Council Document Number: 2007-05

The Northwest Power and 

Conservation Council’s Directory 

of Columbia River Basin Tribes

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory i

I. Introduction 1

II. Tribes and Tribal Confederations 5

The Burns Paiute Tribe 7

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe 9

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation 12

The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation 15

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation 18

The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon 21

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation 23

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon 25

The Kalispel Tribe of Indians 28

The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho 31

The Nez Perce Tribe 34

The Shoshone Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation 37

The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation 40

The Spokane Tribe of Indians 42

III. Canadian First Nations 45

Canadian Columbia River Tribes (First Nations) 46

IV. Tribal Associations 51

Canadian Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fisheries Commission 52

Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission 53

Upper Columbia United Tribes 55

Upper Snake River Tribes 56

Table of Contents
ii The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 1

Introduction
2 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 3

Introduction

The Council assembled this directory to enhance our understanding and appreciation of the Columbia River Basin tribes, including the 

First Nations in the Canadian portion of the basin. The directory provides brief descriptions and histories of the tribes and tribal confederations, contact information, and information about tribal fi sh and wildlife projects funded through the Council’s program. It is a work in progress 

and will be updated periodically. The information in this directory is not intended to defi ne, affect or imply any particular legal rights under the 

Northwest Power Act or other law.
4 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 5

Tribes and Tribal Confederations
6 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 7

The Burns Paiute Tribe

Overview:

Historically, the Northern Paiutes, Wadatika, comprised small 

bands who roamed extensively in central eastern Oregon. The Wadatika were root gatherers and hunters. They lived on a coarse diet 

of seeds, bulbs, plant fi bers, berries, roots, and wild animals. They 

had leaders, but they didn’t have a formalized governmental structure or permanent chiefs.

The fi rst contact with non-Indians, fur trappers, was in the 1830s, 

and by the 1860s increasing non-Indian settlement led to negotiations between the Paiute people and the federal government for a 

place to maintain their traditional hunting and gathering. In 1872, 

President Grant established the 1.8-million-acre Malheur Reservation, but the boundaries soon were reduced as pressure increased 

for access to graze cattle and mine for gold. Following the 1878 

Bannock War, many Paiutes were forcibly removed to Fort Simcoe 

near Yakima, Washington.

In the 1880s, with the Paiutes removed, the Malheur Reservation was opened to public use and homesteading. As a result of 

the 1887 Allotment Act, Paiutes were encouraged to return to the 

reservation area in return for 160 acres of land per person, but the 

land set aside for them was alkali desert and impossible to farm. In 

1935 the federal government acquired a 771-acre reservation for 

the tribe near Burns, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not fully 

recognize the tribe until 1968; title to the land did not pass to the 

tribe until October 1972. In 1988, a revised constitution and bylaws 

were adopted by the general membership and approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Reservation:

Today the reservation covers 930 acres of trust land and 320 

acres of fee-patent land. Another 11,000-plus acres of allotted 

lands is held in trust for individual tribal members. Local ranchers 

lease these allotments for grazing cattle. While allotment lands are 

exempt from taxes, they are within county jurisdiction. 

Headquarters:

100 Pasigo St., Burns OR, 97720

Phone: (541) 573-2088 

Fax: (541) 573-2323

Website: http://www.burnspaiute-nsn.gov

Authority: 

Congressional recognition, October 13, 1973

Traditional Language:

Paiute

Enrollment:

356

Governance:

Seven-member tribal council

Tribal Enterprises:

• Wadatika Health Center

• Law Enforcement and Tribal Court Services
8 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

der the Endangered Species Act), redband trout (a species of management concern in Oregon and potential candidate for ESA listing), 

and the Columbia spotted frog, a federal candidate species for ESA 

listing. The land also supports antelope, elk, sandhill cranes, sage 

grouse, mule deer, and various species of waterfowl.

The tribe designed the mitigation effort and land management 

plan in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon State University, the Agricultural Research Service, and neighboring private landowners and allotment holders.

A former cattle ranch in east-central Oregon where springs rise 

to form the headwaters of the Malheur River is being restored as 

wildlife habitat by the Burns-Paiute Tribe as partial mitigation for 

the impacts of federal dams on the Snake River. The Malheur is a 

Snake tributary.

The former Oxbow Ranch in the Logan Valley was used for 

more than 80 years for summer and fall grazing in conjunction with 

adjacent U.S. Forest Service land. The location, approximately 20 

miles east of Seneca, Oregon, is south of the Strawberry Mountain 

Wilderness Area.

The project focuses on 1,760 acres that include portions of Lake 

Creek, Big Creek, and McCoy Creek. Water from these creeks is 

being used to maintain the integrity of the fl oodplains and meadowland habitats that are being restored for wildlife. 

Intensive annual grazing in the past damaged shrub steppe 

habitat and forests. The tribe plans to vastly reduce grazing, periodically burn grasslands, remove encroaching lodgepole pines, and 

fi ll illegal irrigation ditches that remain from past ranching activities. 

The tribe also is restoring natural vegetation to the area.

A variety of wildlife will benefi t. The wet meadow habitats of the 

Logan Valley represent one of the largest wetland complexes in the 

state of Oregon and are home to one of the few populations of upland sandpipers in the western United States. The project also will 

signifi cantly enhance habitat for bull trout (a threatened species unFrom Cattle Ranch to Wildlife Refuge 

The project area includes one of the largest wetland complexes in 

the state.

Focus Project

Tribal Enterprises (continued):

• Tribal Administration

• Natural Resources— Environmental Issues, Lease Compliance, Fisheries and Cultural Preservation and Enhancement

• Education Services

• Burns Paiute Tribal Housing Authority

• Wa-Da’ Corporation

• Old Camp Casino

Newspaper:

Tu-Kwa-Hone Newsletter

100 Pasigo Street

Burns, Oregon 97720

(541) 573-2088
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 9

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe

Overview: 

In the ancient tribal language, members of the Coeur d’Alene 

Tribe call themselves “Schitsu’umsh,” meaning “The Discovered 

People” or “Those Who Are Found Here.” The name “Coeur 

d’Alene” was given to the tribe in the late 18th or early 19th century 

by French traders and trappers. In French, it means “Heart like an 

Awl,” referring to the sharpness of the trading skills exhibited by 

tribal members in their dealings with visitors.

The Coeur d’Alene Reservation is in northern Idaho. Established 

in 1873 consistent with an 1866 executive order, the reservation originally included all of Lake Coeur d’Alene. A series of subsequent 

treaty agreements reduced the reservation to its present borders, 

which take in the southern part of the lake and land to the south.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe employs about 1,000 people in 16 departments of government or in tribal enterprises. Employees answer 

to their supervisors or department heads. Department heads answer 

to the director of administration, who answers to the tribal council.

The Schitsu’Umish homeland encompassed more than 4 million 

acres of camas-prairie, mountains, lake, and riverine habitat in the 

northern panhandle of Idaho and in eastern Washington. Relatively 

isolated until the mid-18th century and dependent primarily on the 

aquatic resources of Lake Coeur d’Alene and its tributary Coeur 

d’Alene and St. Joe rivers, the tribe was divided into three or four 

divisions and occupied more than 30 villages.

By the mid-18th century, the Coeur d’Alenes had adopted the 

horse and were hunting buffalo on the Great Plains, increasing their 

contact and warfare with other tribes. By 1850, however, epidemic 

diseases had reduced their numbers to about 500 from an estimated precontact population of about 3,000.

In 1842 the Coeur d’Alenes welcomed Jesuit missionaries led 

by Father Pierre DeSmet to live with them. Under the long tenure 

of Father Joseph Joset, many Coeur d’Alenes became Catholic and 

settled near the Sacred Heart Mission, which was built on the north 

bank of the Coeur d’Alene River east of present day Coeur d’Alene. 

There the Indians were encouraged to learn English and to farm.

In 1855 Isaac Stevens, governor of Washington Territory and 

also the regional Indian agent, promised to negotiate a treaty with 

the Coeur d’Alenes. He never fulfi lled the promise. As a result, the 

tribe lacked protection against the incursions of miners and white 

settlers and responded by attacking U.S. troops in the brief Steptoe/Wright War of 1858. Gradually, however, conditions improved. 

Efforts to secure compensation for ceded lands and to gain a reservation encompassing all of Lake Coeur d’Alene and the lower 

Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe rivers at fi rst appeared successful. But 

by 1890 the tribe had been forced to cede the northern portion of 

the lake and the site of the Sacred Heart Mission to non-Indians. 

A reservation was fi nally established in 1891, but it covered only 

345,000 acres.

In the 1860s and 1870s, the Idaho gold rush and traffi c across 

the Mullen Road, which ran from Fort Walla Walla, Washington, 

to Fort Benton, Montana, had persuaded many Coeur d’Alenes to 

move themselves and the mission to the rich lands of the camas 

prairie. By 1900, many Coeur d’Alenes had become prosperous 

farmers and ranchers there, with Victorian-style houses, large horse 

herds, and up to 1,200 acres each under cultivation. As a consequence, the tribe became a target of the General Allotment Act 

which reduced Coeur d’Alene tribal lands to 58,000 acres.
10 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

Although the Coeur d’Alenes initially rejected the Indian Reorganization Act, the tribe today has an elected tribal council that has 

struggled to recoup 19th-century losses and to stimulate economic 

development. In 1958, 12,878 acres of unsold surplus land were 

returned to the tribe, and in 1959 the tribe won a settlement of $4 

million from the Indian Claims Commission.

In recent decades the tribe developed a 6,400-acre tribal farm, 

a shopping center, a medical center, tourist accommodations, and 

a gaming complex. At the same time, the tribe is actively working 

to preserve the Coeur d’Alene language and culture, to enlarge the 

Coeur d’Alene land base through land acquisitions, and to protect 

the tribe’s natural resources and rural environment.

Reservation:

345,000 acres south of Coeur d’Alene Lake

Headquarters:

850 A Street

P.O. Box 408

Plummer, Idaho 83851-0408

Phone: (208) 686-1800

Fax: (208) 686-1182

Website: http://www.cdatribe-nsn.gov/

Authority:

Executive order of 1866

Traditional Language:

Schitsu’umsh, one of fi ve Southern Salish derivations of the 

Interior Salish language

Enrollment:

1,922

Governance:

Seven-member tribal council

Tribal Enterprises:

• Coeur d’Alene Casino and Hotel, near Worley, Idaho

• Tribal farm (6,400 acres)

• Benewah Automotive Center and Benewah Market, 

Plummer, Idaho

• Ace Hardware, Plummer

• Benewah Medical Center, Plummer

• Coeur d’Alene Tribal Wellness Center, Plummer

• Coeur d’Alene Tribal School (K-8), DeSmet, Idaho

Newspaper:

Coeur d’Alene Council Fires 

(208) 686-1800
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 11

Money for the project is provided by the Bonneville Power Administration through the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. The Council’s 

program is designed to mitigate the impact of hydropower dams on 

fi sh and wildlife. Through the program, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe is 

rebuilding the fi shery on the reservation to mitigate the loss of trout 

and salmon from the construction of dams downstream, particularly 

Grand Coulee. The tribe historically fi shed for trout in the lake and 

its tributaries and for salmon in the Spokane River, which is the 

outlet of the lake.

The project began in 1990 with assessments of existing conditions in the four watersheds. When those assessments were completed, in 1995, the restoration projects began. The overall effort is 

being undertaken in three phases that involve changing land use 

practices, repairing streams and shoreline areas, and evaluating alternatives for introducing hatchery-raised fi sh into the restored habitat. Eventually, the trout populations should rebound to the point 

that fi sh can be harvested.

Around the southeastern half of Lake Coeur d’Alene, where decades of farming and logging took a toll on streams where bull trout 

and cutthroat trout spawn, landowners and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe 

are working together to restore spawning and rearing habitat and 

rebuild a productive fi shery.

The restoration project focuses on four creeks whose waters 

eventually fl ow into Lake Coeur d’Alene. Lake Creek and Benewah 

Creek fl ow directly into the lake; Evans Creek is a tributary of the 

Coeur d’Alene River, and Alder Creek is a tributary of the St. Maries 

River. All are on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation.

The work primarily involves improving water quality in the 

streams, addressing the impact of past grazing, farming, and logging 

practices in the four watersheds. For example, streamside vegetation is being planted to shade areas where trout spawn, and structures are being built with logs or tree branches to slow the water fl ow 

and control bank erosion. Away from shorelines, grasses are being 

planted to prevent erosion that contributes sediment to the streams. 

Excessive sediment can cover gravel where trout lay their eggs.

Landowner participation has been good, said Kelly Lillengreen, 

the tribe’s manager of fi sh, water, and wildlife. In Lake Creek, where 

much of the effort has been focused, a landowner group has been 

formed to identify priorities and plan projects, she said. Similar 

groups are planned in the other watersheds.

Another positive aspect of the project is that it is helping wildlife 

as well, Lillengreen said. One impact of converting timberland to 

farmland, notably along Lake Creek, has been a shift in the hydrology of the watershed. In short, the ground doesn’t hold as much water as it once did. To help improve the water table, ponds have been 

built to catch and hold runoff from rain and melting snow. Some of 

this water fi nds its way back into the aquifer, and some is released 

to boost downstream fl ows. Meanwhile, the ponds provide water for 

birds and animals such as deer.

This pond on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation will collect runoff from 

agricultural fi elds and hold sediment that otherwise would wash into a 

fi sh-bearing stream at the base of the hill.

