Yawwinma Nez Perce Rapid River Traditional Cultural Property

From Dan Rey-Bear:

This historic and ongoing tribal fishing ground near Riggins, Idaho was just listed on the National Register of Historic Places, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-06-07/pdf/2017-11737.pdf. For background, see the draft nomination form.

From page 42 of the draft nomination:

“For some Nez Perce, Rapid River is the only place they get to fish.” Of course, tribal members continue to fish the Clearwater, the Columbia, the Lochsa, the Selway, the Imnaha, the Grand Ronde, the Snake, and their tributaries, but the proximity of Yáwwinma, the relatively small size of the river, and the comparatively large number of returning of hatchery fish each year make Rapid River arguably the most important salmon stream for noncommercial Nez Perce fishermen and their families who depend on it as a ceremonial and subsistence fishery. The river and the grounds of Rapid River House [one of the two lots included in the listing] now literally belong to the Nez Perce Tribe, but traditional Nez Perce people would say just the opposite: we belong to Yáwwinma.

Also, the other listed lot owned by the Tribe is called “Barter Town”. Per pages 43-44, “According to Nez Perce fishermen, this contemporary place name also makes a direct allusion to the place of the same name in the 1985 postapocalyptic film Mad Max Beyond the Thunder Dome starring Mel Gibson and Tina Turner. In addition to being a descriptive name, Barter Town is also a prime example of Nez Perce humor and the dynamic vitality of the Nez Perce oral tradition.”