Mono Lake Kootzaduka'a Tribe
A people
Background
The Tribe's site says that here it is called Kootzagwae, that it is the Kootzaduka'a people, and that they have always been here in Kootzagwae. The same page calls the Kootzaduka'a the southernmost band of the Numu People, resident in the Mono Lake to Yosemite region since time immemorial, and gives other spellings of the name as Kutzadika’a and Kuzedika. For the past century the Tribe has been seeking federal recognition and a land base for its people. Its tribal office is in Lee Vining, California, at P.O. Box 237, and it consults regularly on projects with the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Forest Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service. It lists a chair, a vice chair, a secretary and treasurer, and a member at large, and says it is one of seven traditionally associated tribes of Yosemite National Park. The Tribe also runs a 501(c)(3), the Mono Lake Kootzaduka'a Indian Community Cultural Preservation Association.
Visit and learn
Mono Lake Kootzaduka'a Tribe's own site
Tribal lands have their own laws. Check the nation's site before you visit.
Parks on its homelands
Yosemite National ParkThe Tribe is one of two Yosemite nations the park says are still seeking federal recognition, and NPS says it has a recognized association and enduring connections with ancestral homelands in Yosemite. Source
Sources
Checked September 2026.