Watershed Restoration Improves Habitat for Cutthroat Trout on 

Coeur d’Alene Reservation Focus Project
12 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

Overview:

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead 

Reservation are the modern descendants of several Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d’Oreille bands that lived in what is today western 

Montana, northern Idaho, and eastern Washington in the early 

1800s. The confederation includes the combined Bitterroot Salish 

and Pend d’ Oreille tribes, and the Kootenai Tribe as an individual entity. The aboriginal name of the Kootenai Tribe is Ktunaxa. The Flathead Reservation Ktunaxa band, known as Ksanka, is one of seven 

bands of Ktunaxa whose traditional homeland includes northwestern 

Montana and southeastern British Columbia, where the bands are 

consolidated through the Ktunaxa-Kinbasket Tribal Council.

The Hellgate Treaty of 1855 created the Flathead Reservation. 

The treaty was negotiated on behalf of the United States by Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens, who also negotiated treaties with tribes in present-day Washington, Oregon, and Idaho that 

same year. In the treaty, the tribes ceded about 22 million acres of 

ancestral land to the government. A land survey promised in Article 

IX of the treaty never was conducted, and in 1871 the Salish people 

were forced onto the Flathead Reservation. The Allotment Act of 

1887 and the Homestead Act of 1910 diminished non-Indian land 

ownership on the reservation. Over time, the tribes bought back 

reservation land and today own more than 60 percent.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes were the fi rst 

tribal nation in the United States to designate a wilderness area 

within their reservation. The Jocko and Lozeau Primitive Areas of 

the Mission Range are available only to tribal members so that they 

have access to pristine lands for gathering plants for ceremonial 

uses and for solitude.

Reservation:

The 1,317,000-acre Flathead Indian Reservation is on the western slope of the Continental Divide and includes parts of four Montana counties — Flathead, Lake, Missoula, and Sanders. The eastern border is the crest of the Mission Range of the Rocky Mountains. 

The Cabinet Mountains are to the west of the reservation. About half 

of Flathead Lake is on the reservation. The Salish Mountains border the reservation on the west. The reservation is about 60 miles 

long and 40 miles wide. Towns on the reservation include Arlee, 

Polson, Pablo, Ronan, Dixon, Elmo, St. Ignatius, and Hot Springs.

Headquarters:

CSKT Tribal Council

P.O. Box 278

Pablo, Montana 59855

Email: csktcouncil@cskt.org 

Phone: (406) 675-2700

Fax: (406) 675-2806

Website: www.cskt.org 

Authority:

Treaty of Hellgate, 1855

Traditional Language:

The Salish bands speak dialects of the Kalispel or Flathead 

language, which are within the Salish family of languages. The 

Kootenai language is different — linguistically an isolate. Kootenai, 

spoken by the Ktunaxa bands, is not known to be related to any 

other language. 

The Confederated Salish 

and Kootenai Tribes of 

the Flathead Reservation
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 13

Enrollment: 

7,109

Tribal Enterprises:

• S&K Technologies, www.sktcorp.com

• S&K Electronics, www.skecorp.com

• Job Corps training center

• Two Eagle River School

• Salish and Kootenai College, www.skc.edu

• The Peoples Center, a tribal museum in Pablo

www.peoplescenter.org

• Best Western KwaTaqNuk Resort 

www.kwataqnuk.com

• Flathead Stickers and Lath, 

www.fl atheadstickers.com

• Mission Valley Power, www.missionvalleypower.org

Governance:

10-member tribal council.

Newspaper:

Char-Koosta News 

(406) 675-3000

charkoosta@cskt.org

www.CharKoosta.com
14 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

1) riparian inventories on 20 miles of stream; 

2) construction of 9 miles of riparian fencing to reduce the 

effects from livestock grazing; 

3) replacement or improvement of 11 stream crossings; 

4) design and installation of multiple off-stream livestock 

watering facilities; 

5) improvement of irrigation management; and 

6) monitoring of stream fl ows and irrigation withdrawals. 

Partners include multiple private landowners, the tribes, the 

Flathead Lakers, Trout Unlimited, Bureau of Reclamation, Natural 

Resource Conservation Service, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 

Plum Creek Timber Company, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and 

the Lake County Road Department. Over 50 percent of project 

costs have come through these partnerships. 

To ensure that predation of cutthroat trout by lake trout does not 

undermine the success of these watershed restoration projects, the 

tribes are intensively monitoring the lake trout population and conducting activities to enhance angler harvest of these predator fi sh.

The Hungry Horse Mitigation Program, implemented in part by 

the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, began in 1991 to address fi sheries losses associated with the construction and operation of Hungry Horse Dam. The dam isolated approximately 38 percent of the Flathead Lake drainage and changed the physical and 

biological characteristics of the lake and river. The Northwest Power 

and Conservation Council recommends funding from the Bonneville 

Power Administration to address this loss of habitat in the interconnected Flathead Lake and Flathead River Basin. The project implements mitigation measures, restores habitat, and monitors the biological responses to those measures, including those implemented 

by other agencies. The tribes also address the changes in Flathead 

Lake from Mysis shrimp and lake trout, whose dominance has suppressed the native cutthroat trout targeted by mitigation efforts. 

The Dayton Creek project is a good example of the kind of watershed-level projects implemented by the tribes. It was initiated 

because of its importance as a direct tributary to Flathead Lake. 

Dayton Creek was severely degraded and provided outstanding potential to replace the spawning habitat lost after the construction of 

Hungry Horse Dam. Bonneville funds have been used to provide 

cost-sharing for many restoration activities including: 

Hungry Horse Mitigation Program

Before: In 2001, fi sh-spawning habitat in Dayton Creek, which fl ows 

into Flathead Lake, was in bad shape.

By 2004, riparian vegetation had been restored and the spawning 

habitat was much improved.

Focus Project
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 15

The Confederated Tribes 

and Bands 

of the Yakama Nation

Overview: 

Traditionally, the 14 bands now consolidated within the Yakama 

Nation were divided into two major groups: the Lower Yakamas, 

Waptailmin (“Narrow River People”), and the Upper Yakamas, 

Pswanwapum (“Stony Rock People”). The bands and tribes in the 

Yakama confederation are the Kah-milt-pah, Klickitat, Klinquit, Kowwas-say-ee, Li-ay-was, Oche-chotes, Palouse, Pisquose, Se-apcat, Shyiks, Skinpah, Wenatshapam, Wishram, and Yakama.

The Yakamas shared a common culture with many Indians living on the Columbia Plateau of present-day Washington, Oregon, 

and Idaho. They lived through a seasonal round that took them to 

different areas of the plateau at different times of the year. Throughout the winter, people lived in villages constructed of A-frame tulemat lodges along inland rivers. In March, they traveled (by horse 

after about 1750) to root grounds, visiting and camping with other 

Indians until May or June, by which time the salmon had begun to 

move up the Columbia River. Then Yakamas moved to their fi sheries along the lower Columbia, harvesting and preserving salmon 

in great numbers. In the fall they hunted and gathered berries in 

the Cascade Mountains, drying their foods for the winter. Yakamas 

gave thanks for the foods through sacred rituals that tied them to the 

Creation. This was and is a critical element of their religion.

In 1805, Yakamas met Meriwether Lewis and William Clark at 

Quosispah, a village near the junction of the Yakima and Columbia rivers, and later British trapper David Thompson traveled down 

the Columbia. British and American fur trappers introduced manufactured goods to Yakamas, and the Catholic missionary Charles 

Pandosy instructed the people in Christianity. Yakamas refused to 

join their Cayuse Palouse neighbors to the south in fi ghting Oregon 

volunteers during the Cayuse War in 1848. However, the Yakamas 

became concerned about the intentions of the United States after 

1853 when the government separated Washington Territory from 

Oregon Territory and Isaac I. Stevens became governor of Washington Territory and superintendent of Indian Affairs.

In 1854-55 Stevens liquidated Indian title to thousands of acres 

and created reservations in western Washington. On June 9, 1855, 

he concluded the Yakama Treaty in which the Yakama peoples ceded 

11.5 million acres to the government. The treaty created the Yakama 

Reservation and directed Indians from the 14 tribes and bands — 

speaking three distinct languages — to move onto the reservation.

Chief Kamiakin opposed the treaty and the reservation. When 

miners discovered gold north of the Spokane River, whites invaded 

the inland Northwest through Yakama lands. After miners killed and 

raped Yakama people, the Yakama leader Qualchin killed the culprits. Learning of these deaths, the Indian Agent Andrew Jackson 

Bolon rode into Yakama territory, but Kamiakin’s brother Skloom 

warned Bolon that his life was in danger. A few Yakamas killed 

Bolon at Whak-Shum, triggering the Yakima War of 1855-58. The 

war ended after Colonel George Wright executed the Yakama chiefs 

Owhi and Qualchin and several warriors.

Most Yakamas removed to the reservation, but some fi led for 

off-reservation homesteads. In the 1900s Yakamas lost all of their 

homesteads. Life on the Yakama Reservation was precarious. 

James Wilbur and other agents ruled the reservation like big-city 

bosses, dictating policies designed to “civilize” and Christianize the 

Indians. The Offi ce of Indian Affairs established a school at Fort 

Simcoe to assimilate Indian boys and girls into white society, jailing 
16 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

recalcitrant parents. Agents forced Indians to cultivate wheat, corn, 

and oats. Yakamas eagerly raised horses and cattle but farmed 

grudgingly. Many continued to fi sh, hunt, and gather, but with great 

diffi culty.

Non-Indian ranchers and farmers claimed and settled on former 

Yakama lands. In 1894, P. McCormick began allotting the reservation into 80-acre parcels. By 1914, 4,506 tribal members retained 

440,000 acres (over half of it owned today by non-Indians), with another 780,000 acres tribally owned. Confi ned to the reservation, the 

general health and welfare of the Yakama peoples declined. Politically, the Yakamas refused to participate in the Indian Reorganization Act and instead organized the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Nation. The Yakama Nation has committees dealing with timber, 

grazing, housing, education, cultural-resource management, roads, 

recreation, farming, irrigation, health, and wildlife management.

Since World War II, the Yakamas have emphasized self-determination and economic development. The United States recognized 

fi shing rights of the Yakama peoples in the treaty of 1855, but state 

and county offi cials opposed native fi shing rights. A long series of 

court battles reaffi rmed rights reserved by the Yakama bands and 

tribes in the treaty.

The tribe owns its own furniture business and enjoys 15,000 

acres of cultivated tribal farmland. In addition, the tribe irrigates 

90,000 acres of Indian-owned lands from the Wapato Project, leases acreage to non-Indians for farming and grazing and manages 

more than 300,000 acres of timberlands. The Yakamas support 

their own police force and tribal court. They stress academic excellence, providing scholarships to gifted students. Each summer 

the Yakamas sponsor Camp Chaparral, motivating their children to 

continue their education yet maintain their native identity. The Yakama dialect of Sahaptin is taught in public schools for children and 

in adult education classes. On June 9, 1980, the Yakama Nation 

opened its Cultural Heritage Center, complete with museum, library, 

gift shop, restaurant, theater, meeting hall, lodge, and offi ces. The 

culture center hosts numerous tribal projects designed to maintain 

The traditional language, literature, crafts, history, arts, and skills.

Reservation:

1,371,918 acres west, south, and east of the city of Yakima, including portions of Mount Adams, and the Yakima and Klickitat rivers

Headquarters:

Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation

P.O. Box 151

Toppenish, WA 98948-0151

Phone: (509) 865-5121

Fax: (509) 865-5528

Websites: Fisheries Department: www.ynwildlife.org

Yakama Nation Cultural Center: www.yakamamuseum.com

Authority:

Treaty of 1855; tribal constitution, 1935; amended in 1947

Traditional Language:

Depending on the band, dialects of Sahaptin, Salish, and 

Chinook

Enrollment:

9,764

Governance:

14-member tribal council

Tribal Enterprises:

Tribal employment: 1,016 (2005)

• Yakama Nation Credit Enterprise, Toppenish, (60th 

anniversary is in 2005)

• Legends Casino, Toppenish, www.yakamalegends.com

• Yakamart at Pahto Crossing, Toppenish, a one-stop 

convenience store

• Yakama Nation Forest Products Enterprise and Fire 

Management, White Swan, which is focused on sustainable production of forest products

• Yakama Nation Housing Authority, Wapato, rental housing 

and home construction on the reservation

• Yakama Power, Toppenish, an electric utility formed in 

2000 to serve the reservation area

• Yakama Juice, Selah, which bottles apple, cranberry, grape, 

and other juices and teas, www.yakamajuice1855.com
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 17

• KYNR Radio AM and Yakama Nation Review 

newspaper, both in Toppenish

• Yakama Nation Travel, a travel agency for tribal members

• Yakama Land Enterprises, Wapato, which operates an industrial park for storage and shipping of agricultural products

• Yakama Nation Cultural Heritage Center, which includes a 

museum and restaurant, Toppenish, 

www.yakamamuseum.com

• Yakama Nation Resort RV Park, Toppenish

www.yakamanation.com

Newspaper:

Yakama Nation Review

509-865-5121

Sin-Wit-Ki

509-865-5121, ext. 6339 (Carol Craig)

After years of chronically depressed spring Chinook returns averaging only 2,000 to 3,000 fi sh per year, the Yakima Basin spring 

Chinook return has jumped to more than 15,000 fi sh per year since 

2000. While much of this increase is attributed to natural factors 

such as better in-river and ocean conditions, project biologists estimate that the Cle Elum supplementation project has more than 

doubled populations of upper Yakima spring Chinook. These fi sh 

have signifi cantly enhanced tribal and state sport fi sheries.

Supplementation is the technique of raising fi sh in hatcheries 

and then releasing them into streams as juveniles so that they will 

adapt and return to those streams as adult fi sh to spawn. In this way 

the artifi cial production facility, using wild fi sh from the river basin as 

broodstock, is a tool to rebuild fi sh runs that spawn in the wild.

