Lava Beds National Monument ⓘ

The Modoc people once lived on both sides of what is now the California-Oregon border, in villages on and near Tule, Lower Klamath, and Clear Lakes. Like the ancient people who first inhabited this area more than 11,000 years ago, they took advantage of abundant waterfowl and game, edible and medicinal plants, and an easily accessible water supply. They moved about the region freely with the seasons, until the coming of Euro-Americans in 1826 when the pattern of Modoc life began to change. The Modoc, a fiercely independent people, began to clash with some of the newcomers who laid claim to Modoc land, sowing the seeds for one of the most tragic of the Indian Wars: the Modoc War of 1872-73.

Seasonal Life The band of Modoc that inhabited lands in and around the lava beds followed a seasonal round, from permanent winter villages around local lakes and into the highlands of Medicine Lake to the south. The annual journey began with the end of the last winter storms, when wildflowers signaled the coming of spring. Temporary camps were erected near Lost River (which connects Tule and Clear Lakes), consisting of groups of domed huts made of tule reeds. Here the Modoc could take advantage of fish spawning in the local water ways and gather bird eggs, roots, and berries.

With the coming of summer, the Modoc moved to higher elevations south of the lava beds (on today's Modoc National Forest) where they established mountain camps to hunt and gather nuts and berries. Autumn was a crucial time for the Modoc people when food was prepared and transported down to permanent winter camps on the banks of lakes and rivers. Their earth lodges, as many as twenty in each village, were readied for the severe cold of winter storms. When the band moved into their winter villages, older people repaired broken tools and weaved baskets, while younger members of the village listened to the elders recount the history of the tribe in legend and song.

Throughout the year, places of spiritual importance in the lava beds and the highlands were visited by spiritual leaders and young tribal members coming of age.

The Modoc used many plants in this area for food, medicine, tools, or a combination of all three. The water lily, or “wocas,” provided a staple food when its seeds were ground into meal or flour in rock mortars. Tule reeds found along shorelines provided material for baskets, sleeping mats, and sandals, among many other uses. The Modoc used sagebrush bark to make baskets, clothing and footwear. Women were responsible for much of the plant gathering and food preparation.

The Modoc made intricate hunting and fishing implements from local materials. They fashioned boats and rafts for transportation and fishing from tule reeds, and hollowed out sturdier dugout canoes with fire and scraping. Nets of woven tule fibers weighted with lava rocks could be used to catch seasonal runs of fish. Waterfowl were also caught in nets as they flew low over ridgelines.

Bows were constructed from juniper limbs with deer sinew bowstrings. Arrow shafts were constructed from tule reeds, while the arrowheads were razor-sharp pieces of obsidian gathered from the highlands and worked with deer antler tools. Birds, fish, and game were hunted with either obsidian-tipped arrows or spears. Modoc men hunted mule deer, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, and many types of waterfowl. The hunt was an important part of a Modoc man’s life, and preparation for the hunt usually involved time in a sweat lodge.

The Modoc War of 1872-73 had a devastating impact on the Modoc people. After the war ended, 155 Modoc who had fought alongside Captain Jack in the lava beds were transported as prisoners over 2000 miles by rail to the Quapaw Reservation in Oklahoma. For these Modoc, this marked the beginning of a desperate struggle for survival in the history of their people. Where were the grasses and reeds they needed to make their fine baskets? Where were the lakes, teeming with millions of waterfowl, and the winter herds? What of the spirits of their ancestors left behind?

Disease soon spread through the tribe in Oklahoma, as they lacked resistance to new illnesses. As the Modoc tried to adapt to planting strange crops, they were weakened by malaria. Thirty-three died in a single year. By the turn of the century twenty-seven years later, there were fewer than 50 Modoc on the rolls of the Quapaw Agency. Even so, the Modoc demonstrated their historic tenacity by working hard to make their land productive and to increase their herds of livestock. The Modoc further supplemented their meager government rations by working for Euro-Americans in the border settlements, and by making and selling the arts and crafts of other tribes.

The Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma today is composed of descendants of only seven of the original 155 prisoners of war. The Modoc are now part of an eight-tribe council made up of native peoples from all parts of the country. More than a century after their exile, the Modoc of Oklahoma have continued to adapt to life in a new land, raising cattle and establishing businesses with their neighbors. Their history is one of adaptation and persistence—both an end and a beginning for a people and a way of life.

During the Modoc War, many Modoc never became involved in the conflict.They were not exiled to Oklahoma like the followers of Captain Jack. They were, however, forced to remain on the Klamath Reservation, the homeland of their Klamath neighbors instead of their own land. Though the climate and resources were similar to which they were accustomed, there were daily reminders that they were not home. They dealt in close quarters with Indian Agents as well as Klamath and Yahooskin tribal members. Like all Native Americans in the nineteenth century, they were forbidden to practice their traditional religion or speak their language.

All three tribes came to be recognized by the federal government as the Klamath Tribes, and engaged in many profitable ventures in the twentieth century including ranching, freighting, and the timber industry. In 1954, however, the Klamath Tribes were terminated from federal recognition. After a legal struggle spanning decades, they were successful in regaining status as a federally-recognized tribe in 1986. A restoration Celebration is held every August in Chiloquin, Oregon to mark the event. You can learn more here: The Klamath Tribes website

Lava Beds National Monument is in the traditional homeland of Captain Jack's southern Modoc band. Places where the ancestors of modern Modoc people lived, gathered plants, conducted spiritual activities, and made their stand during the Modoc War remain, protected by the National Park Service. Today tribal members participate in both private activities and public education efforts at Lava Beds to ensure these connections to the landscape endure.

Gillems Camp, one of the principal military encampments of the Modoc War of 1872-73, came to life again under very different circumstances sixty years after the army left the lava beds. The old campsite became the center of Camp Tulelake, a base for a succession of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) crews that would transform the newly established national monument.

The CCC was a very successful relief program during the Great Depression. In an effort to alleviate unemployment while making needed improvements to public lands, President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration started the CCC in 1933. Men enlisted for six-month tours of duty, and most re-enrolled for a full two years. Up to 150 young men were formed into work crews under Army supervision. The CCC swiftly constructed thousands of camps all over the country, including hundreds in neglected or newly established western national park sites.

Among the tasks assigned to these crews were road and trail building, firefighting, the installation of electric and telephone lines, and the construction of park administrative and visitor services buildings. For his work, a young CCC enrollee received room and board in an Army-style camp and $30 a month, of which $25 was sent home to his family. With over three million total enrollees, the CCC program contributed enormously to the economies of many impoverished hometowns.

In 1935, a 'strike camp' of army surplus tents with wood frames and floors was established on the old shoreline of Tule Lake. After two frigid winters, permanent wooden buildings finally replaced the tents. Camp Tulelake included barracks, mess halls, offices, a motor pool, and mechanical workshops.

The CCC crews kept busy. Different crews at Lava Beds built roads through the monument, laid the first power and telephone lines, and built a superintendent’s residence and headquarters building at Indian Well (where the modern Visitor Center stands). They also built a campground (the current "A" loop of the campground) and picnic tables you can still eat at in the campground and at Fleener Chimneys. CCC boys from Camp Tulelake developed dozens of trails through the lava tube caves. They moved over ten million cubic yards of earth and debris from the caves near the Visitor Center and installed ladders and stairways – all without heavy construction equipment. In the caves, the CCC crews used picks, shovels, block-and-tackle rigs, and wheelbarrows. Occasionally, they used dynamite to widen natural openings, but the debris was removed largely by hand.

