A synthesis of ethnohistorical materials concerning the administration of Federal Indian policy among the Yakima, Umatilla, and Nez Perce Indian people: Working draft

For the purposes of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the Nez Perce Tribe have been accorded the status of ''Affected Indian Tribe'' and have become party to the proceedings to determine a suitable location for the nation's first commercial waste repository. Each of the Tribes has expressed concerns about the suitability of the Hanford Site in eastern Washington. These concerns, in general, address the proposed repository's effects on traditional spiritual beliefs and cultural practices, on tribal sovereignty and the Tribes' right to self-government, on the natural resources under tribal management jurisdiction, and on the health and socioeconomic characteristics of the Tribes' reservation communities. The Yakima, Umatilla, and Nez Perce have distinctive cultural traditions that may be adversely affected by activities related to the Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP). Further, the Tribes enjoy a unique relationship with the federal government. Because of their distinctive cultures and governmental status, particular attention will be paid to expressed interests of the Tribes, and to ways in which these interests may be affected by the repository program. Monitoring is needed to describe current conditions among the Affected Tribes' populations, to describe BWIP site characterization activities affecting the Tribes, and to measure any changes in these conditions that may occur as a direct result of site characterization. This paper reports our first efforts at gathering historical information. It summarizes materials contained in two sources: the reports of field agents to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1854-1936), and the dockets of the Indian Claims Commission. 24 refs., 3 figs