Nez Perce National Historical Park Administrative History

CHAPTER THREE:
LAND ACQUISITION AND PROTECTION

Land Protection and the Cooperative Sites

The park's cooperative sites are those that are managed under cooperative agreement between the Park Service and a landowner. When Secretary of the Interior Walter Hickel formally designated Nez Perce National Historical Park in 1970, he recognized 19 cooperative sites in addition to the Spalding, East Kamiah, White Bird, and Canoe Camp sites. Two more, the Lenore and Pierce Courthouse sites, were included in 1977. With the park additions in 1992, more than a dozen other cooperative sites were authorized. Each individual cooperative site received relatively little attention from the park administration, but collectively the cooperative sites are what make Nez Perce National Historical Park such an unusual unit of the national park system. Arguably, it is the cooperative sites that have shaped the park's management tone. As Superintendent Walker observed in 1991,

This park is based on its ability to get along well with a wide variety of communities, individual landowners, state and other federal agencies. If we are to survive, we must get along fairly well, but if we are to flourish, we must become good neighbors and friends and become involved in community activities and earn the respect and trust of those neighbors and friends. [171]

Management of the cooperative sites began with the task of identifying the landowners and establishing relations with them. The next step was to develop cooperative agreements with the landowners aimed at protecting the resources and providing for public access. The ultimate goal was to develop interpretive exhibits at each site that would make the park a unified whole. All of this had to be achieved in the absence of defined site boundaries.

The initial process of identifying land owners contained at least one surprise: Superintendent Burns learned in 1967 that the Clearwater National Forest did not own the Musselshell Meadows, but had been trying to acquire it through a land exchange with the Diamond National Match Company for the past four years. Forest Service officials agreed with Burns that the site had significance as a major camas digging area, perhaps the last of its kind. [172] The Forest Service acquired the site in 1972 and retained ownership of it. [173]

Other landowners included the Idaho Department of Highways for a large number of sites mostly consisting of roadside interpretive signs, the Keuterville Highway District of Idaho County for the Weis Rockshelter, the Lapwai School District for the Northern Idaho Agency and Fort Lapwai sites, the Forest Service for the Lolo Pass and Lolo Trail sites, Mr. and Mrs. John M. Pfeifer of Culdesac, Idaho, for the St. Joseph's Mission Church, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Cardiff of Pierce, Idaho for the Pierce Courthouse, and the First Presbyterian Church of Kamiah for both the historic church and the nearby McBeth house. [174]

Private landowners represented the most challenging situations for cooperative management. As noted above, Superintendents Burns and Williams recommended that the First Presbyterian Church and McBeth house be dropped from consideration after they sensed that the park administration would not be able to obtain landowner cooperation. In July 1968, Burns suggested that the St. Joseph's Mission Church be dropped as a site for the same reason. Perhaps NPS officials would have followed his advice if it had not been for the fact that the park brochure had already been published and listed the Pfeifers' church building as part of the St. Joseph's Mission site. The Pfeifers claimed that the brochure had led to an increase in visitation. The Pfeifers demanded some kind of cooperative agreement with the Park Service. [175]

The Pfeifers wanted financial assistance for the maintenance of the building and some modest compensation for their time in guiding visitors through the church. During the winter of 1968-69, Superintendent Williams negotiated a cooperative agreement with the Pfeifers covering these points. In addition, Williams notified the Pfeifers that the NPS would be affixing 18,000 stickers to the 18,000 park brochures it had printed explaining that the church was private property. [176] The final agreement, concluded on June 29, 1970, involved the Park Service and the newly formed St. Joseph's Mission Historical Society, of which the Pfeifers were controlling members. [177]

The Pierce Courthouse presented another problem. The owners wanted to donate the property to the Park Service. Superintendent Williams discussed this possibility with regional officials, who rejected the idea on the grounds that the Park Service should not acquire more historic buildings in the park than it could maintain. The feasibility study of 1963 recommended that the state of Idaho acquire and administer this site; however, state officials proposed to move the building to the capitol lawn in Boise, an idea which the owners and other local citizens adamantly opposed. In 1969, Superintendent Williams proposed that the owner donate the property to the Clearwater Historical Society of Orofino, Idaho, as an "interim measure and until such time as the National Park Service might possibly become involved." Apparently Williams formed the impression that the owner, Leonard Cardiff, had agreed to this arrangement and that the building had changed hands, but two years later he learned that local citizens had dissuaded Cardiff. [178] Finally, the Idaho State Historical Society accepted the offer of donation from Cardiff, and the Park Service entered a cooperative agreement with the Idaho State Historical Society in 1979. In that agreement the NPS agreed to provide guidance on how to preserve and interpret the structure. The NPS would provide actual maintenance assistance as funds allowed. In 1987, Superintendent Weaver initiated meetings with the Idaho State Historical Society on what should be done to stabilize the structure and make it available to the public. [179] The Pierce Courthouse was opened to the public for the first time in the summer of 1990. [180]

One persistent management concern was how to keep the cooperative sites tidy. Many of these sites were quite remote from the park headquarters and could only be visited by park staff intermittently. Litter accumulated around the wayside signs. Vandalism was not uncommon, especially at secluded sites such as the Weis Rockshelter. As a matter of fiscal necessity, the NPS has tried to enlist the park's partners in controlling the litter problem, but the park administration has not always received the support it desires. For example, during the 1980s many cooperative sites with the Idaho Department of Highways sometimes became unacceptably trashy by national park standards. State highway department officials, however, did not want to give the problem high priority. In recent years, the Park Service has earmarked funds for litter control at many of these sites. [181] Maintenance or interpretive personnel patrol the sites on a bi-weekly basis.

Another management concern has been the need to delineate boundaries for the protection of cooperative sites. In 1982, the Nez Perce Tribe proposed a housing project on the grounds of old Fort Lapwai. The project threatened to intrude on the historic scene. As the Park Service, the BIA, the State Historic Preservation Office, and the tribe all got involved in the issue, it became clear that the parties to the cooperative agreement covering the Fort Lapwai site had not agreed to any boundary definitions. Many cultural resources were lost during the initial phase of housing development. The site still lacks boundaries. Indeed, several other sites still lack boundaries, including Ant and Yellow Jacket, Coyote's Fishnet, Weis Rockshelter, Craig Donation Claim, Clearwater Battlefield, and the first Lapwai Mission. [182]