Working in Partnership with Others
Interpretive Challenges and Opportunities
Resource Protection Challenges aned Opportunities
Existing Facilities for Visitor Use and Park Operations
for
Nez Perce National Historical Park
and
Big Hole National Battlefield
| INTERPRETIVE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES |
The following existing conditions and challenges relating to interpretation at Nez Perce National Historical Park were identified at both public meetings and with the planning staff. They are not in any priority order.
- Telling the complex story of the Nez Perce people
would be difficult under any circumstances, but Nez Perce National
Historical Park presents a special challenge for both visitors and park
interpreters. Because the park's 38 sites are dispersed over four states
with more than 1,000 highway miles between the two most distant sites,
few visitors will ever visit all 38 sites. Most visitors discover Nez
Perce sites as they travel to and from other destinations.
- It is hard for most visitors to put the many
pieces together to understand the history and culture of the Nez Perce
people. At this time the sites in the Clearwater loop offer the best
opportunity to gain this understanding. The newly added sites in
Washington and Oregon are being developed interpretively as a result of
this plan. The Montana sites are remote from the Nez Perce homeland and
the cultural roots of the Nez Perce people, but they provide
opportunities to tell much of the story of the Nez Perce War of
1877.
- It is very important that all information be
presented accurately, within it's historical context, and with
sensitivity to the Nez Perce people.
- The continuum of Nez Perce cultural history
should be told, not just the events of the 1877 war. Visitors should be
given insight into the culture - how it functioned in the past and how
it functions today.
- The story of the 1877 war should include the
events leading up to the war, the immediate aftermath, the exile story,
and the continuing im pacts of these events on the Nez Perce people.
- The Nez Perce people feel particular ownership of
the materials and information related to their culture, and they want to
be sure these elements are treated sensitively and correctly. There is a
strong desire to preserve the Nez Perce culture for inheritance by the
Nez Perce children. This was shown in wishes to preserve the language,
to collect oral histories, to collect legends and place names related to
geological features and other locations, and to demonstrate traditional
activities such as digging and preparing camas.
- There is interest in the "real thing," the
"actual site," and the desire to know accurately where events took
place.
- Because of the possibility of vandalism at
unprotected sites, sometimes it may be better not to mark actual sites
but to place interpretive media at a distance.
- The sacred character of certain sites was stressed, particularly where there are burials, and there is a need for interpretation of the different viewpoints of the Nez Perce people and that of other cultures regarding the treatment and use of these sites.
| RESOURCE PROTECTION CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES |
The following existing conditions and challenges relating to resource protection were identified at public meetings and with the planning team.
- Collections and archives should be retained
locally rather than taken away to museums or universities.
- There is a desire to get rid of exotic species
and noxious weeds, returning the land to native or historic
vegetation.
- There is an interest in having studies done of
edible and medicinal plants, learning how the Nez Perce used plants, and
knowing which plants are "culturally sensitive."
- There is an interest in the preservation and
interpretation of wildlife habitat and in developing watchable wildlife
programs.
- There is encouragement to preserve the aesthetic
qualities and the historic scene and character, to avoid encroachment,
and to keep sites "natural" and open. The possible commercialization of
surrounding areas is a concern.
- Federally listed threatened or endangered species
that could occur in the park are gray wolf, peregrine falcon, bald
eagle, Snake River sockeye salmon, chinook salmon, and MacFarlane's four
o'clock. Additional species that are state-listed threatened or
endangered species or federal candidate species that could occur in the
park are California wolverine, swift fox, great gray owl, boreal owl,
mountain plover, westslope cutthroat trout, bull trout, fluvial arctic
grayling, pygmy gentian, white-margined knotweed, Lemhi beardtongue,
stalk-leaved monkeyflower, and candystick.
- Because most of the sites are in disturbed areas,
no impacts on any special concern species will be expected to occur. In
less disturbed areas, surveys will be conducted for special concern
species, and any mitigation required to avoid impacts on those species
will be implemented.
- The spread of exotic and noxious plants is a
major natural resource issue at all park sites. Species such as yellow
starthistle, scotch thistle, field bindweed, poison hemlock, and others
are rapidly outcompeting existing vegetation.
