Klamath Mountains Region of California (and Oregon)
Dan Scollon, Educator/Geographer/GISP
Siligo Meadows, Trinity Alps Wilderness
The Klamath. The name evokes wildness and mystery. Deep river gorges cloaked with evergreen forests, broken by soaring granite peaks. The land of Bigfoot and home to Yurok, Karuk, Hoopa, and Wintu. Towns dispersed across the mountainous terrain, each as isolated from one another as they are from the rest of California. Among those who call this home are miners, loggers, ranchers, wilderness enthusiasts, growers, government workers, hunters, fisherman, and Native Americans.
Klamath Mountains Region
In his 1964 book California and Man, David Hartman describes the Klamath Mountains Region as being characterized rugged terrain, steep mountains, alpine lakes, occasional valleys, v-shaped gorges, and fast-flowing rivers. He states that this area represents a physiographic province based on its unique geology, tectonic setting, geomorphology and hydrography. This physiography in turn influences climate, soils and, ultimately, the spectacular floristic diversity and a biological abundance. This natural setting has had profound impacts on those who live and work in the Klamath Mountains, since the first indigenous people arrived here.
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Physiography
The U.S. Geological Survey defines physiography as the study of “features and attributes of earth's land surface,” while geomorphology is defined separately as the "branch of geology dealing with surface land features and the processes that create and change them".
Zoom and pan around interactive map to view layers and change area and detail of coverage. Click on features to see attributes.
Ridgline spine at the heart of the Marble Mountain Wilderness, looking east down Shackleford Creek and the Scott Valley.
South Fork Salmon River
The Klamath province is characterized by a high degree of tectonic, geologic and topographic heterogeneity, featuring elevations that range from near sea level to 9,000 feet, with highly fragmented directional aspects and dramatic relief. The Klamath Mountains are not one mountain range but, rather, a series of individual ranges: Salmon, Siskiyou, Marble, Scott, Scott Bar, and Trinity Mountains.
The Klamath Mountains are traversed by several great rivers systems, foremost among them, the Klamath River. The river originates in north central California and south-central Oregon before entering the mountain system to the west where it meets several other great rivers: the Scott, the Salmon, and the Trinity. There are also a series of significant rivers to the north of the Klamath River system: the Smith, Chetko and, Rogue Rivers. The courses of these rivers has been shaped but the unique tectonic situation and terranes of the Klamath Mountains, discussed below.
In Rediscovering the Golden State: California Geography, Selby states that, in contrast to Klamath, the Coast Ranges to the south are “drier and less rugged.” The map that accompanies the text, from the California Geographic Alliance (below), shows the Klamath Mountains region extending to the coast. Today most boundaries of the Klamath physiographic province the exclude 'sliver' of the coast (see map), which is considered part of the Coast Ranges. Map at right shows the province boundary based on Physiographic Divisions of the Conterminous U.S. (Fenneman & Johnson, 1946).
Regions of California (California Geographic Alliance)
Trinity Alps from Scott Mountain
Cascade transition zone on northeast border of the Klamath Physiographic Province (Mt. Shasta on horizon).
The hydrography of the Klamath Mountains is noteworthy in several respects. The Klamath River and its tributaries account for roughly one third of California's natural water supply (Selby). The Klamath River watershed defines a large percentage of the area of the Klamath Mountain Region, with only the northern coastal rivers found outside the watershed. The flow of the Klamath River, its major tributary rivers, the Trinity and the Salmon, and numerous small ones , have downcut into faults and other areas of structural weakness to create the spectacular relief, from summit to channel bed, that is a defining characteristic of the region. Hartman states that "90% of the stream valleys are narrow canyons 300 to 600 m (1000 to 2000 feet) deep". He writes whimsically that the steep canyons offer "room for a stream, seldom for road".
The Klamath River has an unusual quality that led National Geographic to describe it as an "inverted river", due to having its origin in Klamath Basin, on the border with Oregon, which then descends into the mountains to the west, or at least into the deep gorges between them. The course continues westward toward the coast before arching northward at its confluence with the Trinity. The distinctive South Fork of the Trinity River flows for many miles northwest, constrained from flowing west to the coast by South Fork Mountain, one of the longest continuous ridgelines on the continent. The North Fork of the Trinity River flows into Trinity Lake, a man-made reservoir. Here the water is diverted into Whiskeytown Lake at the Carr Powerhouse (origin of the devastating 2018 Carr Fire). This "replumbing" is part of California's Central Valley Project, a massive system of dams and canals to support agricultural and urban water users to the south.
Water Resources (Calif. Atlas, CGA)
Drainage pattern and summits alone help interpret the topographic landscape of the Klamath region.
