On Februthe federal district court judge ruled in favor of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, the three other Klamath River fishing tribes, and other stakeholders. Hupa are involved in the talks to remove hydroelectric dams along the Klamath and Trinity rivers, and were a party to a lawsuit against the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Because Hupa were not located as close to the sea as their neighboring Yurok Tribe, they traded supplies with them, such as salt in exchange for baskets, or acorns for canoes. Acorns, once abundant, were a main staple until they grew scarce. Hupa tribal fishers and their families rely on the Spring and Fall Chinook Salmon runs. Hupa share all of their fishing practices with the neighboring Yurok Tribe. One of the methods they once used to capture fish was the fish weir, which tribal members would maintain. Hupa, like many tribes in the area, fish for salmon in the Klamath and Trinity rivers. They also use Xerophyllum tenax to create a border pattern in baskets. They also use the dyed fronds of Woodwardia radicans for basketry. Traditionally, Hupa people have used the acorns of Notholithocarpus densiflora to make meal, from which they would make mush, bread, biscuits, pancakes, and cakes. Hupa people have been excelling at basketry and elk horn carving since the 17th century, petroglyphs. Hupa female shaman, c.1923, Edward Curtis Culture Arts The reservation has a land area of 141.087 square miles (365.41 km 2). The reservation is next to the territory of the Yurok at the connection of the Klamath and Trinity Rivers in northeastern Humboldt County. The United States called the reservation the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation (located at 41☀5′57″N 123☄0′21″W / 41.09917°N 123.67250°W / 41.09917 -123.67250), where Hupa people now reside, one of very few California tribes not forced from their homeland. In 1864, the United States government signed a treaty that recognized the Hupa tribe's sovereignty to their land. Hupa people had limited contact with non-native peoples until the 1849 Gold Rush brought an influx of miners onto their lands. Close associated peoples - both by language and custom - were/are the Tsnungwe (South Fork Hupa), the Chilula (Lower Redwood Creek Hupa) and Whilkut (Redwood Creek Hupa). Their red cedar-planked houses, dugout canoes, basket hats, and many elements of their oral literature identify them with their northern origin however, some of their customs, such as the use of a sweat house for ceremonies and the manufacture of acorn bread, were adopted from surrounding indigenous peoples of California. Their land stretched from the South Fork of the Trinity River to Hoopa Valley, to the Klamath River in California.
Their heritage language is Hupa, which is a member of the Athabaskan language family. Hupa people migrated from the north into northern California around 1000 CE and settled in Hoopa Valley, California (Hupa: Natinook).