After an 8-hour workday, most CCC enrollees took classes to earn high school diplomas and improve their technical skills for future employment. Like many camps, Tulelake produced a camp newspaper that gave rare glimpses into the difficult and isolated life in the lava beds under Army command. Imagine the turmoil when 150 CCC boys showed up at a dance hall in the tiny neighboring towns!

With the outbreak of World War II, the CCC was terminated and many of the former enrollees became soldiers. The last CCC crew at Camp Tulelake closed the facility in the spring of 1942. During the war, the buildings deteriorated. By 1949, most of them had to be demolished. Today, little remains at Camp Tulelake except one piece of concrete foundation, but the CCC legacy lives on in the infrastructure still in use today at Lava Beds.

The CCC's legacy also lives on in the great personal and societal changes it wrought. Young men with few opportunities in life learned to run heavy machinery, read and write, and depend on themselves under Army discipline far from home. Public lands transformed; lives changed. The CCC provided jobs and hope to nearly five percent of the adult male population at the time. The sheer scale of the program is hard to imagine today.

Take the time to walk the guided trail at Gillems Camp or up to the Schonchin Butte fire lookout and contemplate the extraordinary effort of the CCC boys of Camp Tulelake.

As one of the longest continually occupied areas in North America, the history and cultural legacy of the lava beds stretches back thousands of years. Explore the history early Native Americans left behind in rock art and at archeological sites, the conflict of the Modoc War, and the traditions and heritage of homesteaders, ranchers, cave explorers, "CCC boys," and the modern Modoc and Klamath tribes.

The winter of 1872-1873 was a troubled one in the Lava Beds, where a small band of Modoc Indians was besieged by a US Army force outnumbering them as much as ten to one. The majority of the battlefields of this conflict, known as the Modoc War, are located within the monument and are still preserved today.

An overview of the events of the war and places to visit in the monument can be found on our Modoc War Webpage . The book "Modoc War," by historian Erwin N. Thompson, is also available online for more in-depth study of these tragic events.

The land that was later to become Lava Beds National Monument, as well as the highlands to the south and wetlands to the north, was home to paleolithic peoples for thousands of years. This area is still infused with cultural and spiritual importance for many modern people of Modoc and Klamath descent. Learn more about Early Modoc History and Modoc Homelands .

Like most National Park Service sites during the Depression, newly established Lava Beds National Monument benefited from the work of a Civilian Conservation Corps crew. Between 1935 and 1942, hundreds of "CCC boys" constructed all of the original infrastructure of the monument, much of which you can still drive on, walk on, and enjoy during a visit more than seventy years later. Learn more about the CCC's work at Lava Beds and the Schonchin Butte Lookout .

Discover an extensive collection of awe-inspiring pictographs and petroglyphs throughout the Lava Beds landscape.

A host of colorful characters populate the early modern history of Lava Beds, including J.D. Howard, a cave explorer; homesteading families that ran sheep and an underground ice skating business; and moonshiners who set up stills in the remote caves during Prohibition.

Please help us protect the bats at Lava Beds. If you plan to go caving at Lava Beds and have been in a cave or mine East of the Rocky Mountains in the United States or Canada or anywhere in Europe or China, please read this important information about the deadly disease known as White-nose Syndrome .

You might be surprised by the variety of wildlife that overcomes dry summers, cold winters, and scarce water to thrive here.

Lava beds are an amazing natural laboratory. One can study starry night skies, the impact of climate change, wildland fires and more.

Small changes in elevation, soil, shade, open plains, lava flows, and caves provide unique conditions for plants to grow.

Extensive lava tube caves & volcanic geologic features provide unique recreation for visitors & critical habitat for plants & animals.

Medicine Lake Volcano has been active for 500,000 years. The eruptions were gentle & coated the volcano's sides with basaltic lava.

Does nature have vital signs? Just as you and I visit the doctor regularly to track our blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and overall health, scientists monitor the long-term health of parks. Go behind the scenes to learn about Lava Beds’ unique caves and experience a park checkup.