The Yakama Nation manages, in coordination with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, a large-scale supplementation effort for spring Chinook salmon in the Yakima River Basin as 

part of the Yakima-Klickitat Fisheries Project (YKFP). The project is 

helping to boost fi sh populations and improve spawning and rearing 

habitat conditions in the Yakima and Klickitat river basins. Both rivers are tributaries of the Columbia.

In essence, the project is a scientifi c experiment, testing the assumption that new artifi cial production of fi sh can be used to increase 

natural production and to improve harvest opportunities, while also 

maintaining the long-term genetic fi tness of native salmon populations and keeping adverse ecological interactions within acceptable 

limits. The project is enhancing the production of spring Chinook 

salmon in the upper Yakima River Basin through supplementation, 

re-introducing stocks formerly present in the Yakima Basin, providing harvest opportunities, and increasing knowledge about the use 

of supplementation.

After years of careful planning and public input — the project 

has been in the Council’s program since 1982 — the Cle Elum facility was commissioned in 1997. Because populations of Columbia 

River spring Chinook generally return as 4-year-old fi sh, the fi sh 

reared by the Cle Elum supplementation project in 1997 and 1998 

did not return in any abundance until 2001 and 2002.

Experimental Hatchery Is Rebuilding Yakima River Salmon and 

Steelhead Populations

Biologist Todd Newsome adds milt to eggs at the tribe’s 

salmon hatchery at Cle Elum, Washington, while biologist Ann Stephenson stirs. The tribe incubates salmon for 

release into Yakima River tributaries.

Focus Project
18 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

The Confederated Tribes

of the Colville Reservation

Overview:

Twelve tribes whose ancestors lived in present-day northeastern Washington and Oregon, and in southeastern British Columbia, make up the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. 

These are the Colville, Nespelem, San Poil, Lake, Palus, Wenatchi, 

Chelan, Entiat, Methow, southern Okanogan, Moses Columbia, and 

the Chief Joseph Band of the Nez Perce Tribe.

Prior to the infl ux of Canadians and Europeans in the mid-1850s, 

the ancestors of the 12 aboriginal tribes were nomadic. Their territories included the Columbia, San Poil, Okanogan, Snake, and 

Wallowa rivers. Historically, the tribes that make up the Colville 

confederation today were organized by languages, by river basins 

and subbasins, and by the winter villages where they lived. Winters were spent in pit houses or communal lodges, and summers in 

tents made of mats or skins. Foods included roots, berries, game 

animals, and fi sh, and families moved from place to place to harvest 

foods as they became available. The tribes harvested salmon and 

steelhead from the Columbia and its tributaries. Kettle Falls of the 

Columbia was the second-largest salmon fi shery on the Columbia, 

behind Celilo Falls.

With the introduction of horses around 1740, the tribes increased 

their mobility, and within 60 years or so traveled regularly to the 

Great Plains to hunt buffalo. Three fur-trading posts were built in 

Colville tribal territory between 1810 and 1825. The Colville tribes 

adopted gardening practices they were introduced to by fur traders, 

as the tribes had long transplanted roots, herbs, and other plants to 

places where they would be accessible for harvest.

Some of the Colville tribes attended the 1855 treaty negotiations 

with Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens, but they were 

not included in the treaty. The Colville tribes avoided the subsequent war over the treaty that involved their neighbors to the south, 

the Spokane Tribe.

In 1885, Nez Perce Chief Joseph and some of his tribe, who surrendered to the Army in eastern Montana after a 1,000-mile series of 

battles in 1877, were relocated from Oklahoma to the Colville Reservation. Joseph had asked to be returned to his homeland in the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon, but the government refused.

The Colville Tribes established their elected business council 

in 1938 and designated four voting districts at the communities of 

Keller, Nespelem, and Omak. 

The tribes operate a number of businesses including logging, 

lumber manufacturing, gaming, and recreational sites and activities on Lake Roosevelt, the reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam. 

The northern shore and part of the western shore of the lake is on 

the reservation.

Reservation:

President Ulysses Grant established the Colville Reservation 

by executive order in April 1872. The original reservation included 

more than 3 million acres. However, in July, only three months later, 

a second executive order changed the reservation boundaries to 

eliminate signifi cant portions east of the Columbia River and west of 

the Okanogan River that had been guaranteed in the original order. 

This reduced the size of the reservation to about 2.8 million acres 

and made the Columbia the eastern border and the Okanogan 

the western border. In its July 1872 confi guration the reservation 

stretched north to the British Columbia border. However, bowing 
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 19

to pressure from gold miners and non-Indian settlers, the federal 

government removed the northern half in 1892; the remainder of the 

reservation was allotted in 1905.

Today the reservation is about 1.4 million acres. It includes 

parts of Okanogan and Ferry counties.

Headquarters:

Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

P.O. Box 150 Nespelem, WA 99155

Phone: (509) 634-2200 

Fax: (509) 634-4116

Website: www.colvilletribes.com

Authority: 

Executive orders of 1872; tribal constitution and bylaws, 

February 1938

Traditional Language: 

The various tribes speak derivations of the Interior Salish 

language

Enrollment: 

8,700

Governance:

14-member tribal council

Tribal Enterprises:

• The Trading Post

• Inchelium Community Store

• Roosevelt Recreational Enterprises

• Keller Community Store

• Colville Tribal Enterprise Corporation

• Colville Tribal Service Corporation (building and road construction contractor)

• Colville Tribal Credit Union

• Rainbow Beach Resort

• Colville Timber Resource Company

• Colville Indian Precision Division (lumber manufacturing)

• Colville Tribal Logging

• Mill Bay Casino

• Coulee Dam Casino

• Okanogan Bingo-Casino 

Newspaper:

Tribal Tribune 

(509) 634-2222
20 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

The tribes are evaluating sites in the southern part of the reservation where grouse are known to have nested in the past to determine the extent and type of restoration that would be necessary to 

help restore bird populations. The tribes also are monitoring female 

grouse to determine whether, and where, nesting is successful and 

whether male and female birds use habitat differently, and if so, why. 

This involves investigating forage and soil types in likely nesting areas to determine what might be done to recreate appropriate habitat 

and forage for future populations.

Dam construction in the Columbia River Basin altered wildlife 

habitat as well as fi sh habitat. For some bird species, such as 

geese and ducks, inundation of shoreline areas by reservoirs increased habitat by creating new pools and marshes. But for many 

other species, such as Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, the loss of 

shoreline trees and bushes reduced the amount of habitat and, over 

time, reduced populations.

On the Colville Indian Reservation, which borders the Columbia 

River in northeastern Washington, grouse habitat lost to the creation 

of Lake Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam is being replaced. 

The Colville Confederated Tribes, in partnership with other nearby 

tribes, are developing a habitat management plan that will direct 

activities such as planting deciduous trees and native shrubs in an 

area known to be used by the largest remaining population of Columbia sharp-tailed grouse in the area, a population that may number fewer than 200 birds.

The goal is to restore native plant communities, and eventually bird populations, on 60,000 acres of former agricultural lands. 

The management effort is necessary in order to keep the grouse 

population from extinction. The population declined as the amount 

of their preferred habitat, shrub-steppe and grasslands, declined. 

After 1900, much of the grassland and sagebrush habitats were 

converted to agriculture, for both cropland and livestock grazing.

Today, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse are classifi ed by the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service as a threatened species in Washington. 

The Colville Tribes are working to rebuild the population of sharp-tailed 

grouse on the reservation by protecting and enhancing nesting habitat.

Focus Project Habitat Restoration Focuses on Sharp-tailed Grouse
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 21

Overview:

The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon includes more than 20 tribes and bands from western Oregon 

and northern California that were relocated to the Grand Ronde reservations in the 1850s. These included the Rogue River, Umpqua, 

Chasta, Kalapuya, Molalla, Salmon River, Tillamook, and Nestucca 

Indians who had lived in their traditional homelands for over 8,000 

years before the arrival of the fi rst white visitors.

The tribes lived off the land — fi sh and game were plentiful, 

and what they couldn’t catch in the rivers or hunt in the forests they 

acquired by trade with other tribes, and later, with non-Indians. The 

Grand Ronde Reservation was established by treaty arrangements 

in 1854 and 1855 and by an executive order of June 30, 1857. 

Treaty-ceded lands stretch from the crest of the Coast Range to the 

crest of the Cascades and from the Columbia River to the California 

border. The reservation contained more than 60,000 acres and was 

located on the eastern side of the Coast Range mountains in the 

headwaters area of the South Yamhill River, about 60 miles southwest of Portland and about 25 miles from the ocean. 

Under the 1887 General Allotment Act, 270 allotments totaling 

slightly over 33,000 acres of the Grand Ronde Reservation were 

made to individual Indians. After 25 years, ownership of these allotments passed to the individual holders, thus breaking up much of 

the reservation. In 1901, 25,971 acres of the remaining reservation 

were declared surplus by the United States government and sold. 

Under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, the tribe purchased 

some of the former reservation lands, but the 1954 Termination Act 

ended the tribe’s legal status. The termination policy robbed the 

tribe of its social, economic, and political fabric, leaving a scattered 

population and poverty that led to a wide range of health, education, and social problems. Efforts to reverse the termination began 

in the 1970s and culminated in 1983 with the Grand Ronde Restoration Act. In 1988, the tribe regained 9,811acres of the original 

reservation, located just north of the community of Grand Ronde, 

Oregon. An additional 241 acres were added in 1994 for a total of 

10,052 acres.

Reservation:

10,052 acres located near Grand Ronde, Oregon, about 80 

miles southwest of Portland

Headquarters:

9615 Grand Ronde Road

Grand Ronde, OR 97347

Main Tel: 800-422-0232 or 503-879-5211

Main Fax: 503-879-2117

Web site: www.grandronde.org

Portland Offi ce

3312 S.W. Kelly Ave.

Portland, OR 97201

Portland Tel: 503-235-4230

Portland Fax: 503-239-8047

Eugene Offi ce

711 Country Club Road, Suite 1A

Eugene, OR 97401

Eugene Tel: 541-484-7085

Eugene Fax: 541-484-7097

The Confederated Tribes 

of the Grand Ronde 

Community of Oregon
22 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

Authority:

Grand Ronde Restoration Act, 1983 (Public Law 98-165)

Traditional Language:

Original languages were: Chinookan, Shasta, Kalapuyan, Rogue 

River (Tekelma), Tillamook, Umpqua, and Molalla. After relocation 

to the Grand Ronde Reservation, Chinuk Wawa became the common language due to the number of different tribes and languages.

Enrollment:

5,688

Governance (2005): 

Nine-member tribal council

Tribal Enterprises:

• Spirit Mountain Casino, Grand Ronde

• Grand Ronde Food & Fuel Co.

Newspaper: 

Smoke Signals

503-879-1453, or news@grandronde.org
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 23

Overview:

Three tribes, the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla, make up 

the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Before 

the fi rst contact with Europeans in the early 1800s, the tribes had a 

combined population of about 8,000. Today, the enrollment of the 

confederated tribes is just over 2,400.

Historically, the economy of the tribes consisted primarily of 

intertribal trade, livestock, trade with fur companies, and hunting, 

fi shing, and gathering. Because of the location of their homelands, 

the Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Cayuse tribes were very infl uential 

in the economics and politics of the Columbia Plateau region. The 

tribes occupied the territory halfway between the Pacifi c Coast and 

the Great Plains. This setting made them the ideal middlemen in 

the trade between the buffalo country of the Great Plains and the 

rainforest and ocean resources of the Pacifi c Coast cultures. Tribal 

members relied on trade goods from the plains such as buffalo meat 

and hides, obsidian from the south, and fi sh, plants, and medicines 

from the Pacifi c Northwest coast.

Today, the economy of the Confederated Tribes consists of 

agriculture, livestock, timber, recreation, hunting, fi shing, and commercial development, including a travel plaza/gas station, market, 

trailer court, grain elevator, and the Wildhorse Casino and Resort. 

The casino includes a hotel, RV Park, and an 18-hole golf course. 

In July 1998, the tribe opened its Tam’astslikt Cultural Center as the 

centerpiece of the resort. 

Reservation:

Collectively, the three tribes once had a homeland of 6.4 million acres in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. 

The Confederated 

Tribes of the Umatilla 

Indian Reservation

In 1855, the tribes and the United States government negotiated a 

treaty at Walla Walla in which the tribes surrendered most of their 

traditional homeland in exchange for a reservation of about 250,000 

acres. Federal legislation in the late 1800s reduced the Umatilla 

Reservation to its present 172,000 acres — 158,000 acres just east 

of Pendleton and 14,000 acres in the McKay, Johnson, and McCoy 

creek areas southeast of Pilot Rock, Oregon.

Headquarters:

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation

P.O. Box 638

73239 Confederated Way

Pendleton, Oregon 97801

Phone: (541) 276-3165

Fax: (541) 276-3095

Website: www.umatilla.nsn.us

Authority:

Treaty of Walla Walla, 1855; 1949 constitution and bylaws

Traditional Language:

The three tribes (Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla) belong to 

the Sahaptin language group. Each speaks a distinct dialect of Sahaptin. The Cayuse speak a dialect similar to that spoken by Nez 

Perce Indians. Historically, the Cayuse and Nez Perce lived close 

to each other and associated frequently.

Enrollment:

2,519
24 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

Governance:

Eight-member tribal council

Tribal Enterprises:

With 994 employees, the Confederated Tribes are the secondlargest employer in Umatilla County, behind the State of Oregon. 

