The nimíipuu’s right to fish the rivers of their traditional territory, guaranteed by treaty, was repeatedly challenged by state governments and by competing users of the salmon resource.

These battles, which are still ongoing in various forms, are one of the most important contexts for understanding why the 1877 treaty disputes are not simply historical.

The nimíipuu fish.

They have always fished.

The salmon of the Clearwater and the Snake and the Columbia are not merely food in the economic sense; they are part of the cultural fabric that makes the nimíipuu who they are.

The right to fish those rivers is guaranteed by treaties that the United States government negotiated, and the defense of those rights has been a central project of the Nez Perce Tribe for generations.