Regional news: Modoc homelands, monarchs and housing

In the late 1800s, Modoc tribe members living in the Klamath Basin were separated by war.

Some were deported to territory that would later become Oklahoma.

Those who stayed eventually became part of the Klamath tribes.

As Jefferson Public Radio's Justin Higginbottom reports, the descendants of those exiled families are now trying to reconnect with their homeland.

Jessica Mullen had this strange feeling when she first visited a stretch of the Klamath Basin near the Oregon-California border.

The distant snow-peaked mountains, the marshland and wide-open desert, it looked nothing like her home in Oklahoma.

But there was something about it.

The feeling is that you are in a familiar place.

Like, it's so bizarre.

Never felt that anywhere else.

Mullen is a member of the Modoc Nation of Oklahoma, but her ancestors once called this area home.

Over a century ago, a small band of Modoc resisted when the U.S. government forced them onto a reservation.

It sparked the Modoc War.

That group, led by a man named Captain Jack, took refuge in the caves of what's now Lava Beds National Monument.

The Modoc that survived months of fighting and later executions were sent by cattle cars to a reservation in modern-day Oklahoma.

I mean, it's easy to see why our people fought for that land and wanted to stay there.

Now the Modoc Nation of Oklahoma is trying to fulfill that rebellious band's goal, to remain part of this land.

The tribe has purchased more than 3,000 acres in California, and they've been busy.

There's restoration efforts, removing invasive plants, prescribed burning and seeding.

Their plans include a first foods program, reintroducing bighorn sheep, if possible, even bringing back wetlands.

Brian Herbert is the homelands manager for the Modoc Nation.

Adding water to the landscape, it revives the landscape, it brings everything back, and it's just part of that reconnection process.

He's standing on some land the tribe owns, looking out across a dry bed of the lower Klamath Lake.

Much of the wetlands of this region have been diverted for agriculture.

Before that, wocus, this edible lily, covered the shallow waters here.

In the late 1800s, Modoc tribe members living in the Klamath Basin were separated by war.

Some were deported to territory that would later become Oklahoma.

Those who stayed eventually became part of the Klamath tribes.

As Jefferson Public Radio's Justin Higginbottom reports, the descendants of those exiled families are now trying to reconnect with their homeland.

Jessica Mullen had this strange feeling when she first visited a stretch of the Klamath Basin near the Oregon-California border.

The distant snow-peaked mountains, the marshland and wide-open desert, it looked nothing like her home in Oklahoma.

But there was something about it.

The feeling is that you are in a familiar place.

Like, it's so bizarre.

Never felt that anywhere else.

Mullen is a member of the Modoc Nation of Oklahoma, but her ancestors once called this area home.

Over a century ago, a small band of Modoc resisted when the U.S. government forced them onto a reservation.

It sparked the Modoc War.

That group, led by a man named Captain Jack, took refuge in the caves of what's now Lava Beds National Monument.

The Modoc that survived months of fighting and later executions were sent by cattle cars to a reservation in modern-day Oklahoma.

I mean, it's easy to see why our people fought for that land and wanted to stay there.

Now the Modoc Nation of Oklahoma is trying to fulfill that rebellious band's goal, to remain part of this land.

The tribe has purchased more than 3,000 acres in California, and they've been busy.

There's restoration efforts, removing invasive plants, prescribed burning and seeding.

Their plans include a first foods program, reintroducing bighorn sheep, if possible, even bringing back wetlands.

Brian Herbert is the homelands manager for the Modoc Nation.

Adding water to the landscape, it revives the landscape, it brings everything back, and it's just part of that reconnection process.

He's standing on some land the tribe owns, looking out across a dry bed of the lower Klamath Lake.

Much of the wetlands of this region have been diverted for agriculture.

Before that, wocus, this edible lily, covered the shallow waters here.