America’s Newest National Park

Montana is home to the first national park
(Yellow-stone), the first international peace park
(Glacier, together with Waterton in Canada), and
now, the newest national park, Bear Paw Battlefield,
one of 38 sites along the Nez Perce Na-tional
Historical Park. The battlefield was declared a
na-tional park on May 24, 2005.

The site is one of the most famous western
battlefields of all, as the place where Chief Joseph
surrendered following a long flight from his
homelands in Idaho. After leading nearly 800 Nez
Perce toward the Ca-nadian border all summer long
(along the way, outmaneuver-ing the pursuing U.S.
Army in several engagements), Chief Joseph laid
down his weapons and delivered a speech ending
with the well-known words: "From where the sun
now stands, I will fight no more forever."

The battlefield, which is a unit of the Nez Perce
National Historical Park, preserves the site of the
last battle of the Nez Perce War and is managed by
the superintendent of Big Hole National Battlefield.

On May 24th, the day the site was officially declared a
national park, the National Park Service (NPS)
presented the state of Montana and The
Conservation Fund with plaques to show its
apprecia-tion for their assistance in the land
exchange that transferred ownership of the site from
the state to the NPS. An annual commemoration of
the battle is scheduled for October 8.

Nez Perce National Histori-cal Park joins seven
other units of the national park system with a
presence in Montana: Yellowstone and Glacier
National Parks, Lewis and Clark National Historic
Trail, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area,
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (site of
Custer's Last Stand) in Crow Agency, Grant-Kohrs
Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge, and Big
Hole National Battlefield in Wisdom.

Bear Paw Battlefield is in Montana's Russell
Country, sixteen miles south of Chi-nook on County
Highway 240. To find out more, go to
www.nps.gov/nepe.