Tribal businesses include:

• Wildhorse Resort Casino, www.wildhorseresort.com

• Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, the tribal interpretive center, 

www.tamastslikt.com

• Arrowhead Travel Plaza www.umatilla.nsn.us/Arrowhead.html

• Mission Market 

www.umatilla.nsn.us/MissionMarket.htm

• Indian Lake Recreation Area, 34 miles south of 

Pendleton, www.umatilla.nsn.us/lake.html

Newspaper:

Confederated Umatilla Journal

(541) 966-2034

www.umatilla.nsn.us/cuj.html

One objective of the project is to evaluate the role of pheromones, or bile salts, which are released by larval lampreys as a 

migratory cue to upstream-migrating lampreys. Researchers are 

measuring the fi sh’s response to bile salts during the adult spawning migration in freshwater.

Since 2000, lamprey have been planted in the Umatilla River 

to determine whether this technique will help in restoring natural 

production. Initial results were encouraging: Adult lampreys successfully spawned and produced larval lampreys. Researchers 

hope that over time the larvae will attract adult lampreys during their 

spawning migration. Other techniques include the use of surgically 

implanted radio-tags to monitor the behavior of lampreys in the Columbia River.

When it comes to restoring anadromous fi sh populations in the 

Columbia Basin, it’s salmon that comes to mind. But there is another fi sh that is also historically and culturally important to basin 

tribes: the Pacifi c lamprey.

Like salmon, lamprey declined in abundance from the effects of 

land development and disturbances to habitat. Although lamprey, 

which is an eel-like fi sh, is a highly valued resource to Native Americans, both as a cultural icon and as a subsistence food by various 

tribes along the Pacifi c coast, the conservation of native lampreys 

has not been a fi sheries management priority in the United States. 

Even though these primitive fi sh share many of the same habitats 

as salmonids, lampreys have received little attention.

The Pacifi c Lamprey Research and Restoration project, initiated 

in 1994, is sponsored by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 

Indian Reservation. The goal of the project is to restore the natural 

production of Pacifi c lampreys in the Umatilla River to self-sustaining and harvestable levels. While the current population numbers 

are low, the Umatilla River Basin historically produced signifi cant 

numbers of lampreys. These provided fi shing opportunities for tribal 

members. Recovery efforts for salmon and steelhead in the basin may help with the overall recovery of Pacifi c lampreys, as they 

share habitat and require similar environmental conditions to thrive. 

Like salmon and steelhead, lampreys bring important marine nutrients to watersheds when they return to spawn and die in streams 

and rivers.

A researcher with the Umatilla Tribe uses an electric device to stun lamprey in the Umatilla River.

Focus Project Lamprey Research Aims to Boost Culturally Important Fish
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 25

The Confederated Tribes 

of the Warm Springs 

Reservation of Oregon

Overview:

Three tribes make up the Confederated Tribes of the Warm 

Springs Reservation: The Wasco, Warm Springs, and Paiute.

The Wasco bands on the Columbia River were the easternmost group of Chinookan-speaking Indians. Chinook dialects were 

spoken by lower Columbia tribes. Although the Wascos principally 

were fi shermen, their frequent contact with other Indians throughout 

the region provided for abundant trade.

The Warm Springs bands who lived along the Columbia’s tributaries spoke Sahaptin. Unlike the Wascos, the Warm Springs bands 

moved between winter and summer villages and depended more 

on game, roots, and berries than fi sh for food. However, salmon 

were an important staple for the Warm Springs bands and, like the 

Wascos, they built elaborate scaffolding over waterfalls to harvest 

fi sh with long-handled dip nets. Contact between the Warm Springs 

bands and the Wascos was frequent, and, although they spoke different languages and observed different customs, they could converse and they traded heavily.

The Paiutes lived in southeastern Oregon and spoke a distinct 

dialect. The lifestyle of the Paiutes was considerably different from 

that of the Wasco and Warm Springs bands. The Paiutes’ highplains existence required that they migrate farther and more frequently for game, and fi sh was not an important part of their diet. 

The Paiute language was foreign to the Wasco and Warm Springs 

bands, and commerce among them was infrequent. In early times, 

contact between them often resulted in skirmishes.

During the 1800s, the old way of life for the Indian bands in Oregon was upset by the new waves of immigrants from the East. In 

1843, 1,000 immigrants passed through The Dalles. In 1847 there 

were 4,000. By 1852, up to 12,000 settlers were crossing Wasco 

and Warm Springs territories each year.

In 1855, Joel Palmer, Indian superintendent for the Oregon Territory, received orders to clear the Indians from their lands. He did so 

by negotiating a series of treaties, including the one establishing the 

Warm Springs Reservation. Under the treaty, the Warm Springs and 

Wasco tribes relinquished approximately 10 million acres of land, 

but reserved the Warm Springs Reservation for their exclusive use. 

The tribes also reserved their rights to harvest fi sh, game, and other 

foods off the reservation in their usual and accustomed places.

The fi rst Paiutes, 38 in all, settled on the Warm Springs Reservation in 1879. They were moved there from the Yakama Reservation. Those 38 people, along with many other Paiutes, had been 

forced to move to the Yakama Reservation and Fort Vancouver after 

joining the Bannocks in a war against the U.S. Army. Eventually, 

more Paiutes were resettled on the Warm Springs Reservation.

In 1937, the three tribes organized as the Confederated Tribes 

of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon by adopting a constitution and bylaws for tribal government. In 1938, they formally 

accepted a corporate charter from the United States for their business endeavors. 

Reservation:

644,000 acres in north central Oregon covering parts of Jefferson, Wasco, Linn, Marion, and Clackamas counties. The Cascade 

Mountains form the western boundary. The southern boundary is 

the Metolius River. The Deschutes River forms the eastern boundary (three hydroelectric dams are located on the Deschutes downstream from Cove Palisades State Park, and tribal revenue is de-
26 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

rived though their operation). At a point nearing the 45th parallel, 

a survey line trends slightly north of west, leaving the Deschutes 

to make up the northern boundary.

Headquarters:

Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs

1233 Veterans St.

Warm Springs, OR 97761

Phone: (541) 553-1161

Fax: (541) 553-1924

Website: www.warmsprings.com

Authority:

Treaty of Wasco, 1855; tribal constitution, 1938

Traditional Language:

Each of the three tribes speaks a distinct dialect. Wasco is a 

dialect of the Chinook language spoken by tribes who lived along 

the lower Columbia River. The Warm Springs Tribe speaks a Sahaptin dialect. The Paiutes speak a Shoshonean dialect.

Enrollment:

4,515

Governance: 

11-member tribal council

Tribal Employment and Enterprises:

Tribal government is the largest employer on the reservation, 

with a workforce of 800. Other enterprises, listed below, employ a 

total of about 615 people (some are seasonal workers).

• Kah-Nee-Ta Vacation Resort 

www.warmsprings.com/warmsprings/Business_

Directory/Kah-Nee-Ta_Vacation_Resort

• Warm Springs Power Enterprises 

www.warmsprings.com/warmsprings/Business_

Directory/WS_Power_Enterprise

• The Museum at Warm Springs 

www.warmsprings.com/warmsprings/Business_

Directory/The_Museum_at_Warm_Springs

• Warm Springs Forest Products 

www.warmsprings.com/warmsprings/Business_

Directory/WS_Forest_Products

• The Plaza at Warm Springs 

www.warmsprings.com/warmsprings/Business_

Directory/The_Plaza_at_Warm_Springs

• Warm Springs Composite Products 

www.warmsprings.com/warmsprings/Business_

Directory/WS_Composite_Products

• Warm Springs Ventures 

www.warmsprings.com/warmsprings/Tribal_

Community/Tribal_Investments

Other economic activities include farming, ranching, forestry, 

two restaurants, a construction company, and a river-rafting business. The tribes maintain herds of approximately 1,600 beef cattle 

and 1,800 horses, 160 acres of irrigated cropland, and 200 acres of 

non-irrigated crops. The tribes manage 348,000 acres of timberland and sell timber products commercially.

Gaming is also an important economic activity on the reservation. The Indian Head Casino at the Kah-Nee-Ta Resort (the casino 

was completed in 1996) earns the tribe about $4 million annually. In 

2005 the tribes signed an agreement with Governor Ted Kulongoski for a gaming compact in the Columbia River Gorge. The tribes 

proposed to build a 500,000-square-foot, $300 million casino in the 

industrial park at Cascade Locks — in the tribes’ ceded area approximately 40 miles east of Portland.

An industrial park owned by the tribes, the Warm Springs Industrial Development area, is a 50-acre site one mile east of Warm 

Springs on the Kah-Nee-Ta highway. All development is administered by the tribes or the Bureau of Indian Affairs. However, private 

businesses are encouraged to locate in the industrial park.

Newspaper:

Spilyay Tymoo

541-553-3274

www.wsnews.org
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 27

the banks and ultimately provide shade to cool the water. Culvert 

replacements on Evans and Baldwin creeks will enable fi sh to pass 

year-round.

The project also directed the construction and installation of a 

new fi sh screen and bypass system on the mainstem Hood River. 

The Farmers Irrigation District Fish Screen Replacement Project replaced two obsolete screens with a system that meets or exceeds 

state and federal fi sh protection standards.

The Hood River Fish Habitat Project is part of a cooperative 

effort to improve habitat conditions for fi sh in the Hood River, a Columbia tributary in Oregon. The project is implemented jointly by the 

Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon 

and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Hood River subbasin supports a wide range of land uses 

including orchards, pastures, and forests, as well as growing residential development. At the same time, many streams within the 

subbasin are designated as essential habitat for Lower Columbia 

steelhead, a distinct population that is listed as a threatened species 

under the Endangered Species Act. The project also targets trout 

and coho salmon.

Some of the conditions identifi ed as limiting fi sh production in 

the subbasin include the lack of instream habitat to support historic 

population levels of anadromous fi sh; degraded water quality, including high water temperatures in summer and early fall; low summer/fall instream fl ows; and increased sediment and turbidity. At the 

top of the list of problems is passage for salmon and steelhead at 

irrigation diversions and other inriver structures.

Since 1999, the program has completed a number of projects 

to address these problems, including construction of a diversion 

and screen at the Phoenix Pharms recreational fi sh facility and construction of fences to keep livestock away from streambank riparian areas. This includes planting native vegetation to help stabilize 

This fi sh diversion screen is on the mainstem Hood River. The screen 

was designed, developed, and patented by the Farmers Irrigation District. The Warm Springs Tribe performed biological testing to ensure 

the diversion allowed safe fi sh passage.

Focus Project Tribe Works to Improve Fish Habitat in the Hood River Basin
28 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

The Kalispel Tribe 

of Indians

Overview: 

The Kalispel Indians, “River/Lake paddlers” or “camas people,” 

as they were called by other tribes, traditionally were semi-nomadic 

hunters, diggers, and fi shermen. The tribe inhabited a 200-mile 

stretch along the Pend Oreille River in northeastern Washington. 

At the time of fi rst contact with Europeans, in the early 1800s, there 

were about 3,000 Kalispel people.

Roman Catholic priests began working with the Kalispels in 

1844. The priests found the Kalispel people divided into two distinct 

groups — the upper and lower Kalispels, the distinction indicating 

where they lived in the Pend Oreille River watershed. The river 

fl ows north from Pend Oreille Lake and eventually joins the Columbia River just north of the Canadian border near the city of Trail, 

British Columbia. The upper Kalispels inhabited the area around 

the lake and the upper river, and the lower Kalispels inhabited the 

area near and north of the present-day reservation, which is about 

50 miles downriver from the lake.

In the 1855 Treaty of Hellgate (see entry for Salish and Kootenai 

Tribes) the upper Kalispels gave up their lands and moved to the 

Flathead Reservation in Montana. The lower Kalispels, from whom 

today’s Kalispel members are descended, refused to give up their 

ancestral lands and continued to work toward an agreement that 

would allow the tribe to remain in their homeland.

During the late 1800s, when other reservations were being 

formed in northeastern Washington, the Kalispels had almost no 

relationship with the federal government. Though Congress proposed a treaty in 1872, the terms were not acceptable to the tribe. 

By 1874, Congress had stopped establishing treaties with tribes, 

leaving the Kalispels with no legal protection. By 1875, the tribal 

population was only 395. After 1880, non-Indian settlement of the 

Kalispels’ traditional lands increased steadily.

In 1914, a reservation fi nally was established, by executive 

order, on a tiny base of fl ood plain and mountainside that neither 

resembled the original homeland in scale nor provided economic 

support for the tribe. The reservation consisted of approximately 

4,600 acres along the Pend Oreille River. In 1924, the federal 

government allotted the entire reservation to tribal members to 

encourage farming. Each tribal member received an allotment of 

about 40 acres, but the land mostly was on hillsides or fl ood plains 

and was diffi cult to farm. Comparatively, members of neighboring 

tribes, such as the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, received 160-180 

acre allotments of good farmland on their reservations. In 1960, 

the Kalispel Tribe received $3 million for the loss of its aboriginal 

lands — about 68 cents per acre.

Because most of the land on the reservation is unsuitable for 

development, the tribe identifi ed and pursued other economic development activities, including construction of a casino in Airway 

Heights near Spokane. The tribe also works to improve and preserve fi sh and wildlife habitat on the reservation.

Reservation: 

The 4,600-acre Kalispel Indian Reservation is located approximately 55 miles north of Spokane in Pend Oreille County. It was established by President Woodrow Wilson in a 1914 executive order. 

The reservation is a narrow strip of land along the eastern shore of 

the Pend Oreille River near Usk, Washington. The tribe also has 

240 acres of reservation land on the west bank of the river, north 
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 29

of Cusick, Washington. In 1995, the tribe added 440 acres of trust 

land adjacent to the northern boundary of the main reservation for 

a waterfowl and wildlife reserve. In 1996, the tribe added 40 acres 

of land in Airway Heights, which has been converted to reservation 

trust land. The Northern Quest Casino, which the tribe owns and 

operates, is located there.

