Editing Nez Perce (section)

== Current tribal lands ==
[[File:2445R Nez Perce Reservation Locator Map.svg|thumb|180px|Location of Nez Perce Reservation]]
[[Image:Nezperceindians1895ish.jpg|thumb|Nez Perce Indians with Appaloosa horse, around 1895]]

The current tribal lands consist of a [[Indian reservation|reservation]] in [[North Central Idaho]] at {{Coord|46|18|N|116|24|W|scale:1000000|display=inline}}, primarily in the [[Camas Prairie#Idaho|Camas Prairie]] region south of the [[Clearwater River (Idaho)|Clearwater River]], in parts of four counties.<ref name=nptpdfmp>{{cite news |url=http://www.nezpercegis.org/PDF/IdahoReservation.pdf |publisher=Nez Perce Tribe |agency=Geographic Information Systems |title=The Nez Perce Reservation with a Map Insert of Idaho |access-date=April 5, 2016}}</ref> In descending order of surface area, the counties are [[Nez Perce County, Idaho|Nez Perce]], [[Lewis County, Idaho|Lewis]], [[Idaho County, Idaho|Idaho]], and [[Clearwater County, Idaho|Clearwater]]. The total land area is about {{convert|1195|sqmi|km2|-1}}, and the reservation's population at the [[United States Census, 2000|2000 census]] was 17,959.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nez Perce Reservation Census of Population |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |year=2000 |url=https://www.census.gov }}</ref>

Due to tribal loss of lands, the population on the reservation is predominantly white, nearly 90% in 1988.<ref name="nptbwoecn">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d5QrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=69AFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6141%2C3675584 |newspaper=Idahonian |location=Moscow |agency=Associated Press |last=Popkey |first=Dan |title=Nez Perce Tribe battling whites over economics |date=October 29, 1988 |page=10A }}</ref> The largest community is the city of [[Orofino, Idaho|Orofino]], near its northeast corner. [[Lapwai, Idaho|Lapwai]] is the seat of tribal government, and it has the highest percentage of Nez Perce people as residents, at about 81.4&nbsp;percent.

Similar to the opening of Native American lands in [[Oklahoma]] by allowing acquisition of surplus by non-natives after households received plots, the U.S. government opened the Nez Percé reservation for general settlement on November&nbsp;18, 1895. The proclamation had been signed less than two weeks earlier by President [[Grover Cleveland]].<ref name="np61">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lYNfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uzAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3160,3901168|newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune|location=Idaho|last=Hamilton|first=Ladd|title=Heads were popping up all over the place|date=June 25, 1961|page=14}}</ref> Thousands rushed to grab land on the reservation, staking out their claims even on land owned by Nez Perce families.<ref name="unrul77">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qJxfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nzEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4374,7048300|newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune|location=Idaho|last=Brammer|first=Rhonda|title=Unruly mobs dashed to grab land when reservation opened|date=July 24, 1977|page=6E}}</ref><ref name="npop31">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OZ5fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uzEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1072,1295368|newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune|location=Idaho|title=3,000 took part in "sneak" when Nez Perce Reservation was opened|date=November 19, 1931|page=3}}</ref><ref name="21np">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cgpWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=veEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4420,8604920|newspaper=Spokesman-Review|title=Nez Perce Reservation|date=December 11, 1921|page=5}}</ref>

The Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wallowanezperce.org/ |title=Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland |website=Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland |access-date=May 10, 2021}}</ref> at [[Wallowa, Oregon|Wallowa]] in northeast Oregon is in the historic territory of the large Wallowa Band. The Homeland has owned {{convert|320| acres}} and a visitor center since 2000, to "enrich relationships among the descendants of indigenous people and the contemporary inhabitants of the Wallowa Valley ... [and to] preserve and celebrate the customs and culture of the indigenous inhabitants." A Methodist church was established in Wallowa in 1877, and in 2021 the United Methodist Church returned a small parcel of land and the church building to the Nez Perce Tribe.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Caldwell |first1=Kristen |title=Oregon-Idaho Conference Returns Church to the Nez Perce |url=https://um-insight.net/in-the-world/advocating-justice/oregon-idaho-conference-returns-church-to-the-nez-perce/ |website=United Methodist Insight |date=May 6, 2021 |access-date=May 10, 2021}}</ref>