Tulelake Municipal Airport is a public

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

adjacent to the community of

Newell, California Newell is a census-designated place in Modoc County, California in the United States. It is located west-northwest of Alturas, at an elevation of . Its population is 301 as of the 2020 census, down from 449 from the 2010 census. The community is ...

. Located in

Modoc County Modoc County () is a county in the far northeast corner of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 8,700 as of the 2020 census, down from 9,686 from the 2010 census. This makes it California's third-least populous county. The county seat ...

southeast of the city of

Tulelake Tulelake ( ) is a city in northeastern Siskiyou County, California, United States. The town is named after nearby Tule Lake. Its population is 902 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,010 from the 2010 census. Tulelake peace officers are author ...

, it serves the Modoc and

Siskiyou County Siskiyou County (, ) is a county in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,076. Its county seat is Yreka and its highest point is Mount Shasta. It falls within the Cascadia bioregion ...

area. This

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

airport covers and has one

paved Pavement may refer to: * Pavement (architecture), an outdoor floor or superficial surface covering * Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways ** Asphalt concrete, a common form of road surface * Sidewalk or pavement, a walkway ...

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

. Primary users are

crop dusting Aerial application, or what is informally referred to as crop dusting, involves spraying crops with crop protection products from an agricultural aircraft. Planting certain types of seed are also included in aerial application. The specific sp ...

and

pilots. There is no scheduled service to Tulelake Muni, and the airport is unattended, with no

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

History

The airport is located on the site of the

Tule Lake War Relocation Center The Tule Lake National Monument in Modoc County, California, Modoc and Siskiyou County, California, Siskiyou counties in California, consists primarily of the site of the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, one of ten concentration camps constructe ...

, a concentration camp used during the Japanese American internment. Tule Lake housed some 29,000 men, women and children between 1942 and 1945, and the foundations or supports of many camp buildings are visible from the air by pilots in the landing pattern. Following the dismantling of most barracks and other structures, the wide, hard-packed main

firebreak A firebreak or double track (also called a fire line, fuel break, fireroad and firetrail in Australia) is a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire or wildfire. A firebre ...

and a smaller firebreak road were put to use as runways. The smaller runway was eventually abandoned, with the main runway (11/29) being paved and remaining in use. Following an announcement by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

of plans to erect a fence around the airport, groups concerned with the historical nature of the area organized support and a

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offi ...

drive to prevent this action. The planned fence would surround the site of most of the barracks - nearly 46 complete "blocks" and portions of several others - thus making it difficult for visitors to tour the historic site. This will especially impact pilgrimages of former internees, who visit the locations of their former homes.

References

External links

* Airports in Modoc County, California {{California-airport-stub