Headquarters:

Tribal Center

1981 LeClerc Road North

Usk, WA 99180

Phone: (509) 445-1147

Fax: (509) 445-1705

Website: www.kalispeltribe.com

Authority:

Executive order of 1914; tribal constitution

Traditional Language:

The Kalispel language is a derivation of the southern interior 

Salish family of languages, which also includes distinct dialects spoken by the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane tribes.

Enrollment: 

393

Governance: 

Five-member tribal council

Tribal Enterprises:

• The Kalispel Tribe employs 62 people; the annual payroll is 

about $1.2 million.

• Northern Quest Casino, Airway Heights, Washington 

(about 10 miles west of Spokane). The casino is the primary source of income for the tribe.

• Kalispel Agricultural Enterprise, through which the tribe 

raises about 100 head of buffalo. These provide meat for 

elders and also for production and sales. The agricultural 

enterprise also has 600 acres of hay.

• Kalispel Day Care, a tribal child care business licensed for 

15 children.

• Kalispel Case Line, a business that manufacturers foamlined aluminum cases for electronic instruments, cameras, 

rifl es, pistols, and custom uses.

• The Camas Institute, Airway Heights and Usk, Washington, 

an enterprise that provides programs and resources to 

encourage personal growth and foster physical, mental, 

emotional, and spiritual health.

Newspaper: 

Smoke Signal

(509) 447-1147
30 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

These habitat types support populations of wildlife affected by 

the dam. The Kalispel Tribe’s management activities have included 

planting trees along the river, stabilizing the river bank, enhancing 

stands of coniferous and hardwood trees, installing water control 

structures, burning vegetation in a managed way, managing pasture 

land, constructing nesting islands, and conducting general operations and maintenance activities that include monitoring and evaluation. These actions have helped target species, including Canada 

geese, mallard ducks, muskrat, white-tailed deer, bald eagles, and 

several species of song birds.

Ray Entz, a biologist for the Kalispel Tribe and manager of the 

Pend Oreille Wetlands project, said the project shows that environmental restoration doesn’t happen in a hurry.

“It was an old fl oodplain farm when we started,” he said. “We 

removed the dike at one end and restored the wetlands. It took 

more than six years for us to see the plant and animal communities, 

and the diversity of species, return. But they did return, and it is a 

beautiful place today.”

And there was a surprise: “Recently, we’ve been seeing leopard 

frogs on the project,” Entz said. “They’ve been absent for 20 years, 

and now they’re back. I don’t think it’s cause and effect as a result 

of the project, but it is interesting.”

It took time, but a fl oodplain on the Pend Oreille River in northeastern Washington has been restored for the benefi t of wildlife that 

were affected by the construction of Albeni Falls Dam, a federal facility that regulates the level of Idaho’s Lake Pend Oreille upstream.

The 600 riverfront acres known today as the Pend Oreille Wetlands Wildlife Mitigation project once made up a pair of riverfront 

ranch properties sequestered behind a dike along the east bank of 

the river. In 1991, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council authorized the Bonneville Power Administration to purchase the 

ranch as partial mitigation for the wildlife and habitat losses caused 

by the construction of Albeni Falls Dam, which was completed in 

1955. Bonneville purchased the 436-acre Flying Goose Ranch in 

1992 and turned it over to the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, with headquarters in nearby Usk, to manage as wildlife habitat. An adjacent 

164 acres were added to the project in 1997.

The Pend Oreille river and lake area of northern Idaho and 

northeastern Washington are within the traditional homeland of the 

Kalispel Tribe. In 1914, the 4,620-acre Kalispel Reservation was 

created by executive order. The reservation and the nearby Pend 

Oreille Wetlands project are about 50 miles northeast of Spokane.

According to habitat loss assessments completed in the late 

1980s, construction and operation of the dam resulted in the loss of 

6,617 acres of wetland, the inundation of 8,900 acres of deep-water 

marsh, and the loss of habitat for a variety of species. Seven habitat 

types exist on the Pend Oreille wetlands project. These include:

1) forested wetland, 

2) scrub-shrub wetland, 

3) emergent wetland, 

4) wet meadow or fl oodplain grassland, 

5) open water, 

6) upland forest, and 

7) riparian deciduous forest. 

The Pend Oreille Wetlands Wildlife Mitigation Project

Two former cattle ranches that front the Pend Oreille River are being 

restored as habitat for wildlife.

Focus Project
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 31

The Kootenai Tribe 

of Idaho

Overview:

The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho is one of six semi-nomadic bands 

whose traditional homeland included present-day northern Idaho, 

northwestern Montana, and southeastern British Columbia. The 

Kootenai were affi liated socially with the neighboring Flathead, Kalispel, and Pend Oreille tribes.

The Kootenai Tribe was not included in the 1855 council near 

present-day Missoula that resulted in the Treaty of Hellgate, 

which established the Flathead Reservation in Montana (see entry for Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes). However, Kootenai traditional lands were ceded to the federal government in 

the treaty, apparently by another band acting without permission 

of the Kootenais.

Despite repeated requests, a Kootenai reservation was not established. In September 1974, the tribe declared war on the United 

States in an attempt to force federal recognition and declaration of 

a reservation. During the war, tribal members collected a toll on 

Highway 95, the main north-south artery through the area, where it 

crosses the tribe’s aboriginal land.

The war lasted three days and attracted national media attention. It also resulted in the federal government granting 12.5 acres 

to the tribe the following month, October 1974. The war prompted 

the Bureau of Indian Affairs to offi cially recognize the tribe and also 

led to federal assistance for housing, health care, and road paving 

on tribal land.

In 1986, the tribe built the Kootenai River Inn, a hotel and restaurant complex, in Bonners Ferry. In 1993, the tribe expanded the 

hotel and added a casino.

The tribe is the principle researcher in the effort to save Kootenai River white sturgeon, an endangered species that has cultural 

signifi cance for the tribe.

Reservation:

There is no offi cial reservation. In 1974, the federal government 

provided 12.5 acres west of Bonners Ferry along the Kootenai River 

for the tribe. An additional 2,200 acres in the same area have been 

allotted to tribal members.

Headquarters:

Kootenai Tribe of Idaho

County Road 38 - A

P.O. Box 1269

Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

Phone: (208) 267-3519

Fax: (208) 267-2960

Website: None

Authority:

Executive order of October 1974. A tribal constitution was approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on June 16, 1947. The constitution established a tribal council as the governing body of the tribe.

Traditional Language:

The Kootenai language is an isolate, unrelated to any other 

known language, although it may have evolved from southern interior Salish dialects spoken by nearby tribes.
32 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

In Bonners Ferry, Idaho, the Kootenai Tribe is racing against the 

extinction clock to save a unique white sturgeon population that has 

inhabited the Kootenai River for millenia but that has not reproduced 

in sustainable numbers in at least 30 years. Sturgeon can live to be 

100, but the Kootenai population is aging, and unless more young 

fi sh live to spawning age, the species likely will be extinct in as few 

as 20 years.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Kootenai River white 

sturgeon as an endangered species on September 6, 1994. Four 

years earlier, the tribe initiated the Kootenai River White Sturgeon 

Study and Conservation Aquaculture Project to preserve the genetic variability of the population, begin rebuilding natural age class 

structure with hatchery-reared fi sh, and prevent extinction while 

measures are implemented to restore the natural production of fi sh. 

Consistent with the project’s breeding plan and the Fish and Wildlife 

Service’s recovery plan, the tribe has been successfully incubating, 

hatching, raising, and releasing sturgeon using the eggs and sperm 

of adult fi sh taken from the river and later returned. Subsequent 

monitoring shows the juveniles are surviving. But sturgeon don’t 

reach spawning maturity until about age 20. Meanwhile, mature 

fi sh have spawned naturally in the Kootenai, but the eggs or the 

resulting juveniles don’t appear to be surviving in numbers suffi cient 

to rebuild the population.

Many changes to the natural ecosystem have occurred over the 

past decades, but one of the most signifi cant changes was the 

construction and operation of Libby Dam, which altered the historic 

fl ow pattern in the lower Kootenai River, reducing the annual spring 

Kootenai Tribe Is Working to Recover Dwindling Sturgeon Population

fl ows by half. The spring fl ows apparently were important for sturgeon spawning and recruitment, as successful recruitment has not 

been recorded since 1974 — one year before the dam became fully 

operational. Other changes to the ecosystem include diking and 

diversions resulting in the loss of riparian, slough, and side-channel 

habitat, as well as the loss of productivity.

Susan Ireland, fi sh and wildlife program manager for the tribe, 

said the goal of the aquaculture project is to protect the sturgeon 

from extinction until suitable habitat conditions are re-established in 

the Kootenai River ecosystem so that sturgeon survival can improve 

beyond the egg/larval stage and natural recruitment of juvenile fi sh 

This juvenile sturgeon will be raised in captivity until it is able to survive 

on its own and then released into the Kootenai River.

Focus Project

Enrollment:

128

Governance (2005):

Tribal Council (2005):

Gary Aitken Sr., chair

Kym Cooper, vice chair

Bernadine BoyChief, secretary

Mildred Aitken

Jennifer Porter

Velma Bahe

Raymond Abraham

Dixie Abraham, alternate

Dianne David, alternate.

Tribal Enterprises:

• Kootenai River Inn, Bonners Ferry (restaurant, hotel, casino, gift shop, spa)

• The tribal government employs 32

Newspaper:

None
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 33

into the population can be restored. The program is designed to 

produce four to 12 separate sturgeon families per year and up to 

100 adults per family that survive to breeding age. The work is 

being coordinated with U.S. federal and state fi sh and wildlife agencies, and also with counterpart agencies in British Columbia, as 

Kootenai River sturgeon migrate back and forth across the border.

During the 11 years between 1992 and 2003, the conservation 

aquaculture program has released over 40,000 juvenile sturgeon 

between 1 and 4 years of age. Subsequent studies showed that 

survival was about 60 percent for the fi rst year in the river and 90 

percent after that. The studies also showed that most of the fi sh in 

the river were bred in the hatchery. The recent capture of 659 juvenile fi sh by The Idaho Department of Fish and Game showed that 

only 39 were of wild origin.

In light of the low number of wild juvenile fi sh and the decline in 

the wild adult population, the tribe and its partners in the recovery 

effort decided to revise the breeding program. The new program, 

issued in March, calls for spawning more fi sh and releasing more 

families, representing 3,000 - 4,500 fi sh per family annually — about 

double the previous amount — and releasing them at smaller sizes 

and younger ages. This is appropriate, Ireland said, because the 

next generation of fi sh will be almost entirely of hatchery origin. Producing more families and releasing larger numbers of fi sh per family 

should ensure that genetic diversity of the species is maintained 

and that suffi cient numbers of fi sh survive the 20 or more years to 

spawning maturity, she said. The revised program also calls for releasing fi sh at more locations to take advantage of suitable habitat.

“We’re taking an adaptive approach so that we can modify the 

plan as necessary, based on the analysis of data,” Ireland said. “We 

are in a race against extinction.” 

Focus Project Kootenai Tribe Is Working to Recover Dwindling Sturgeon Population
34 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

The Nez Perce Tribe

Overview: 

The Nez Perce call themselves Nimi’ipuu, which means the “real 

people” or “we the people.” Other tribes referred to the Nimi’ipuu as 

“people under the tule” because their primary dwellings were longhouses covered with tule mats, or as “Khouse eaters” because their 

diet and medicines included a root known as khouse. The name 

“Nez Perce” is a misnomer. French Canadian fur trappers saw Indians with pierced noses among the Nimi’ipuu and assumed the 

practice was common with them, but it was not.

Historically, the Nimi’ipuu occupied a territory that encompassed 

much of the land drained by the Snake River in present-day north 

central Idaho, northeastern Oregon, and southeastern Washington. 

Communities clustered around family and extended kin groups and 

linked together into bands that identifi ed with specifi c river drainages. Each settlement followed a variety of leaders who organized 

groups for specifi c purposes such as hunting, warfare, or religious 

rituals. Villages grouped together during the winter, but when spring 

came the people dispersed to gather roots and berries or to hunt for 

large game in the mountains.

The fi rst recorded contact between the Nez Perce and Europeans was in the fall of 1805 when the Lewis and Clark expedition 

encountered a group of young boys playing near a camas-bulb fi eld 

at Musselshell, near the Clearwater River in present-day Weippe, 

Idaho. The explorers were exhausted and near starvation from their 

diffi cult journey across the Bitterroot Mountains. The Nez Perce 

gave them food and shelter.

In 1855, the newly appointed governor of Washington Territory, 

Isaac I. Stevens, negotiated a treaty with the tribe that created a 

7.5-million-acre reservation that was closed to non-Indians. While 

Christian Nez Perces such as the leader Halalhot’suut (“Lawyer”) 

accepted the new treaty and welcomed the protection of the reservation, others rejected it and refused to be bound by a paper agreement. Hostilities between Indians and non-Indians increased over 

time, particularly after gold was discovered on Nez Perce land in the 

1860s. The hostilities led to war in 1877 — really a series of running 

gun battles that culminated a short distance south of present-day 

Havre in eastern Montana. Following the war, most of the tribe resettled on the reservation, which had been reduced in size through 

an 1863 treaty. Chief Joseph, one of the leaders of the war, and his 

most loyal followers were not allowed to return to Idaho and instead 

were resettled on the Colville Reservation in eastern Washington.

In 1893, the Nez Perce were pressured into signing an agreement in which all unallotted land was declared “surplus” and sold to 

the federal government for homesteading. Although the reservation was opened by the federal government for settlement, and the 

tribal ownership of lands was reduced dramatically, the 1863 reservation boundaries remain as the Nez Perce Reservation.

