Nez Perce Agree On Boundary Tribe Says Government’s Survey Of Disputed Area Is Accurate

The Nez Perce Tribe now supports government surveys of a disputed property boundary on its Idaho reservation, moving away from a stand the tribe took only last month.

In testimony for a Senate subcommittee hearing, Samuel Penney, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, agreed with federal agencies that two non-tribal landowners are occupying property near Kamiah that belongs to a group of tribal members.

Five federal surveys of the boundary between the two allotments, the earliest in 1873, affirm the tribal members’ property line, Penney said in written testimony for the Subcommittee on Forests and Public Lands.

“There is no evidence that the federal surveys are in error or were done by an improper method,” Penney wrote.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, scheduled Thursday’s subcommittee hearing to look into the property dispute. But Craig first delayed and then canceled the hearing because of a series of budget votes on the Senate floor.

Craig promised witnesses and observers who had traveled to Washington, D.C., that he would conduct a field hearing in Idaho later.

Penney’s predecessor as Nez Perce tribal chairman, Charles Hayes, urged Craig last month to introduce legislation to settle the conflict.

“Statements by some of the individuals involved reflect a very real propensity toward violence which extends our concerns to public safety in that area,” Hayes said.

He also said the tribe did not support forced removal or relocation of the private landowners, and he suggested federal money could be used to reach an equitable agreement.

But Penney said in his statement for the subcommittee that the private landowners should pursue their claims through normal legal channels like any other property dispute.