We need the salmon for our future and for our children. We need the salmon because it is part of our lives and part of our history. The salmon is a part of us, and we are a part of it. - Julia Davis (Nez Perce)*
The Nez Perce Tribe is a federally recognized Tribe that has occupied the Palouse region and the Camas Prairie areas since time immemorial. Prior to the Treaty of 1855, the Nez Perce people (NiMiiPuu) had exclusive use and occupancy over approximately 13 million acres spread throughout what is presently known as central Idaho, northeastern Oregon, and southeastern Washington. By virtue of the Treaties of 1855 and 1863, the Nez Perce Tribe reserved certain rights, including "the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places."** The Nez Perce Reservation is located in north-central Idaho, and currently covers approximately 770,483 acres. Within the reservation boundaries, the ownership is shared among tribal, private, state, and federal entities. Approximately 15% of the reservation is tribally owned and managed, while 82% is privately owned, and the remaining 3% is split up among the US forest Service, State of Idaho, and US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Over 100 areas of water quality importance were identified through a participatory mapping process with tribal members and in-depth interviews with Nez Perce leaders. Many participants underscored the importance of salmon, and other fish, to the NiMiiPuu and expressed deep concerns about the impacts of colonizing processes on fisheries and water sources. Dams in the Snake and Columbia River Basins and activities such as cattle grazing and mining have had extremely significant, negative impacts on fish populations and habitats. Climate change also raises water quality concerns as changes in flows and temperature continue, and other impacts are not fully known.
The participatory mapping process demonstrated a large geographic scope of water quality concerns for Nez Perce tribal members. This, along with factors such as layered governance jurisdictions within and outside the boundaries of the Nez Perce Reservation, the range of anadromous fish, and the preference given to colonial ontologies in management decisions, creates many water quality governance challenges for the Nez Perce Tribe. Increasing tribal self-determination over the Nez Perce aboriginal territory is crucial for preserving the NiMiiPuu's deep relationship with water and fish and honoring the un-ceded rights of the Tribe. Additionally, the efforts of the Nez Perce government have improved fisheries and benefited non-indigenous people. The Coho Salmon Program, spearheaded by the Nez Perce Tribe, is a "success story" that has increased Coho Salmon returns in the Columbia Basin and will, "provide harvest opportunities for both Tribal and non-Tribal fisheries."***
*Landeen, D., & Pinkham, A. (1999). Salmon and his people: Fish & fishing in Nez Perce culture. Lewiston, ID: Confluence Press.
**Nez Perce Treaty of 1855 Article 3
***DuPont, J. (2020, September 15). Coho Salmon are coming and run forecast looks better than expected [blog post]. Retrieved from https://idfg.idaho.gov/blog/2020/09/coho-salmon-are-coming
Tribal Water Quality Governance