Today, the tribe has about 3,600 enrolled members and operates businesses that include forest products and two casinos.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 35

Reservation:

750,000 acres near Lapwai, Idaho

Headquarters:

Nez Perce Tribe

P.O. Box 305

Lapwai, ID 83540

Phone: (208) 843-2253

Fax: (208) 843-7354

Website: www.nezperce.org

Authority:

Treaties of 1855 and 1863; 1948 tribal constitution

Traditional Language:

Sahaptin

Enrollment:

3,636

Governance (2005): 

Nine-member tribal council

Tribal Employment:

Tribal government: 807

Gaming enterprises: 253

Nimi’ipuu Health Clinic: 103

Nez Perce Tribal Housing Authority: 24

Enterprises:

• Clearwater River Casino, on Highway 12 east of Lewiston

• It’se-Ye-Ye Casino, Kamiah

• Nez Perce Forest Products Enterprise

• Nez Perce Express convenience store, Lewiston

• Aht’wy Plaza RV Park, Lewiston

Newspaper:

Ta’c Tito’oqan

(208) 843-7375
36 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

time, efforts to restore naturally spawning spring Chinook created 

small, scattered populations, and fall Chinook recolonized the lower 

river to a limited extent by 1987. The impacts of downstream dams 

on the Snake River, ocean conditions, predators, and other factors 

continued to limit the abundance of the runs.

The tribe is hoping the hatchery will boost the abundance of 

salmon over time. The hatchery program responds to important 

needs, including restoring salmon as an integral component of the 

ecosystem and a vital resource to the Nez Perce people, and also 

developing hatchery supplementation technology that can aid in restoring salmon runs in Columbia River Basin watersheds.

With a state-of-the-art hatchery, the Nez Perce Tribe is working to rebuild Chinook and coho salmon populations in Idaho. The 

hatchery utilizes the supplementation technique, which means that 

salmon will be incubated at a central facility and reared there until 

they are juveniles, and then released into streams to rebuild runs 

that spawn in the wild.

The hatchery includes an incubation and rearing facility, a facility for rearing juvenile fi sh and holding adult fi sh, two satellite acclimation facilities for spring Chinook and one for fall Chinook, and 

two “early-fall Chinook” acclimation sites. Juvenile spring Chinook 

are released into Meadow, Lolo, and Newsome creeks. All are tributaries of the Clearwater River. Fall Chinook juveniles are released 

into the South Fork Clearwater and Selway rivers. The program 

includes rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the creeks and rivers 

to determine the success of the releases over time.

The main incubation and rearing facility, located adjacent to the 

Clearwater at Cherrylane, Idaho, mimics the natural environment for 

rearing juvenile fi sh. The facility has S-shaped concrete raceways 

with camoufl age paint on the sides and rocks and sunken logs on 

the fl oors. There is a natural insect population, and the tribe plans 

to plant trees and shrubs along the sides, again to mimic the natural 

environment. Water fl ow and temperature through the raceways 

also are controlled to mimic natural seasonal conditions. As well, to 

mimic natural conditions, there is no protection from predators.

Beginning early in the 20th century, dams decimated salmon 

and steelhead runs in the Clearwater River and it tributaries. Over 

Hatchery Aims to Increase Idaho Salmon Populations

Teepees at the hatchery on its dedication day in 2002 remind visitors 

of the importance of salmon to the tribal culture.

Focus Project
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 37

The Shoshone Bannock Tribes of 

the Fort Hall Reservation

Overview: 

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, whose reservation is along the 

Snake River near the southeastern Idaho city of Pocatello, trace 

their ancestry to nomadic bands who inhabited a vast aboriginal 

area, including present-day southern Idaho and parts of eastern 

Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming. The 

aboriginal territory includes the salmon-bearing headwaters of the 

Salmon River and other Snake and Columbia river tributaries to the 

dry plains of the Central Basin and Great Basin. 

The Northern Shoshone consisted of the Shoshone bands 

that lived in the Salmon River, Weiser, Boise, Bruneau, Raft River, 

Snake River, and southern Idaho areas. Some of the Shoshone 

bands ranged into northern Utah. The Bannocks, culturally similar 

to the Shoshone, but with distinct language differences, also ranged 

in vast areas, such as the prairies and mountains of Idaho and beyond, often utilizing the same areas as the Shoshones.

In 1867, an executive order established the Fort Hall Indian 

Reservation and the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868 was signed by the 

Shoshone and Bannock headmen. The treaty stipulated a separate reservation for the Bannock but was never enacted, and they 

remained on the Fort Hall Reservation. In a separate action, the 

1875 executive order confi rmed the unratifi ed treaty of September 

24, 1868, which established the Lemhi Reserve for the Bannock, 

Sheepeater, and Shoshone bands. This reservation was approximately 100 acres and was “surrendered” in 1907 when all reservation inhabitants were forced to move to the Fort Hall Reservation. 

As various bands of the Shoshone and Bannocks throughout the 

different regions were displaced, they were all sent to the Fort Hall 

Reservation.

In the more than 100 years since the signing of the Fort Bridger 

Treaty, the Eastern Shoshones and the Shoshone-Bannocks have 

preserved most of their traditional lands and also their traditional 

ceremonies. The tribes operate businesses, including a gaming facility, a restaurant, a grocery store, and a clothing store. 

Reservation:

The Fort Hall Indian Reservation, homeland of the ShoshoneBannock Tribes, is located in the southeastern part of Idaho. The 

cities of Pocatello and Blackfoot are on the southern and northern 

ends of the reservation, respectively. The Snake River borders the 

western side of the reservation. The terrain of the Fort Hall Reservation ranges from high mountains to rich riverine wetland areas 

that sustain a vast array of natural resources.

The 1867 executive order proclaimed 1.8 million acres for the 

reservation. However, in 1872 a survey error substantially reduced the original reservation by several thousand acres to 1.2 

million acres. After a series of cessations of the original reservation boundaries, the current reservation comprises approximately 

544,000 acres. Communities including Lava Hot Springs, McCammon, Inkom, and Pocatello all lie within ceded lands. 

Today, descendents of the Lemhi, Boise Valley, Bruneau, 

Weiser, and other bands of Shoshone and Bannock all reside on 

the reservation but continue to return to their aboriginal areas to 

visit, hunt, fi sh, and gather on their aboriginal lands.

Headquarters:

P.O. Box 306 Pima Drive

Fort Hall, ID - 83203

Phone: (208) 238-3700

Fax: (208) 237-0797

Website: www.shoshonebannocktribes.com
38 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

Authority:

Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868; executive order of 1867 establishing 

the Fort Hall Reservation. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Inc., became a federally chartered corporation under the Indian Re-organization Act on April 17, 1937. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Constitution 

and by-laws were adopted by the tribes and approved by the secretary 

of the Department of the Interior on April 30, 1936.

Traditional Language:

The Shoshone and Bannock languages belong to two different linguistic groups, although both belong to the Uto aztecan linguistic families. The Shoshone language is distinct from the Bannock language, 

which is related to the language spoken by Northern Paiutes.

Enrollment: 

Approximately 4,800

Governance: 

Seven-member Fort Hall Business Council

Tribal Enterprises:

• The Trading Post, grocery store

• The Clothes Horse, art jewelry, clothing

• The Oregon Trail Restaurant

• TP Gas and Truck Stop

• Bannock Peak Truck Stop

• Shoshone-Bannock Gaming Facility

• Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Museum

• Sho-Ban News, offi cial tribal newspaper 

Newspaper:

Sho-Ban News

(208) 478-3700

www.shobannews.com
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 39

mining in the 1950s. Dredge mining released an estimated 380,000 

cubic meters of fi ne materials into the creek over 25 years and severely degraded spawning and rearing habitat for fi sh.

Through the project, high cut banks were regraded to create a 

new fl oodplain along 2.5 kilometers of the stream, eliminating these 

banks as a source of sediment in the creek. The new fl oodplain was 

revegetated, and the resulting vegetative cover should effectively 

eliminate the fl oodplain as a major source of sediment. The stream 

channel was not modifi ed, and the tribe expects that natural processes will allow the stream to reach its own dynamic equilibrium within 

the new fl oodplain.

In their traditional salmon-fi shing areas in the headwaters of 

the Salmon River, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes are working to 

improve fi sh spawning and rearing habitat and, over time, restore 

culturally important salmon and steelhead runs and tribal fi sheries.

The tribes initiated the Salmon River Habitat Enhancement 

project in 1984 to improve Chinook salmon and steelhead runs in 

traditional tribal fi shing areas. The goal is to increase adult salmon 

and steelhead escapement back to the Salmon River by improving 

survival of eggs and juvenile fi sh primarily through habitat improvements. The project has sponsored major habitat enhancements in 

three Salmon River tributaries: 1) Bear Valley Creek, a tributary of 

the Middle Fork Salmon River, 2) the Yankee Fork of the Salmon 

River, and 3) the East Fork of the Salmon River. Improving spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and steelhead also will benefi t 

resident fi sh and wildlife by decreasing fi ne sediment in the water 

and by enhancing riparian habitat. 

For many years, the tribes have been working to improve anadromous fi sh runs in traditional fi shing areas like the upper Salmon 

River Basin, where the tribes have treaty-reserved fi shing rights. 

Bear Valley Creek, pictured above, supports wild stocks of Chinook 

salmon and steelhead and is an important traditional fi shing area for 

the tribes.

Counts of Chinook salmon redds in the drainage exceeded 

1,000 per year in the middle 1950s but decreased to fewer than 10 

from 1994 - 1996 (the low was three in 1995). While many factors 

contributed to this decline, one of the primary culprits was dredge 

Habitat Enhancement Benefi ts Spawning Salmon and Steelhead

These men are collecting samples of invertebrate organisms in Bear 

Valley Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork Salmon River.

Focus Project
40 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

The Shoshone-Paiute 

Tribes of the Duck 

Valley Reservation

Overview: 

The Duck Valley Reservation, on the border of southern Idaho 

and northern Nevada, is home to Western Shoshone Indians, who 

are descendants of the Newe people, and also to Northern Paiutes, 

who descended from Numa people. Separate bands of the Shoshone and Paiute tribes were placed together on what is now the 

Duck Valley Reservation.

The reservation was established by executive order on April 6, 

1877. Shoshone Indians were the fi rst inhabitants; the fi rst Paiutes 

were about 60 people who were ordered onto the reservation in 

1885. The entire reservation is held in trust status by the United 

States for the tribe and never was allotted to tribal members.

The 1877 executive order, and subsequent executive orders, 

created a permanent ranching and farming homeland for the tribe 

while still allowing off-reservation activities including established fi shing patterns from Mary’s Creek to the Bruneau, Snake, and Malad 

rivers. Partly because of its geographic isolation, the tribes were the 

fi rst in the state of Nevada to push for more independence from the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs. Following the Indian Self-Determination Act 

of 1973 the tribe took on a number of duties previously performed by 

the federal government such as health, housing, and education.

The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes have specifi c rights to their offreservation resources and an interest in the operation of several 

hydroelectric projects, although ranching and tourism continue to be 

major sources of livelihood for the tribe. Farming and ranching also 

are important economic activities, if limited by the low rainfall and 

scarce water supply in the high desert of the reservation. Wildhorse 

Dam was completed on the East Fork Owyhee River about 30 miles 

south of the reservation in 1937. The dam is owned and operated 

by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. The reservoir, which provides water for the Duck Valley Irrigation Project, was intended to 

provide irrigation for farms on the reservation. Over time, Wildhorse 

Reservoir became a popular destination for fi shing and water recreation. The tribes are fi ghting recreational and development interests for access to water. The confl ict has not been resolved.

The tribes manage fi sheries and camping facilities on the reservation and derive income from the sale of permits. The tribes 

opened a grocery store — the only one within about 100 miles — 

and a gas station at Owyhee in January 2005.

Reservation:

The 289,819-acre reservation is geographically diverse, ranging 

from the Owyhee River Valley in the north to high desert plateaus 

and mountains to the south. It was established by executive orders 

of April 1877, May 1886, and July 1910. The border of Idaho and Nevada splits the reservation about evenly in half, with 144,274 acres in 

Elko County, Nevada, and 145,515 acres in Owyhee County, Idaho. 

The reservation is in one of the most remote and sparsely populated 

areas of the lower 48 states. The tribal headquarters are at Owyhee, 

Nevada, 96 miles north of Elko, and 143 miles south of Boise.

Headquarters:

Shoshone Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation

P.O. Box 219

Owyhee, Nevada, 89832

Phone: (775) 757-3761 

Fax: (775) 757-2219

Website: none
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 41

Authority: 

Tribal constitution and by-laws approved by the Bureau of Indian 

Affairs in April 1936, amended in May 1966.

Traditional Languages:

Shoshone and Paiute

Enrollment:

1,932

Governance:

Seven-member tribal council

Tribal Enterprises:

• The tribe employs about 200

• Tammen Temeeh Kahni grocery store, Owyhee

• Employee rental housing

• Tribal ranch

• Income from permits for hunting, fi shing, and recreation on 

the reservation

Newspaper:

Sho-Pai News 

(775) 757-2921

for the general public, and it is a source of revenue for the tribes 

through fees for fi shing and camping.

In addition to planting fi sh in the reservoir, the tribes are planting 

native trees and shrubs along the riparian areas of the inlet canals 

and shoreline of the lake to help ensure that water quality is suffi -

cient for trout survival and growth. Fish screens have been installed 

to prevent entrance of non-game and non-native fi sh into the lake, 

and to keep fi sh from migrating out of the lake. The entire lake has 

been fenced to exclude livestock and assure water quality.

