Homeland

The Nez Perce Prairie - Photo Source: www.nps.gov

Currently, the Nez Perce live in their reservation located in north central Idaho and the southern part of the Idaho panhandle. The Nez Perce Reservation stretches between four counties: Nez Perce County, Lewis County, Clearwater County and Idaho County. Mainly, their reservation extends throughout the Camas Prairie, with the Clearwater River running through the north of their land.

The Nez Perce live in the geographic region known as the Columbia Plateau. The Columbia Plateau extends through three states: Washington, Oregon and Idaho. To be more specific: southern Washington, northern Oregon and western Idaho. The Columbia Plateau is considered a mix of shrub steppe, cold desert, coniferous forest and prairie biomes. In Idaho, the coniferous forests are more abundant the closer you get to the Canadian border. The further south in Idaho you get, the more desert-like the area becomes.

Between the two, the Nez Perce inhabited area of the Columbia Plateau is predominately prairie-land or grassland, which is considered a shrub-steppe biome. This biome is dry and gets very small rainfall. It is similar to a desert, but a shrub-steppe biome receives enough rainfall and moisture to be covered by a layer of perennial grasses and shrubbery. Some trees found in this area include Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine. Along with the bluebunch wheatgrass, which is native, this area boasts a growing area of cropland. Some crops that are predominately grown here are wheat, barley, pees and hay.

Nez Perce County is about 856 square miles and a little more than 7 square miles of that is water. The Snake River runs to the west of the county and the Clearwater River runs through the north of it. The Nez Perce heavily utilizes the Clearwater River for both sustenance and economical purposes. The Nez Perce land, as stated before, receives little rainfall, which hydrates the grassland or prairie-land, consisting of perennial grasses and shrubbery. Their land is known as the Nez Perce Prairie and has an elevation that varies from 2,000 to 4,100 feet with some buttes reaching up to 5,700 feet.