The Tule River is a river tributary to the Fall River. The river is a complex of spring-fed lakes and waterways originating in Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park in north-eastern
Shasta County
Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from the 2010 census. The county seat is Redding. ...
in
northern California
Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
. From the Fall River, its waters continue to the
Pit River
The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S. that cross the Cascade Range.
The longest tributary of the Sa ...
and then the
Sacramento River
The Sacramento River () is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–San Joaquin River D ...
to the Pacific Ocean.
History
The Tule River sources in Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park, the ancestral homeland of a band of the Pit River Indians known as the
Achomawi
Achomawi (also Achumawi, Ajumawi and Ahjumawi) are the northerly nine (out of eleven) bands of the Pit River tribe of Palaihnihan Native Americans who live in what is now northeastern California in the United States. These 5 autonomous bands ( ...
(also spelled ''Ajumawi'', ''Achumawi'', and ''Ahjumawi'') whose name translates to "where the waters come together". The Achomawi are one of eleven bands of the
Pit River Tribe
The Pit River Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of eleven bands of indigenous peoples of California. They primarily live along the Pit River in the northeast corner of California.
coyote
The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...
(''Canis latrans'') frequent the grasslands. Non-native muskrats can be seen in the marshes and water's edges. The indigenous Shasta crayfish is considered endangered by state and federal agencies. Only three inches long at maturity, Shasta crayfish numbers have diminished since the introduction of non-native crayfish species.
Big Lake and Horr Pond are used primarily for waterfowl hunting and supports a warm water fishery year round and a trout fishery during the general trout season. In addition sportfisherman angle for non-native largemouth black bass ''Micropterus salmoides'', and
brown bullhead
The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (' ...
s (''Ameiurus nebulosus''). The watershed also hosts
Sacramento sucker
The Sacramento sucker (''Catostomus occidentalis'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. It is primarily found in California with some populations extending into Oregon and Nevada. They inhabit a diverse range of habitats f ...
s (''Catostomus occidentalis occidentalis'') and self-sustaining populations of native
rainbow trout
The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...
(''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') and non-native
brown trout
The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...
(''Salmo trutta'').
McArthur Swamp is a 7,400-acre area of reclaimed wetlands and open water north of the town of McArthur and south of Big Lake and the Tule River. It provides valuable waterfowl habitat on the Pacific Flyway and is also grazed. PG&E proposes to donate McArthur Swamp and the nearby parcel acquired by a land trade with State Parks (see Lake Britton) to the Fall River Resource Conservation District, which is to manage it subject to a strict easement.
Watershed and course
The Tule River and lakes complex drains over 11,000 acres and is almost more a series of lakes than river. Ahjumavi Lava Springs is the source in northern Big Lake, from which waters flow southwest into Horr Pond and thence to the Fall River, after picking up flows from Ja She Creek and Little Tule River. The Little Tule River flows originate as Lava Creek then Eastman Lake before the Little Tule River confluence with the Tule River. The lava springs feeding the Big Lake Complex, the headwaters of the Tule River, are the source of 75% of the water in the Fall River and supply about 85% of the flow of the Pit River during the summer months.
Pit River
The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S. that cross the Cascade Range.
The longest tributary of the Sa ...