Newsroom
Public Encouraged to Participate in Workshops on Future Administration of the Nez Perce National Historic Trail
The staff of the Nez Perce National Historic Trail invites you to participate in the first of a series of public workshops to revise the Trail’s Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP). Please share your ideas about the future administration of the Trail.
Public Encouraged to Submit Challenge Cost Share Applications For Nez Perce National Historic Trail Projects
The public is encouraged to propose projects designed to improve and enhance the visitor’s experience along the Nez Perce National Historic Trail (NPNHT). The submitted projects will be considered for the 2011 project year funding. Project funding was made available through funds designated to administer the Nez Perce National Historic Trail. Completed applications must be post marked by November 30, 2010. To learn more, read here. Applications are available here.
New Website Gives an Overview of the Nez Perce National Historic Trail in Yellowstone National Park
Only a small part of the route taken by the Nez Perce who fled from the U.S.Army in 1877 took them through Yellowstone, where the tribal members largely eluded their pursuers. However, the two weeks that the Nez Perce spent in the park became part of the tragic story they continue to pass down to their children. Today the route is also part of the 1,170-mile Nez Perce National Historic Trail, which extends from Wallowa Lake, Oregon, to the Bear Paw Battlefield in Montana. The Nez Perce experience is part of Yellowstone’s history, and the Greater Yellowstone Science Learning Center recently added information about the Nez Perce in Yellowstone to their website.
 New Map for Sale
A new map of the Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail is available for sale at locations across the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain regions. The map provides visitors with details on a number of locations along the 1,170 mile Trail, which was designated as a National Historic Trail by Congress in 1986.
This map, with an improved color scheme, replaces the last Nez Perce National Historic Trail map which was last revised in 1995. The map, produced on a “plastic paper,” sells for $10 at Forest Service and National Park Service offices and online through Discover Your Northwest, the National Forest Store and the USGS Store. An electronic version of the map is available here. For more information, please click here. For a higher resolution image of the map cover, click here.
On June 21, 2010 Big Hole National Battlefield began some long awaited repairs and upgrades to the park Visitor Center. The Big Hole National Battlefield remains open to visitors.
This will inconvenience visitors to the park in the summer and fall of 2010, but the park staff has worked very hard to make up for these shortcomings.
A contact station will offer information and orientation on the park, a 26 minute film, and a bookstore. Starting June 21st the Battlefield will be leading two tours daily, while self guided tours are always available.
New Publications
"The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story" By Elliott West Oxford University Press $27.95, 416 pages.
Using historical documents, from government and military records to contemporary interviews and newspaper reports, "The Last Indian War" offers a portrait of emerging American identity-when the idea of who was not a citizen was being forged. The volume is the newest installment in Oxford's Pivotal Moments in American History series.
"The Power Of Promises: Rethinking Indian Treaties In The Pacific Northwest"edited by Alexandra Harmon University of Washington Press $28.95, 384 pages.
Treaties with American Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest have had profound and long lasting implications for land ownership, resource access and political rights in the United States and Canada. In "The Power of Promises" a group of scholars, including historians, legal historians, and anthropologists from both sides of the border discuss the legacies. Topics include the Nez Perce Tribe.
Personnel Updates
Frank Guzman Selected as Salmon-Challis Forest Supervisor
Intermountain Regional Forester Harv Forsgren recently named Frank Guzman as the Forest Supervisor for the Salmon-Challis National Forest. As Forest Supervisor Guzman will have responsibility for managing over 4.3 million acres in east central Idaho. The rugged and remote area of the Salmon-Challis is a highly desired destination for hunting, fishing, whitewater rafting, and many other popular recreational pursuits.
"Frank's extensive experience with the Forest Service makes him an excellent fit as the Forest Supervisor for the Salmon-Challis National Forest," said Forsgren.
Before coming to the Salmon-Challis Guzman was the Deputy Forest Supervisor on the Boise National Forest. Guzman replaces Bill Wood, who retired last year.
Julie King Named Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor
U.S. Forest Service Northern Regional Forester Leslie Weldon recently announced the selection of Julie King as Forest Supervisor of the Bitterroot National Forest.
King settled in the Bitterroot valley as the Deputy Forest Supervisor in November, 2008. She began her career on Caribou National Forest in 1988 in Montpelier, ID as a range conservationist. She was also zone range conservationist in Council Idaho before moving to Grants, NM, as a deputy district ranger. After moving to Heber, UT, she became district ranger for nine years addressing the many challenges of urban interface growth along forest boundary, fuels management, and two million visitors per year.
Tom Reed Takes Over as Manager at Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge
Reed is a graduate of Humboldt State University in Northern California with a degree in wildlife management. Following graduation he went into construction, but soon found a position with the California Fish and Game Department at Honey Lake Wildlife Management Area. That work soon led to a position with California Waterfowl Association working in the Sacramento Valley.
He then began studying disease in waterfowl with the National Wildlife Health Resource Center and got his master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Following graduate school Reed has worked in a number of places including, Northern California, Moses Lake, Wash., Washington, D.C. and Jackson, Wyo.
Reed said, with a new comprehensive conservation plan for the refuge currently in the works, it’s an interesting time to be here.
Most of all, Reed is looking forward to working with the community to further the refuge’s mission of providing a sanctuary for wildlife that also connects people with the places around them. He especially enjoys seeing the range of outreach efforts that Refuge staff members are already involved in, including getting youth interested in outdoor activities.
“Come enjoy your refuge,” he said. “We work for you.”
Information from a Ravalli Republic article by Will Moss published February 7, 2010
New Personnel at Nez Perce National Historical Park
Naomi Wood, who attends Salish-Kootenai College, will return to Spalding as a summer seasonal ranger.
