Klamath

Klamath is a name used for several related geographic and cultural entities in the western United States. It is most closely associated with the Klamath River and with indigenous peoples who historically lived in the Klamath Basin, as well as with various places named Klamath in Oregon and California.

The Klamath Tribes are a federally recognized Native American group in Oregon, comprising descendants of the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin Band of the Snake Indians. Historically they inhabited the upper Klamath Basin in what are now southern Oregon and northern California. In the 19th and 20th centuries they faced dispossession and relocation to the Klamath Reservation. The tribes were terminated under the federal policy in 1954 and were re-recognized in 1980 as the Klamath Tribes of Oregon.

The Klamath River is a major river of the Pacific Northwest, rising in southern Oregon and flowing southwest to the Pacific Ocean in northern California. It has supported important salmon fisheries and has been central to Indigenous livelihoods, agriculture, and regional environmental policy. The Klamath Basin, which includes lands around the river, has been the focus of water rights disputes and ecosystem restoration efforts, including debates over dam removal and habitat recovery.

Klamath also designates several places, including Klamath County and the city of Klamath Falls in Oregon; the unincorporated community of Klamath near the mouth of the river in California; and the Klamath National Forest, a federally managed area spanning parts of northern California and southern Oregon.