- High water quality and quantity are major
resources of many park sites. The Clearwater and Snake Rivers and their
tributaries (which are adjacent to several park sites) are critical
habitat for several species of anadromous fish.
- If wetlands are found in the area of planned
development, steps will be taken to avoid disturbance or to mitigate any
impacts through wetland restoration or rehabilitation.
- The park is designated as a Class II site for air
quality. Most of the park sites are in rural areas with few sources of
air quality degradation. However, lumber and paper mill activity near
the Spalding and Heart of the Monster sites have negatively affected the
quality of air and visual resources nearby.
- Most of the park sites are in rural or wild settings that offer an opportunity for visitors to experience natural quiet. Others are situated along busy highways where the quiet is disrupted by heavy traffic.
| EXISTING FACILITIES VISITOR USE AND PARK OPERATIONS |
STRUCTURES
Each year nearly 200,000 visitors come to the two NPS-staffed visitor centers in Nez Perce National Historical Park: the visitor center/headquarters facility (13,800 square feet) at the Spalding site, and another visitor center/headquarters (4,086 square feet) at Big Hole National Battlefield. There are also five historic structures, and restrooms located at Spalding. Orientation to the entire park is available at both visitor centers through the park brochure and the interpretive staff at the information desks, interpretive shelters at Heart of the Monster and White Bird Battlefield, and several public and historic structures associated with the various cooperative sites.
Two non-NPS staffed visitor facilities (Lolo Pass and Blaine County Museum) offer orientation and interpretation of Nez Perce National Historical Park sites. Five other park sites (Heart of the Monster, White Bird, Bear Paw, Canoe Camp, and Pierce Courthouse) offer non-staffed interpretive opportunities for visitors beyond an interpretive sign or two.
The remainder of the park sites are pullouts along regional highways, generally with one large interpretive sign that reveals the site's or a nearby sites' significance to Nez Perce history. A number of the newly added sites have yet to be developed interpretively.
The headquarters office for the superintendent and some of the support staff is in a modular building in the staff parking lot next to the Spalding visitor center. Some of the support staff and the facility management specialist have offices in the historic agent's residence east of the Spalding visitor center. An office automation clerk is in the visitor center building. Cultural resources personnel -- the museum curator, a museum technician, and library technician -- are in the lower level of the visitor center building.
Spalding Unit staff offices are in the upper level of the Spalding visitor center. A combined comfort station and maintenance storage shed is in the picnic area on the Spalding site. The historic Watson's Store contains storefront exhibits. The agency cabin in the picnic area has been restored to its original appearance. A maintenance facility and a large storage structure are just north of the Spalding visitor center.
Staging for maintenance work in the White Bird/Upper Clearwater Unit is done primarily from two small maintenance sheds at the Heart of the Monster site. A shelter containing fiberglass embedded interpretive panels overlooks White Bird Battlefield from U.S. Highway 95. There are also fiberglass embedded interpretive panels in the Heart of the Monster interpretive shelter. Parkwide, there are 65 wayside exhibts.
Big Hole National Battlefield's offices are in the visitor center, except for maintenance, which has its office in a former park residence. Part of this residence is also used for curatorial and archives storage. Maintenance workspace is divided between the visitor center/headquarters building and the garage of the residence that houses the maintenance office. There are 9 employee housing units at Big Hole: three seasonal or volunteer units are in a quadraplex, four are in two duplexes, and two are single-family houses. There is also a fire-pumper storage building (162 square feet) at Big Hole National Battlefield.
There is a small picnic facility and a restroom at the Bear Paw Battlefield site.
The White Bird/Upper Clearwater Unit, Oregon/Washington Unit, and Bear Paw staff have offices in leased space.
ROADS AND TRAILS
Roads, trails, and parking lots owned by the park are limited to the Spalding, Canoe Camp, Heart of the Monster, White Bird Battlefield, Bear Paw Battle field, and Big Hole National Battlefield sites. There are some backcountry roads at White Bird Battlefield, and a wide variety of roads and trails are associated with the cooperative park sites, such as the Lolo Trail corridor, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, and the Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail.
