Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians

A nation today

View up Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View, with El Capitan on the left, Bridalveil Fall on the right, and Half Dome at the back.
David Iliff (Diliff), Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Background

On October 26, 1910 the Tuolumne Rancheria was purchased and established as one of two local reservations for landless Indians, beginning with an acquisition of 289.52 acres. The Tribe's history page records the Moraga second expedition through Tuolumne County in 1806 as the first known contact from the Me-Wuk perspective. It now holds more than 1,700 fee and trust acres, with about 200 residents living on the Rancheria and about 200 additional non-resident members, and the Tribe's address is 19595 Mi-Wu Street in Tuolumne, California. Its governing body is a Community Council composed of 141 members, with recommendations coming from tribal committees that include Business and Finance, Constitution and By-Laws, Planning and Development, Enrollment, Elders, Education and Recreation, and Cultural and Historic Preservation. Four officers elected annually from the Council, a chair, a vice chair, a secretary and a treasurer, carry the executive duties, while committee members are elected annually. The current constitution and by-laws were approved on January 15, 1936 during the Indian Reorganization Act period.

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Visit and learn

Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians's own site

Tribal lands have their own laws. Check the nation's site before you visit.

Parks on its homelands

View up Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View, with El Capitan on the left, Bridalveil Fall on the right, and Half Dome at the back.Yosemite National Park

Tuolumne Meadows was the park's summer meeting place, where numerous tribes gathered to trade, take advantage of food sources and escape the lowland heat, and tribes also worked the Hetch Hetchy Valley, Wawona and Crane Flat in season. The Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River plan for the watershed was written between 2006 and 2014 with tribal consultation. Source

Programs

  • Me-Wuk Language Program

    The Tribe's language program teaches the language to youth in the after-school program at the Chewewe: Kocha (Blue House), to staff and adults, and to other Me-Wuk tribes starting their own programs. It presents the language in Tuolumne County elementary and high schools, runs cultural presentations at the Shadow of the Me-Wuk Trail in Pinecrest for the U.S. Forest Service Summit Ranger District, puts on a three-day immersive Me-Wuk Language Symposium, and is building a cultural language archive of audio, video and documents.

    https://mewuk.com/education/me-wuk-language-program/·language

Sources

Checked September 2026.

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