Land Acknowledgement

 
 

The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center (MHIC) is a museum in Joseph, OR that occupies the ancestral and traditional Lands of the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce), Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla peoples. MHIC occupies a portion of over 6 million acres of Lands ceded during the Walla Walla Treaty Council of 1855, a second Treaty in 1863, and an 1893 Agreement. 

Today, living descendants are citizens of the Nez Perce Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The contemporary lands of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are located within reservations and allotments near Pendleton and Pilot Rock, Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe ceded lands are within and off reservation in Central Idaho, Southeast Washington, and Northeast Oregon.

 MHIC acknowledges the ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Nez Perce Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation due to our dedication to revealing and honoring hidden histories of multicultural logging communities

The Cayuse, whose original language is known to linguists as Waiilatpuan, lived: "..south of and between the Nez Perces and Wallah-Wallahs, extending from the Des Chutes or Wawanui river to the eastern side of the Blue Mountains. It [their country] …

The Cayuse, whose original language is known to linguists as Waiilatpuan, lived: "..south of and between the Nez Perces and Wallah-Wallahs, extending from the Des Chutes or Wawanui river to the eastern side of the Blue Mountains. It [their country] is almost entirely in Oregon, a small part only, upon the upper Wallah-Wallah river, lying within Washington Territory.”

 

Our land acknowledgement is grounded in the foundational understanding that the Pacific Northwest forests which were prepared by logging communities; were grown and nurtured for over 10,000 years on lands that were of sacred importance to the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce), Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla peoples. Indigenous rights and relationship to the land are relevant to MHIC through the following: 

  • Our traveling exhibit was displayed in 2019 at the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, which is located on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Our collaboration resulted in expanding the exhibit to include tribal historical and present day forestry practices.

  • Our museum space at 103 North Main Street in Joseph, Oregon stands on the ancestral lands cited above.”

  • In addition, MHIC has purchased 240 acres of land, which includes the original Maxville townsite. We are working with several partners to preserve the historical buildings and conduct archaeological studies, but we believe that no effort to conserve and preserve the landscape would be complete or appropriate without the participation and guidance of the Tribe.