Because the Lava Beds spans three very different habitats and is adjacent to the wetlands of Tule Lake Wildlife Refuge, a good variety of birds can be found here. The southern most area of the park is the highest, receives the most precipitation, and supports a ponderosa pine forest. Farther downhill to the north, the middle elevations are a juniper and shrub woodland. Extending to the northern boundary are lower grasslands and sagebrush.

These three areas provide habitat to some birds that specialize in living in them, and some birds that are “generalists,” able to live in some or all of these habitats. A selected few are listed below according to where they are most often found.

The unique plumage of the White-headed Woodpecker makes it unmistakable. This bird is also unique in that it forages for insects and grubs like other woodpeckers, but also eats the seeds of conifer trees, especially during the winter months. It nests in cavities made in dead but standing trees, often called "snags". It relies on natural wildfires to create these snags, and has become rare because of fire suppression and habitat reduction from logging.

Typical of other hawks in the “accipiter” family, this bird is best identified by its short, broad, rounded wings, straight squared tail, and red eyes. Females are considerably larger than males. The Sharp-shinned Hawk is very agile, and thus able to hunt small birds while flying swiftly through a dense forest.

These lively, insectivore/seed eaters can frequently be seen in mixed flocks with Red-breasted Nuthatches, Juniper Titmice, Dark-eyed Juncos and other permanent residents of Lava Beds. Nuthatches climb down tree trunks headfirst in search of insects. On cold winter nights it huddles together with other nuthatches in a protected roost site, and allows its core body temperature to drop to near hypothermic levels. Their song is a distinctive "meep meep" heard from high in the trees.

Here at Lava Beds, Purple Martins once roosted and breed in rock crevices near cave entrances. Mornings and evenings these birds, which are designated as a “sensitive species” in the state of California, could be observed flying near the mouths of caves in search of insects. Sadly, we have not observed martins here for a decade, and worry they will never return. It is possible that their summer habitat here remains good, but their winter habitat in the tropics has been destroyed.

The male Lazuli Bunting is a sight to behold with bright blue plumage, white wing patches and orange breast. After returning from their winter in the tropics, males sing loudly from the tops of trees to establish territories and attract a mate. Don’t confuse it with the similarly colored Western Bluebird, which is larger and has a narrower beak.

Male Western Bluebirds are bright blue with patches of chestnut on the breast, flanks and back. Females are overall much more drab with a distinctive white eye ring. This bluebird prefers to hunt insects in open woodlands or at the edges of fields, perching on fenceposts and then swooping down to snag prey.

Squirrels, mule deer, and kangaroo rats are among the most commonly encountered mammals in the monument. However, there are many other species often found during the course of a visit. They have all adapted to living in this dry environment, and many take advantage of the shelter provided by the numerous lava tube caves.

Our most often seen mammal in the warmer seasons, these squirrels are easily identified by the dark gray patch between their shoulders. They often perch on small trees, shrubs, or rock outcrops and survey the area for predators or territorial rivals.

The pika is a fascinating little relative of rabbits - it is not closely related to rodents like squirrels, mice and rats. In fact, it is often called a “rock rabbit,” even though they lack tails and have small, rounded ears. Pika usually live in cold alpine areas. They survive in the lava beds because they keep cool in the caves and cave collapse areas, where they live among the rocky talus as they would on high mountain slopes. Their population in the Great Basin has been studied as an example of how climate change can impact species dependent on cooler temperatures.

Woodrats, often called “packrats,” are commonly found in caves and in old juniper stands. In both places, their large nests of twigs and branches are conspicuous. Look for them in the trees near the last sharp turn at the top of the Schonchin Butte trail. If you hear a loud hissing while exploring a cave, it’s an angry little woodrat trying to defend his home. Don’t be alarmed, these little guys make lots of noise, but stay well hidden.

Any visitor that drives monument roads at night is likely to encounter these little rodents hopping around on their hind legs, their long tufted tail flying around behind them. The secret to their success in this environment is their body's ability to generate water from the seeds and vegetation they eat. They never have to drink liquid water their entire lives!

