This
770,000-acre reservation of prairies, rivers
and canyons is home to 3,200 Nez Perce
Indians, making it the largest in the state
by size. The tribe’s aboriginal territory
included over 13 million acres of the areas
now known as northern Idaho, northeastern
Oregon and southeastern Washington.
In 1855, the Nez Perce signed a treaty with
the U.S. Government reserving 7.5 million
acres of this land. But after gold was
discovered on the reservation in 1860, the
tribal lands were reduced to the current
size.
In 1887 the Dawes Act opened the reservation
to homesteading that resulted in non-Indians
owning parcels of fee-patented land within
the reservation next to Indian trust
allotments. That created a "checkerboard"
pattern of land ownership on the reservation
and problems over jurisdiction have
resulted.
Today the Nez
Perce own 86,248 acres of land and
individual tribal members own an additional
37,950 acres.*
*From
Idaho Natives
"The
jurisdiction of the Nez Perce Tribe shall
extend to all lands within the original
confines of the Nez Perce reservation
boundaries as established by treaty; and
extra-territorial jurisdiction for the
purposes of protecting the rights of the Nez
Perce Tribe as guaranteed by treaties with
the United States of American; and also to
such other lands as may be hereafter
acquired by or for the Nez Perce Indians of
Idaho."
(taken
from 1999 Revised Constitution and by laws
of the Nez Perce Tribe)
Before the
White man came to settle the northwest the
Nimi'ipuu lived in peaceful groups
traveling seasonally with the deep canyons
cut by the Snake, Clearwater and Salmon
rivers.
The Nimi'ipuu
traveled across Oregon, Washington, and
Idaho. The tradition homeland of the
NiMiiPuu is North Central Idaho, including
areas in Southeastern Washington,
Northeastern Oregon with usual and
accustomed areas in Western Montana and
Wyoming. The Nimi'ipuu aboriginal
territory was approximately 17 million acres
or approximately 70 thousand square
kilometers or 27 thousand square miles;
including the Clearwater River Basin, and
the South and Middle forks of the Salmon
River Basin.
Today the
Nimi'ipuu live all over the world, but the
Nez Perce Reservation is located in North
Central Idaho.*
*From
Nez Perce Home Page
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