In one of the most remote places in the Northwest, near the 

border of Idaho and Nevada in the far southern reaches of the Columbia River Basin, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes are working to 

build and maintain a fi shery for the benefi t of tribal members and for 

non-tribal recreational fi shing. Rainbow trout take the place today 

of salmon that once spawned in tributaries of the Owyhee River, but 

were obliterated by the construction of dams downstream on the 

Owyhee and Snake rivers.

Before the dams, salmon were one of the single most important 

resources to the tribes, who have occupied the Owyhee, Bruneau, 

Snake, Boise, Payette, and Weiser river basins for thousands of 

years. The tribes dried salmon for storage and later subsistence, as 

well as for trade with other tribes and with non-Indian settlers.

The primary focus for fi shery restoration is Lake Billy Shaw, one 

of three man-made lakes on the Duck Valley Reservation of the 

Shoshone-Paiute Tribes. The reservation straddles the Idaho/Nevada border. Lake Billy Shaw is a 430-acre impoundment behind 

Billy Shaw Dam, which was completed on the Owyhee River in Nevada in 1998. Its construction was funded by the Bonneville Power 

Administration through the Northwest Power and Conservation 

Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.

Lake Billy Shaw provides a sustenance fi shery for tribal members as partial mitigation for the loss of anadromous fi sh on the 

reservation. The lake also provides a recreational and sport fi shery 

Clayton Thomas, a member of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, holds a 

27-inch, 8.5-pound rainbow trout from Lake Billy Shaw.

Focus Project Fishery Restoration Has Economic and Biological Benefi ts
42 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

The Spokane Tribe 

of Indians

Overview: 

The Spokane Indians are an Interior Salish group whose traditional land base encompassed some 3 million acres in the Spokane 

River Basin and adjacent areas of northeastern Washington. Historically, the Spokanes were divided into three distinct bands. One band 

lived along the lower Spokane River near its confl uence with the 

Columbia, another band lived in the middle reaches of the river as far 

upriver as the mouth of Hangman Creek (within the present-day city 

limits of Spokane), and the upper band lived from Hangman Creek 

east about as far as Post Falls, Idaho. The word “Spokane” generally is accepted as meaning “Sun People” or “Children of the Sun.”

The Spokane River was a prodigious salmon producer, and the 

Spokanes relied heavily on salmon in their diet. Salmon were the 

main source of protein for the Spokane people and a focal point 

of their cultural and religious heritage. The Spokanes also traded 

salmon to other tribes. Fishing techniques varied. The Lower Spokanes primarily fi shed with nets while the Middle and Upper Spokanes relied on spears and traps.

The Spokane Reservation was established by executive order 

in January 1881. The reservation was acceptable to the Lower Spokanes as most of it was in their historical territory, but it was not acceptable to the Middle or Upper bands. These bands wanted payment for the lands they were giving up. There were other disputes, 

as well. Many of the Spokanes had converted to Christianity; the 

Lower Spokanes predominately were Presbyterians, and the Middle 

and Upper Spokanes mostly were Catholics. Forcing them together 

on the same reservation invited confl icts among the Christian sects 

and those who did not convert. In short, the Middle and Upper Spokanes preferred to remain in their homelands and did not want to 

move in with the lower-river band.

The Middle and Upper Spokanes held out for six years but in 

1887, fearing they would lose all claims to their homelands, the two 

bands agreed to move onto a reservation — the Spokane Reservation, the Coeur d’Alene Reservation or another. Congress did not 

ratify the agreement for fi ve years. Ultimately, most of the Upper 

Spokanes moved onto the Coeur d’Alene Reservation, and most of 

the Middle Spokanes moved to the Spokane Reservation.

The construction of hydroelectric dams took a heavy toll on the 

traditional lifestyle and culture of the Spokane Tribe. Long Lake 

Dam, located on the Spokane River about 30 miles northwest of 

Spokane, was completed in 1915 by the Washington Water Power 

Company. The 213-foot-tall dam created a 24-mile reservoir and 

fl ooded an important and historic fi shery and trading venue for the 

tribe. The dam ended salmon migration to the middle and upper 

reaches of the Spokane River. Grand Coulee Dam, completed on 

the Columbia in 1941 downriver from the mouth of the Spokane, 

also had no facilities for salmon passage.

In 1940, with Lake Roosevelt fi lling behind Grand Coulee, Congress authorized the acquisition of tribal and allotted lands along the 

river to an elevation of 1,310 feet above sea level — the absolute 

highest the reservoir could rise (normal operating full pool is 1,290 

feet). The tribe and the federal government argued over whether 

and how much compensation the tribe deserved for this loss. The 

matter was not settled until 1977, when a federal commission approved a $6.7 million settlement. More recently, bills have been 

introduced in Congress to compensate the tribe for hydropower that 

has been generated at Grand Coulee over time as the result of the 

reservoir extending over tribal land. Bills were introduced in the 

House and Senate again in 2005.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 43

Over time, tribal business enterprises were started and grew 

steadily. Today the tribe operates casinos at Two Rivers Resort on 

Lake Roosevelt, where the tribe also has a marina and a recreational vehicle park, and at Chewelah. The tribe also has commercial 

timber, farming, and grazing operations. The tribal headquarters 

are at Wellpinit.

Reservation:

154,898 acres in northeastern Washington lying east of the 

Columbia River and north of the Spokane River

Headquarters:

Spokane Tribe of Indians

P.O. Box 100

Wellpinit, WA 99040

Phone: (509) 458-6500

Fax: (509) 458-6575

Website: www.spokanetribe.com

Authority:

Executive order of January 1881; tribal constitution of 1951, 

amended in 1972 to create the fi ve-person Spokane Business 

Council

Traditional Language:

A variation of the interior Salish dialect spoken by neighboring 

tribes in eastern Washington and northern Idaho

Enrollment:

2,416

Governance:

Five-member tribal council

Tribal Enterprises:

• Casinos at Two Rivers Resort on Lake Roosevelt and at 

Chewelah, Washington

• Marina at Two Rivers

• RV park at Two Rivers

• Forest products

• Farming and ranching

• Spokane Tribal College, Wellpinit, chartered by the tribal 

council in 1994. The college is accredited through the Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, on the Flathead 

Reservation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai 

Tribes.

Newspaper:

Rawhide Press

(509) 258-9373

rawhide@spokanetribe.com
44 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

The current Spokane Tribal Hatchery annual production goal 

is 500,000 kokanee yearlings, 1.3 million kokanee fi ngerlings, and 

550,000 rainbow trout fi ngerlings. The fi sh production is having 

an impact. Since 1988, the principle sport fi shery in the lake has 

shifted from walleye to rainbow trout and kokanee. At the same 

time, naturally spawning kokanee runs have been established and 

restored in Lake Roosevelt tributaries. Angler use, harvest rates for 

kokanee and rainbow trout, and the economic value of the fi shery all 

have increased substantially.

The project is funded by the Bonneville Power Administration through the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s 

Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.

In Lake Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam, the Spokane 

Tribe is working to restore and enhance the fi shery that was destroyed by construction of the dam, completed in 1941. 

Rather than salmon and steelhead, eliminated after 1939 as the 

dam rose, the fi shery today focuses on hatchery-reared rainbow 

trout and kokanee, which are land-locked sockeye salmon.

Historically, the Columbia, Spokane, and San Poil rivers, which 

drain into the Columbia in the area that now is Lake Roosevelt, 

produced large numbers of salmon, steelhead, kokanee, and trout. 

Through construction and operation of a hatchery and related facilities, the Spokane Tribe is providing a sport fi shery as partial mitigation for the fi sh losses caused by the dam.

The Spokane Tribal Hatchery was completed in 1991 at 

Metamooteles Springs, formerly known as Galbraith Springs, on 

the Spokane Indian Reservation. The hatchery is operated by the 

tribe. Another hatchery, farther north at Sherman Creek, was completed in 1992 and is operated by the Washington Department of 

Fish and Wildlife.

The two hatcheries operate in a complementary fashion. Kokanee and rainbow trout eggs are incubated at the Spokane Tribal 

Hatchery, and the resulting fry are reared there before being released into Lake Roosevelt or transferred to the Lake Roosevelt 

Rainbow Trout and Kokanee Net Pen Rearing facility or to the 

Sherman Creek Hatchery. Separately, the Lake Roosevelt Fisheries Evaluation Program assesses the performance of hatcheryproduced fi sh, the effects of the hatchery releases on other aquatic 

organisms in the lake, and implications for management of the 

hatcheries and net pens.

Kokanee and Trout Substitute for Salmon and Steelhead Lost to Grand 

Coulee Dam

Fish culturist Jayne Abrahamson works with fi sh eggs at the 

Spokane Tribal Hatchery.

Focus Project
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 45

Canadian First Nations
46 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

Canadian Columbia River Tribes 

(First Nations)

Overview

Hydroelectric development in the Columbia River Basin signifi -

cantly altered water fl ows and affected fi sh and wildlife, and related 

spawning grounds and habitat, in territories that had been occupied 

by Indian tribes for thousands of years before the dams were built. 

This is as true in the Canadian portion of the Columbia River Basin 

as it is in the American portion.

While Indian tribes in the American portion of the basin have 

been recognized by the federal government through treaties and executive orders dating to the mid and late 1800s, relations between 

government and the First Nations in Canada and British Columbia 

have been markedly different. Certain tribes in eastern Canada 

were granted reservations by Great Britain under terms of a 1763 

royal proclamation, but when the Dominion of Canada was formed 

in 1867 any unceded Indian lands were claimed by the new-formed 

government as public land. In 1871, when British Columbia joined 

the Dominion, the new provincial Legislature interpreted the word 

“public” to mean provincial, not federal, and claimed possession of 

all land within the province that was not in private ownership. The 

Legislature also announced it would not recognize Indian title to land 

or negotiate treaties with First Nations in British Columbia. In 1876, 

the federal Indian Act prohibited Indians throughout Canada from 

voting or receiving government pensions, and in 1884 British Columbia outlawed Indian potlatches (the law was not repealed until 1951). 

Indians were not granted full Canadian citizenship until 1960.

Since then, provincial governments have signed treaties with 

First Nations in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. 

British Columbia began a treaty-making process in 1993 with 51 

First Nations. The treaty-making process is moving slowly, and the 

province is focusing attention fi rst on coastal tribes.

The loss of anadromous fi sheries is probably the greatest impact of hydroelectric development on First Nations in the Canadian 

portion of the basin. Fishing was — and is — an essential part of 

the lives of aboriginal people living there. At the time of fi rst contact 

with Europeans, in the early 1800s, anadromous fi sh were abundant in the Canadian Columbia River. It is estimated that as many 

as 600,000 fi sh, including steelhead and four species of salmon, 

migrated annually to spawn in the Canadian Columbia and its tributaries. There is evidence that the aboriginal people also harvested 

at least four species of resident fi sh. As with tribes downriver, the 

fi sheries resource was a critical social and economic component of 

the lives of these people.

Three distinct First Nations are organized in the Canadian portion of the basin today, and a fourth group, which has no offi cial offi ce or offi cers, is spread among the other three. The international 

border is a political boundary, and many Canadian First Nation 

people have relatives in the United States and vice versa. These 

include, for example, people of Canadian Okanagan descent who 

live today on the Colville Reservation, and members of the Ktunaxa/Kinbasket tribe who live on the Salish and Kootenai Reservation in Montana.

Shuswap Nation Tribal Council

Tribal Address:

Shuswap Nation Tribal Council

355 Yellowhead Highway, Room 304

Kamloops, BC V2H 1H1

Phone: (250) 828-9789

Fax: (250) 374-6331

Website: www.shuswapnation.org

The Shuswap, or Secwepemc, historically inhabited the area 

around the headwaters of the Columbia River and northwest to 

the Fraser River and its upper tributaries. The Shuswap Nation 

includes 17 separate bands, each with its own chief and council. 
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 47

Only one of the 17 bands is located within the Columbia River Basin 

— the Shuswap Indian Band. The Shuswap Band has its offi ce in 

Invermere, a city at the northern end of Lake Windermere in the 

headwaters area of the Columbia (Phone: 250-342-6361). The 

Shuswap Nation has its offi ce in Kamloops, which is on the Thompson River, a Fraser tributary.

Ktunaxa Nation Council

Tribal Address:

No. 7468 Mission Road

Cranbrook, B.C. V1C 7E5

Phone: (250) 489-2464

Fax: (250) 489-5760

Website: www.ktunaxa.org

The Ktunaxa (pronounced, too-NAKH-ha) people historically 

inhabited the upper and middle Kootenay River and areas to the 

south into present-day Montana and Idaho, and also the Upper Columbia River area. There were at least seven separate bands inhabiting distinct geographic areas who now are affi liated under the 

tribal council. The offi ce is in Cranbrook.

Okanagan Nation Alliance

Tribal Address: Okanagan Nation Alliance

3255C Shannon Lake Road

Westbank, B.C. V4T 1V4

Phone: (250) 707-0095

Fax: (250) 707-0166

Website: www.syilx.org

The Okanagan Nation Alliance includes affi liated bands and 

tribes (collectively, the “Syilx” people in the traditional language) 

that historically lived along the Okanagan River and its tributaries 

in British Columbia, and also the Kettle watershed and portions of 

the Kootenay and Columbia watersheds. The seven member bands 

of the Okanagan Nation Alliance are the Lower Similkameen Indian 

Band, Okanagan Indian Band, Osoyoos Indian Band, Penticton Indian Band, Upper Nicola Indian Band, Upper Similkameen Indian 

Band, and Westbank First Nation. The Okanagan River fl ows from a 

chain of headwater lakes in the province south into the United States 

(where the spelling changes to Okanagon) to its confl uence with 

the Columbia about 10 miles downstream from Chief Joseph Dam. 