There are two kinds of rabbits: true rabbits such as the desert cottontail commonly found in the monument, and the hares. Jack rabbits are a kind of hare, easily identified by their larger size, longer legs, and remarkable ears. They use these ears the same way elephants do, to cool themselves in warm weather by circulating blood through them. Their large surface area allows body heat to radiate away.

Burrowing predators, badgers are our largest member of the weasel family. They are not common, but might be seen throughout the park. They have a fierce demeanor, and should not be approached, despite only being the size of a stocky housecat. They eat almost anything they can catch, but primarily hunt burrowing rodents. They are powerful diggers, and quickly excavate deep into the dens of their prey with a tremendous display of flying dirt.

Our smallest and most common wild cat, the largest males grow to around 30 pounds, females to 20. They have a very small tail, and are spotted all over. A mother and her cubs are often seen at night on the park roads, another good reason to obey speed limits and be on the lookout for wildlife when traveling around the park.

Bats, flying mammals common at night and in the caves, are discussed on their own page.

Call them what you will: panther, puma, cougar, or mountain lion, these large cats are majestic animals. They average 150 pounds as adults, though some reach an astonishing 250 pounds. Besides their much greater size, they have a very long tail and even coloration, easily distinguishing them from bobcats. They are "crepuscular," meaning most active at dusk and dawn, when visitors are encouraged to hike in groups and understand how to be safe in "lion country."

Larger than white-tailed deer, mule deer are named for the resemblance of their ears to those of mules. Common year-round, in winter they gather into herds along Hill Road at the north end of the park, attracted by the farm fields and water of the Tulelake basin. Seemingly abandoned, fawns are often discovered hiding in tall grass or shrubs to evade predators. If you find one, please leave it alone; It's mother is somewhere nearby, also waiting for you to move along.

Like most wrens, this small bird is very active and is often seen hunting for insects on rocky outcrops and cliffs. Rock, Bewicks and Marsh Wrens are also common in the park, but Canyon Wrens have a distinct and beautiful song; a long, melodic line of descending notes that echo in canyons throughout the west.

This loud songbird, like most Corvids (jays, magpies and ravens), is very intelligent. It will remember where it has cached food and if observed, will relocate stashes. You might be able to recognize the Western Scrub Jay in flight by its long tail, blue coloration on the upper side of the body and its undulating flight pattern. When perched, its grey back and white eyebrow and throat are diagnostic.

Townsend’s Solitaires can easily be viewed near the visitor center and the Cave Loop drive. These slender gray birds are highly territorial during the winter months in which they aggressively defend patches of juniper trees and their valuable berries. Though they are usually insect eaters, these birds eat almost nothing else during the winter.

These magnificent birds can often be seen perched on fences or small bushes as it surveys its territory. This state bird of Oregon has a loud, sweet, melodic song. They are ground-nesters, common in most upland habitats that lack trees.

The Northern Harrier can be viewed winging low over open grassland areas of the Lava Beds in the search for rodents and other small mammals. Differences between the male and female of this species are obvious. The undersides of the male are white while the back is pale gray, whereas the female is colored in a palette of brown and white. Both male and female have an unmistakable white rump, visible in flight. A characteristic unique to this hawk is a “circular facial disc,” similar to that of owls, which serves to funnel sounds to their ears and better hear the rustling of their prey as they scurry through vegetation.

A small sparrow which can best be identified by all-over drab, gray coloring and complete white eye ring. A summer resident at Lava Beds, the Brewer’s Sparrow has adapted to life in a dry environment by conserving water through biological adaptations greatly reducing its loss of body fluids. During the summer months, this sparrow can subsist on a diet of seeds and insects with very little supplemental water. Another victim of habitat destruction and fragmentation, Brewer’s Sparrow census numbers have been decreasing steadily.