Jannis Jocius was hired under the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) as the Park’s new natural resource specialist, Jannis recently completed her Master’s Degree at the University of Idaho, and is now updating the Park’s vegetation management program.
New Book Available on Nez Perce
Beyond Bear's Paw: The Nez Perce Indians in Canada, By Jerome A. Greene
The bitter yet poignant story of the Nez Perces who escaped into Canada
 In the fall of 1877, Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) Indians were desperately fleeing U.S. Army troops. After a 1,700-mile journey across Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, the Nez Perces headed for the Canadian border, hoping to find refuge in the land of the White Mother, Queen Victoria. But the army caught up with them at the Bear’s Paw Mountains in northern Montana, and following a devastating battle, Chief Joseph and most of his people surrendered.
The wrenching tale of Chief Joseph and his followers is now legendary, but Bear’s Paw is not the entire story. In fact, nearly three hundred Nez Perces escaped the U.S. Army and fled into Canada. Beyond Bear’s Paw is the first book to explore the fate of these “nontreaty” Indians. Drawing on hitherto unexplored Canadian and U.S. sources, including reminiscences of Nez Perce participants, Jerome A. Greene presents an epic story of human endurance under duress.
Greene vividly describes the tortuous journey of the small band who managed to elude Colonel Nelson A. Miles’s command. After the escapees crossed the “Medicine Line” into the British Possessions, they found only new trauma. Within a few years, most of them stole back to their homelands in Idaho Territory. Those who remained north of the line faced a difficult and uncertain future.
In recent years, Nimiipuu descendants from the United States and Canada have revisited their common past and sought reconciliation. Beyond Bear’s Paw offers new perspectives on the Nez Perces’ struggle for freedom, their hapless rejection, and their ultimate cultural renewal.
Jerome A. Greene is retired as Research Historian for the National Park Service. He is the author of numerous books, including Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn since 1876.
From the University of Oklahoma Press
Iwetemlaykin At the edge of the lake, a state park is born
New state park and heritage site, located at north end of Wallowa Lake, hold place of honor in the history and culture of American Indians
JOSEPH — “This park tells a story about life and the land we live on,” Gov. Ted Kulongoski remarked Saturday in his address at the official opening and dedication of the new Iwetemlaykin State Park and Heritage Site.
“The beauty we see here now was created by glaciers, but the people of the Northwest have also moved across this land. We all have been shaped by this special place and will work to try to preserve it,” Kulongoski said.
The park and heritage site is at the north end of Wallowa Lake near Joseph.
Iwetemlaykin, Nez Perce for “at the edge of the lake” and pronounced ee-weh-TEMM-lye-kinn, is the governor’s park-a-year for 2009.
According to Kulongoski, this is the sixth state park to open since he challenged the state parks department to open one park per year when he took office in 2003. No new parks had been built since 1964, he said. To continue reading this article, click here…
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
New National Education Campaign Launched to Encourage Respect for Public Lands
Tread Lightly!, in partnership with the nation’s most influential hunting and shooting sports organizations, has released a series of print public service announcements (PSAs) encouraging responsible behavior on public lands. The PSAs are part of a much larger new education and outreach campaign called “Respected Access is Open Access.”
“Being respectful of public lands is the goal of the campaign,” said Lori McCullough, executive director of the nonprofit organization Tread Lightly!. “Across America, access and opportunities are dwindling at a rate so serious it demands our immediate attention and action. Damage caused by a minority of recreationists who are either uninformed or uncaring of the consequences of their actions is contributing to the loss of access for everyone.” Tread Lightly! created the Respected Access campaign at the request of the Federal Lands Hunting and Shooting Sports Roundtable.
Built on extensive research, the campaign is designed to reduce litter, property and natural resource damage, unsafe shooting practices and visitor conflicts as a means of helping to maintain, even enhance, access to public lands.
Overall, the Respected Access is Open Access campaign is an unprecedented effort that will include public service announcements, social networking, website resources, an online awareness course, trail kiosks, press coverage and outreach at key events.
The five PSAs initially released address littering, vandalism and illegal dumping.
“The Respected Access campaign has been a true partnership of resources with national hunting and shooting sports organizations to promote responsible behaviors on public lands,” said Jim Bedwell, Director of Recreation for the US Forest Service. “Responsible shooting is a legitimate use of public lands, as is a wide variety of other activities done responsibly, so the Respected Access campaign complements the efforts of land managers across the nation to manage sustainable recreation.”
The program is long-term in scope with a goal to balance the needs of the people who enjoy outdoor recreation with our need to maintain a healthy environment.
Top 10 Scenic Drives Launches New Web Site
 The Top 10 Scenic Drives in the Northern Rockies has launched its new Web site ( www.drivethetop10.com ) to provide domestic and international visitors with an organized, central online tool. The Top 10 Scenic Drives was recently unveiled as North America’s newest destination for travelers who seek an authentic experience with scenic beauty, wildlife, and recreation that delivers a connection with the environment, American Indian cultures, and North American history.
The new online tool features a personality and drive matcher, which pairs users with specific Top 10 Scenic Drives based on their interests.
The Top 10 Scenic Drives in the Northern Rockies includes five U.S. states (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, and Oregon) and two Canadian provinces (British Columbia and Alberta). It is composed of four All-American Roads; 14 National Parks, Monuments and Recreation Areas; and four connecting Historic Trails, including the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.
The Top 10 Scenic Drives in the Northern Rockies is made up of more than 100 key partners, including state, provincial, regional, local, and tribal organizations, as well as state and federal agencies and private businesses, organizations, and individuals. For more information about The Top 10 Scenic Drives in the Northern Rockies, visit the website at www.drivethetop10.com.
|