Roughly two-thirds of the Okanagan Basin is in Brithsh Columbia. 

The tribal offi ce is in Westbank, B.C., near Kelowna.

Sinixt

The Sinixt (pronounced Sin-AY-xt) inhabited the area around the 

upper and lower Arrow lakes on the Columbia, north of present-day 

Castlegar and south of Revelstoke. The Sinixt, also known as the 

Lakes People, were more nomadic than other tribes in the upper 

Columbia River Basin. Over time, the Sinixt became assimilated 

into other tribes, notably the Colville, Okanagan, and Ktunaxa. Today, some Canadians who claim Sinixt heritage are working to gain 

offi cial recognition of the tribe, and they have been present in the 

province’s ongoing effort to negotiate treaties with First Nations.

While there is no Sinixt offi ce, reserve or offi cial leader, some 

people who claim Sinixt heritage maintain an address and website 

for inquires.

Contact: Sinixt Nation

RRI G C-2

Winlaw, B.C., Canada, V0G 2J0

Website: www.sinixt.kics.bc.ca

Canadian Columbia River Intertribal 

Fisheries Commission

Contact: Bill Green, executive director

Tribal Address: Canadian Columbia River Intertribal 

Fisheries Commission

No. 7468 Mission Road

Cranbrook, B.C. V1C 7E5

Phone: (250) 417-3474

Fax: (250) 417-3475

E-mail: ccrifc@cyberlink.bc.ca

Organized much like its United States counterpart, the Canadian CRITFC has a slightly different name (fi sheries, rather than 

fi sh), but its mission is similar. The Canadian CRITFC helps to organize its members for the purpose of fi sheries research and involvement in political issues related to fi sheries and First Nations 

at the provincial and federal levels. The commission includes the 

Ktunaxa/Kinbasket, Shuswap, and Okanagan First Nations. The 

Canadian CRITFC shares offi ce space with the Ktunaxa/Kinbasket 

Tribal Council in Cranbrook.
48 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

Canadian and U.S. Tribes Take Steps Toward an International 

Sockeye Salmon Restoration

Before there was a border between Washington and British Columbia, sockeye salmon grew up in the chain of lakes that form the 

headwaters of the Okanagan River. Over time, a border was established, the river acquired a name with two spellings — Okanagan in 

British Columbia and Okanogan in Washington — and the salmon 

runs steadily declined, largely from the impact of the chain of hydroelectric dams in the United States between the headwaters and the 

Pacifi c Ocean. At one time, lakes in the Okanagan Basin accounted 

for more than 41 percent of the lake-rearing habitat accessible to 

sockeye salmon in the Columbia River Basin.

Today, biologists from both countries are working on an experimental project to reintroduce sockeye into Skaha Lake, one of 

the natural impoundments formed by the Okanagan River in the 

headwaters region of south-central British Columbia. Skaha Lake 

is immediately south of the city of Penticton and north of Osoyoos 

Lake, which is split by the international border. Sockeye salmon 

once spawned in the upper reaches of the river, but McIntyre Dam, 

an irrigation diversion completed in 1954, now blocks fi sh from entering. The dam is the end of the road for anadromous fi sh in the 

Okanagan Basin. If the current work determines that the sockeye 

reintroduction likely would be successful, fi sh passage would be 

built at the dam. 

Currently, the only sockeye population is found in Osoyoos 

Lake, the lake that is split by the international border, and suitable 

rearing conditions only exist in the northern one-third of the lake. 

The abundance of that population has declined signifi cantly over 

the last 50 years.

Research now is under way through the Northwest Power and 

Conservation Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife 

Program into the feasibility of reintroducing sockeye into Okanagan Lake, which has a large potential rearing capacity for sockeye. 

However, it is diffi cult to assess the risks and benefi ts of reintroducing the species into Okanagan Lake, as there is the potential for 

interactions there between sockeye and other fi sh populations.

Fish and wildlife agencies and Indian tribes from both sides 

of the border decided on an alternative: reintroduce sockeye into 

Skaha Lake as an experiment. Knowledge gained from the Skaha 

Okanagan Nation Fisheries Alliance biologist Howie Wright and fi sheries technician Trina Paul collect mature sockeye in the Okanagan River 

in British Columbia to use as broodstock in the production program.

Focus Project

experiment would be useful in determining whether it would be feasible to reintroduce sockeye into Okanagan Lake in the future.

On the American side of the border, the Skaha Lake project is 

being managed by the Colville Confederated Tribes. In Canada, 

the project is being managed by the Okanagan Nation Alliance. 

The Okanagan Nation Alliance, in coordination with Fisheries and 

Oceans Canada, and the British Columbia Ministry of Water, Land 

and Air Protection, has nearly completed the three-year risk assessment project. The project has four objectives: 

1) assessing the risk of fi sh diseases that may be tramsmitted 

by sockeye; 

2) assessing the risk that non-native species such as walleye 

might populate the lake if fi sh passage is provided for 

salmon; 

3) conducting an inventory of existing habitat and opportunities for habitat enhancement; and 

4) developing a sockeye lifecycle model for an increased 

understanding of sockeye, kokanee, and mysis shrimp 

interactions. 
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 49

Results to date indicate that risks are lower than anticipated. 

Spawning habitat upstream of McIntyre Dam could support 9,000 

pairs of adult sockeye, and access to Skaha Lake would result in a 

three-fold increase in rearing habitat. 

The next step is to provide fi sh passage at McIntyre Dam and 

install a fi sh diversion screen on the irrigation canal intake. A proposal to begin that work was submitted by the tribes for funding in 

2003, but it was rejected, for now, because of Bonneville’s decision 

to reduce its fi sh and wildlife funding this year in response to its 

fi nancial crisis.

Meanwhile, the tribes are going ahead with an evaluation of strategies to reintroduce sockeye into Skaha Lake. These include strategies to provide access so that fi sh could recolonize historic habitat.

Canadian and U.S. Tribes Take Steps Toward an International 

Sockeye Salmon Restoration Focus Project
50 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 51

Tribal Associations
52 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

Overview:

Organized much like its United States counterpart, the Canadian 

CRITFC has a slightly different name (fi sheries, rather than fi sh), but 

its mission is similar. The Canadian CRITFC helps to organize its 

members for the purpose of fi sheries research and involvement in 

political issues related to fi sheries and First Nations at the provincial 

and federal levels. The commission includes the Ktunaxa/Kinbasket, and Shuswap First Nations. The Canadian CRITFC shares offi ce space with the Ktunaxa/Kinbasket Tribal Council in Cranbrook.

Canadian Columbia 

River Intertribal 

Fisheries Commission

Headquarters:

Contact: Bill Green, executive director

Tribal Address: 

Canadian Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission

No. 7468 Mission Road

Cranbrook, B.C. V1C 7E5

Phone: (250) 417-3474

Fax: (250) 417-3475

E-mail: ccrifc@cyberlink.bc.ca
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 53

Columbia River 

Inter-Tribal Fish 

Commission

Overview:

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) is 

the technical support and coordinating agency for fi shery management policies of the four Columbia River treaty tribes. These tribes 

include: The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation 

of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 

and the Nez Perce Tribe. Membership is composed of the fi sh and 

wildlife committees of these tribes. 

CRITFC, formed in 1977, employs biologists, other scientists, 

public information specialists, policy analysts, and administrators 

who work in fi sheries research and analyses, advocacy, planning 

and coordination, harvest control, and law enforcement. CRITFC 

is based in Portland, while its fi sheries enforcement program is located in Hood River, Oregon. 

Headquarters:

Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

729 NE Oregon St., Suite. 200

Portland, Oregon 97232

Phone: (503) 238-0667

Fax: (503) 235-4228

Website: www.critfc.org
54 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

the Yakima River. During 2000, the Yakama Nation collected 512 wild 

kelts (38 percent of the subbasin’s run that year) for reconditioning at 

Prosser Hatchery. Kelt rematuration rates in captivity have been 21 

percent in 2001, 50 percent in 2002, and 85 percent in 2003.

In addition, the research is giving fi sh managers a greater understanding of kelt husbandry, food type preference, condition, 

and rearing environments. Since the project’s beginning, 20 to 30 

percent of the total annual steelhead migration has been successfully reconditioned, and radio telemetry studies have demonstrated 

successful spawning migrations and redd construction. In terms of 

numbers, an additional 100 to 200 reconditioned steelhead females 

could spawn a second time (a projected 300,000 to 600,000 additional eggs at an estimated 3,000 eggs per female) each year in 

the Yakima River. 

It’s still too early to know what the total contribution of reconditioning will be in rebuilding populations of steelhead in the basin. 

But these early results are encouraging and provide important clues 

about a life history strategy that may be one key to increasing the 

number of listed steelhead in the Columbia River Basin.

Steelhead trout, considered part of the salmon family and currently a listed population under the Endangered Species Act, are 

unique from other anadromous fi sh in this respect: They have the 

ability to spawn more than once. Fish managers for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission hope that this characteristic, 

called iteroparity, can be encouraged to enhance steelhead populations and restore an important life history pattern in the Columbia 

River Basin. The Kelt Reconditioning Project, sponsored by CRITFC, is providing valuable research to support this premise. 

The project began in 1999 when CRITFC, in collaboration with 

the Yakima/Klickitat Fisheries Project, captured wild emigrating kelt 

steelhead from the Yakima River to test the possibility that “reconditioning” post-spawn fi sh would improve their ability to spawn again. 

Post-spawn steelhead, or kelts, are kept in a captive environment 

and nurtured to encourage their feeding, growth, and redevelopment of reproductive organs. The techniques were initially developed for Atlantic salmon and sea trout.

Although historical rates of iteroparity for Columbia River steelhead are not well documented, from 1956 to 1964 outmigrating 

steelhead averaged 50 percent of the total upstream runs in the 

Clackamas River. Current rates for Columbia River Basin steelhead 

are considerably lower due largely to the high mortality of downstream migrating kelts at dams. Fish passage facilities have never 

been designed for downstream moving adult steelhead, however 

large numbers of steelhead are seen every year in the juvenile bypass systems on the mainstem dams. This project is seizing the 

opportunity to rejuvenate wild fi sh that would have died so they can 

contribute again to the spawning run.

The project has investigated a variety of reconditioning and 

transportation strategies to evaluate a suite of potential steelhead 

management alternatives. Recently, a collaborative study to measure the reproductive success of reconditioned kelt steelhead has 

been initiated by CRITFC and cooperating tribes. Using parentage 

analysis based on DNA-typing, the studies will determine if artifi cial 

reconditioning affects reproductive success. 

Initial research established that kelt reconditioning not only 

worked, it substantially bolstered the number of repeat spawners in 

Steelhead Kelt Reconditioning Project

CRITFC researchers use ultrasound to check for gonad development 

in a wild steelhead at Prosser, Washington, on the Yakima River as 

part of a study of the effectiveness of reconditioning steelhead kelts 

— fi sh that return from the ocean more than once to spawn.

Focus Project
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 55

Upper Columbia 

United Tribes

Overview:

The Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT) organization was 

formed in the late-1980s by the Coeur d’Alene, Kalispel, Kootenai, 

and Spokane tribes. The Colville Tribes joined in the mid-1990s. 

The UCUT’s mission is to unite the tribes for the protection, preservation, and enhancement of treaty/executive order rights, sovereignty, culture, fi sh, water, wildlife, habitat, and other interests and 

issues of common concern through a structured process of cooperation and coordination for the benefi t of all people.

The organization facilitates intertribal efforts to restore fi sh and 

wildlife, address declining funding for tribal programs, promote 

recognition of tribal sovereignty, and speak with a more effective 

voice for the interests of the tribes whose homelands include the 

upper Columbia River Basin. In addition to natural resource issues, UCUT supports member tribes’ efforts in education and economic development. 

Headquarters:

Upper Columbia United Tribes

910 North Washington Avenue, Suite 107

Spokane, Washington 99201

Phone: (509) 838-1057

Fax: (509) 838-1292

Website: www.ucut.org
56 The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory

Upper Snake

River Tribes

Overview:

The Upper Snake River Tribes is a compact formed in 2006 

by the Shoshone Paiute Tribes, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, 

both of Idaho, and the Burns Paiute Tribe of Oregon. According 

to its charter, the Upper Snake River Tribes will “protect and nurture all Compacting Tribes’ rights, languages, cultures, and traditions in addressing issues related to the Upper Snake River Basin, and protect Treaty rights.” Although each Upper Snake River 

Tribe still maintains and protects its individual rights as a sovereign 

tribal government, the Compact is envisioned to create a coalition similar to that of the Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) and the Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT).

Headquarters:

The Upper Snake River Tribes organization

can be contacted through:

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes

29 Shoshone Drive

P.O. Box 306

Fort Hall, ID 83203

Phone: 208-239-4553

Fax: 208-478-3986
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Tribal Directory 57
851 S.W. Sixth Avenue

Suite 1100

Portland, Oregon 97204

Telephone: 503-222-5161

Toll free: 800-452-5161

Web site: www.nwcouncil.org 

Council Document: 2007-06

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council was created 

through the 1980 Northwest Power Act to give the citizens of 

Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington a stronger voice in 

managing their shared resources — The electricity generated 

at, and fi sh and wildlife affected by, the Columbia River Basin 

hydropower dams. 

The Council is a unique organization that helps the Pacifi c 

Northwest make critical decisions that balance the multiple 

uses of the Columbia River and its tributaries.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council

Idaho

W. Bill Booth

Jim Kempton

Montana

Bruce Measure

Rhonda Whiting

Oregon

Joan M. Dukes, Council vice chair

Melinda S. Eden

Washington

Tom Karier, Council chair

Frank L. Cassidy Jr. “Larry”

 Council Members