Nez Perce National Historical Park Administrative History

CHAPTER THREE:
LAND ACQUISITION AND PROTECTION

Land Acquisition for the White Bird Battlefield

The site of the Battle of White Bird Hill contrasted with the Spalding and East Kamiah sites. The area had no habitations or other roadside development, but local ranchers grazed livestock. As the park's master plan indicated, "The site itself is attractive and its restoration to its historical condition would be a relatively minor undertaking." The authors recommended that the Park Service acquire about 1,250 acres in fee and an additional 725 acres in scenic easement. [164] In October 1969 the NPS acquired fee title to 1111.6 acres and an easement over 285 acres. The NPS purchased the land and easement from Harry M. Hagen of White Bird for $71,000. The NPS purchased a scenic easement over an additional 100 acres belonging to local rancher Charles Bentz. These lands formed the core of the White Bird unit. [165]

Within the White Bird Battlefield three tracts owned by the state of Idaho remained. These public school land tracts totaled 261.7 acres. As noted earlier, the law would not allow the NPS to purchase this type of land with Land and Water Conservation Funds. The NPS explored various alternatives for protecting these parcels. NPS officials asked the state of Idaho to donate a scenic easement on the three tracts, but state officials responded that the state was legally prohibited from donating fee title or any interest attached to public school lands. NPS officials then considered a proposal to have a local rancher purchase the state-owned tracts and then sell a scenic easement on the lands to the Park Service. The third and preferred alternative was to get the National Park Foundation to purchase the lands and donate a scenic easement to the park. It should be remembered that in no circumstances could the Park Service purchase the lands because the acquisition would cause the park to exceed its maximum allotment of 1,500 acres in fee. [166] To date, the lands remain under state ownership.

NPS management tried to discover what kind of legal force was contained in a scenic easement. In November 1971, Superintendent Williams requested a solicitor's opinion on this issue. Specifically, he wanted to know if hunting was allowed on scenic easements or inholdings within the park boundaries, whether overgrazing was permissible on the state-owned inholdings at White Bird, and whether it was the stockowner's or the landowner's responsibility to prevent grazing trespass on scenic easements. Williams made repeated inquiries over the next two years but did not get a reply to these questions. [167]

The superintendent had to make practical decisions as issues arose. In June 1971, Superintendent Williams authorized the rancher, Harry M. Hagen, to harvest the native grass hay from a 20-acre area inside the park boundary. The cutting of the hay that year, Williams was careful to explain, constituted the removal of a potential fire hazard. [168] On another occasion in 1974, Williams instructed Hagen to remove 100 head of sheep and three horses from NPS lands. [169] (Later, grazing would become the most controversial issue at White Bird, and is discussed in Chapter 7.) Years later, in 1991, Superintendent Walker sought restitution from White Bird resident Andrew Dahlquist for cutting trees on a portion of his property on which the federal government had purchased a scenic easement. Dahlquist's action was in clear violation of the easement, although he professed that he was not aware of the restriction against cutting trees. [170] This incident highlighted another problem with scenic easements: even when the easement was clear on its face, the precise terms of the easement could be forgotten over the course of time. Scenic easements required constant vigilance by the Park Service.