Working in Partnership with Others
The Purpose of the Park
Interpretive Challenges and Opportunities
Resource Protection Challenges aned Opportunities
for
Nez Perce National Historical Park
and
Big Hole National Battlefield
| THE PURPOSE OF THE PARK |
Th park purpose is why the unit was set aside as part of the national park system. It provides the most fundamental criterion against which the appropriateness of all plan recommendations, operational decisions, and actions can be tested.
The park purpose is why the unit was set aside as part of the national park system. It provides the most fundamental criterion against which the appropriateness of all plan recommendations, operational decisions, and actions can be tested. These reasons are stated in the park's establishing legislation (see Appendix A). In addition to restating the laws, the purpose statement also documents the shared assumptions about the intent of the law.
Nez Perce National Historical Park was established as a unit of the national park system on May 15, 1965, by Public Law 89-19. The law specifies the park was created to "facilitate protection and provide interpretation of sites in the Nez Perce Country of Idaho that have exceptional value in commemorating the history of the Nation." Specifically mentioned are sites relating to early Nez Perce culture, the Lewis and Clark expedition through the area, the fur trade, missionaries, gold mining, logging, the Nez Perce War of 1877, and "such other sites as will depict the role of the Nez Perce country in the westward expansion of the Nation." Sites include historic buildings, battlefields, missions, landscapes, cemeteries, trails, archeological sites, and geologic formations important to the Nez Perce people. A total of 24 sites were established in 1965.
Public Law 102-576 of October 30, 1992, allowed sites to be designated in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Wyoming. It specified that 14 additional sites in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Montana should be included in the park.
On the basis of provisions in the enabling legislation, the purpose of Nez Perce National Historical Park is to:
- Facilitate protection and offer interpretation of Nez Perce sites
in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Wyoming that have exceptional
value in commemorating the history of the United States.
- Preserve and protect tangible resources that document the history of
the Nez Perce peoples and the significant role of the Nez Perce in North
American history.
- Interpret the culture and history of the Nez Perce peoples and promote documentation to enhance that interpretation.
The legislation provides for certain ways to support the purpose of the park, as follows:
The National Park Service will consult with the Nez Perce people concerning the interpretation of the park and its history.
Achieving the protection and interpretation of Nez Perce National Historical Park sites can be furthered through a broad range of partnerships and cooperative arrangements with states, federal agencies, tribes, and local and private entities.