In addition to the predominantly west-northwest trending of most Klamath rivers, the Klamath Mountains is the source, on its eastern flank, of the headwaters of the Sacramento River; the Pit, McCloud and Upper Sac. Rivers are the three rivers that are impounded at the reservoir at Lake Shasta. To the southwest, above the old mining town of French Gulch, flows Clear Creek before settling behind the dam at Whiskeytown. Where Clear Creek meets the Sacramento River south of Redding, the terrain is more undulating, marking the topographic transition out of the Klamath Mountains. Downstream lays a basin of the great Central Valley of California.
A Unique Geologic and Tectonic Setting
Geologists have long noted the relationships between the Klamath and Sierra-Nevada ranges. Both provinces contain granitic (i.e., granite) rocks of similar age and composition, in spite of being disconnected by a few hundred miles. It has been suggested that the two provinces are "a single dismembered mountain range,” although the precise relationship between the Sierra and the Klamath is still debated among geologists (Alt, Hindman)
"For an extremely large percentage of the history of the world, there was no California….the continent ended far to the east…then, a piece at a time, according to present theory − parts began to assemble. An island arc here, a piece of a continent there − a Japan at a time, a New Zealand, a Madagascar − came crunching in upon the continent and have thus far adhered.” (McPhee, Assembling California)
This eloquent description summarizes, in lay terms, what geologists and geographers now describe as terranes.
This eloquent description summarizes, in lay terms, what geologists and geographers now describe as terranes. A terrane is defined as “a fault-bounded assemblage of rocks with a different geologic history than that of adjacent rock units.” Klamath terranes shows distinct boundaries between masses of rock of clearly different origin and age, some of which include fossils of marine origin. To understand how these "exotic" terranes form, we must understand the fundamentals of plate tectonics.
Glaciated granite intruded into older geologic terrane, Trinity Alps
Granite pluton of Castle Crags (photo by Andrew Aldridge)
Granite Lake, Trinity Alps
Present time Terranes of Klamath Mountains (Irwin and Mankinen)
Mineral Resources
The geologic resources of the Klamath have lured prospectors since the Gold Rush days of the mid-19th century. The result has been an indelible cultural imprint, along with an enduring and often brutal, legacy of denuded land, contaminated water, and displaced animal life. The impact on native peoples was equally brutal. An example of the legacy of mining is found just west of Redding. North of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area lies Iron Mountain Mine, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s most toxic superfund site.
Iron Mountain Mine, eastern Klamath Province
Limestone, a sedimentary rock of marine origin is found in pockets throughout the province. A dramatic example is found at Shasta Caverns. Limestone is also mined and processed, such as at the Calaveras cement and gravel plant north of Redding.
Limestone formations, Shasta Caverns
The Marble Mountains also has extensive limestone outcrops and caves, along with some marble which is the metamorphosed daughter of limestone. Metamorphism is also the agent that produces California’s state rock, serpentine, which is found extensively in the province. This rock originated from the ultramafic rocks from of Earth’s upper mantle as at seafloor spreading centers where ocean water is drawn penetrates down into contact with the lower lithosphere.
Marble Mountain
Serpentine, the state rock of California, found along the Cecilville Road west of Callahan.
Climate
From a climate standpoint the Klamath is characterized by steep gradients. Rainfall generally trends from wetter in the west (upwards of 120 inches of precipitation per year, with the town of Gasquet recording some of the highest rainfall in North America) to the east (rainshadow areas near Red Bluff get as little as 20 inches per year). Temperatures are milder on the coast, due to the moderating influence of the Pacific to more extreme inland as manifested by Redding’s legendary summer heat. Meanwhile high elevations in the Trinity Alps, Marble, Salmon and Siskiyous are snow-bound in winter and mild in summer.
Mediterranean climate of Klamath (California Atlas of Biodiversity )
The Klamath province has the heaviest rainfall found anywhere in California (see blue and green areas on the map). Contributing factors include proximity to the ocean, high elevations, and prevailing westerly winds. High elevations also produce significant winter snowfall.
The high mountains of the Klamath also serve to keep the cool ocean air on limited to the coast. It also produces a rainshadow effect in which rainfall is much lower inland of the mountains (see red areas on the map around Yreka). This also contributes to the intense summer heat in Redding.
Klamath River meets the Pacific Ocean
Biogeography
The geologic and climatic diversity of the Klamath province helps to understand to the complexity and diversity that led to nickname ‘the Klamath Knot’. In his book by the same name, David Raines Wallace, writes eloquently of the eco-mythical nature of the region.
The aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity of the Klamath is among the highest in the world outside of the tropics. Some 3500 species of plants include the highest diversity of conifer species found on earth. There are nine species of native salmonids, which bridge the ocean and terrestrial environments. In The Klamath Knot Wallace tells the miracle story of salmon and steelhead fighting their way to spawning grounds in high mountain streams, beneath the shade of Doug fir, chinquapin, and tan oak of the mixed evergreen forest. These forests are inhabited black bear, black-tailed deer, mountain lions, fisher, martin, eagle, hawk, rough-skinned newt, Shasta salamanders and the northern spotted owl. “Land and water are not really separate things, but they are separate words, and we perceive through words.” writes Wallace in, The Untamed Garden.
