The local First Nations government is the Tahltan Band Council.

Tahltan is overlooked by a succession of three flat-lying alkali basalt lava flows of Pleistocene age which may be extensions of the Level Mountain shield volcano.

The upper and lower surfaces of the succession contain well-developed columnar joints.

[3] The name of the locality is from the Tlingit language and means "something heavy in the water", referring to salmon.

It was extended from this locality's name to apply to the Tahltan people.