the tribe’s winter supplies.

Lithium America's proposed lithium clay mine at Thacker Pass, sacred land to the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone, faced vehement opposition from tribes, ranchers, and environmental groups before receiving its permits in February.

Environmentalists and local Native Americans oppose the project, saying it would desecrate land the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone consider sacred and have adverse environmental impacts on the region’s residents.