Northern spotted owl, Chinook salmon, rough-skinned newt, Columbia black-tail deer (source: C. Montgomery)
According to the World Wildlife Fund the Klamath and Siskiyou Mountains are home to one of Earth's most extraordinary expressions of temperate biodiversity and is one of the four richest temperate coniferous forests in the world with complex biogeographic patterns, high endemism, and unusual community assemblages. which makes species vulnerable to disturbance. In addition to the history of mining and logging, illegal marijuana cultivation is damaging watersheds. Meanwhile, unfolding climate changes portend an uncertain future.
Fires, Forests and People
Sheets of rain to the north of Big Blue Lake in the Russian Wilderness. Thunder and lightening followed close behind (Scollon, 2021)
Lightening strike taken at Big Blue Lake (Salmon Mountains) at 7,000 feet (Scollon 2021 using iPhone 12 Pro)
Official wildfire incident map showing fires started by thunderstorms of July 30, 2021. Photos above were taken close to the location marked "Incident Complex"
The McFarland Fire burning on Trinity/Shasta County border, August 4, 2021. (Record Searchlight)
Greenville, California after the Dixie Fire tore through town. August 4, 2021 (Getty Images)
Region-wide maps on geology, physiography and biogeography are complimented with field observation, documentation, reflection and analysis. This story explores one such field excursion by a geographer, map and GIS professional, and curious outdoorsman.
Human Landscape
The native Yurok, Karuk, and Hupa and other native peoples of this region exploited the food-abundant surroundings in such a way as to obviate the need to domesticate the plants and animals around them. If game was short, there were always fish, along with acorns and a host of other wild plants. They lived within the constraints imposed by geology, climate, and biodiversity.
Yurok tribal members net salmon at the mouth of the Klamath.
Traditional method of smoking salmon by Yurok.
Mosaic of tribal groups as mapped by the Native Lands Project.
Klamath Mountains (An Everyday History of Somewhere; Raphael)
A patchwork of ownership, public and private, covers the Klamath province today.
Geography and its affiliated disciplines to continue to unfold the secrets of the Klamath Mountain Region. The natural production and innate beauty have drawn people with often conflicting ideals and approaches to meeting their goals. Logging the grand timber is dangerous but gainful employment, meeting the continued demand for lumber and related products. But the scars of logging and mining and the threat they posed to biodiversity can bring the ire of those seeking untrammeled wilderness. Today marijuana cultivation has had wide-reaching impacts for the environment, communities, economy, and law enforcement. Yet in this economically depressed region, the revenue from marijuana may be welcome, especially if done in a way that prevents the dewatering of streams and leaving toxic waste. Meanwhile, expanding backcountry adventure and eco-tourism holds untapped potential for the region's economy.
A graphic designer's view of the Klamath (Map by Carol Montgomery)
"All living creatures use the immediate environment as a source of livelihood. Man is no different, except that he now has so much power that in transforming the world according to his own desires, he transforms everyone else's world as well."― Rafael, An Everyday History of Somewhere
Thompson Peak, Trinity Alps
The beauty, productivity, diversity and isolation of the Klamath Physiographic Province is the product of complex geologic, tectonic, climatic, hydrographic and biological conditions. Those very elements that are at the heart of any physiographic region are, in the Klamath, revealed with a complexity that is without match, even in the diverse physiography of California. Plants and animals flourish here. Native Californians were once densely populated with a high degree of cultural differentiation. Deep connection to the land creates wisdom that words cannot express. Yana, Yahi, Shasta, Achewmawi, Pit, Wintu, Winnemun, Pomo, Hoopa, Yurok, Karuk. Hana ho!
Today the region remains isolated by California standards, but is increasingly travelled by adventurers, fisherman, hunters and backcountry folk exploring the roads and trails. Sleepy towns of loggers and fisherman, foresters and biologists, are now infiltrated by marijuana growths. The economic shot-in-the-arm comes with elevated crime and a changing local culture. Humans now struggle with the vast scope of global problems we've created. Climate change is driving profound ecological and fire-regime changes while an extinction crisis threatens the very foundation of our planet's biogeography. Yet the Klamath persists with processes that are outside of human influence, even as it weathers tumultuous anthropogenic changes. In the end, it is the role of individuals to try to manifest the type of change they want to see in the world. Each one reach one, each one teach on (GSH). Community is the most powerful tool we have. Period.
"The faster we consume the resources that eons of creative wildness have left us, the faster will the wild forces of deterioration pull us down. So it is not enough to look back and admire wildness as our heritage, we must look forward to it as well.” ― David Rains Wallace, Idle Weeds: The Life of an Ohio
Maps, photos, research, and narrative (except where noted) by Dan Scollon, Instructor and Program Coordinator for Geography and Geospatial at Shasta College, Redding, California.
