IF YOU DRIVE EAST on Highway 95 through the Idaho Panhandle, the Clearwater River will be on your right, winding its way slowly and surely toward Lapwai, Idaho, on the Nez Perce Reservation. The river, which is the largest tributary to the Snake River, is typically dynamic, though on the days when it’s glassy and still, it clearly reflects the clouds as well as the emission plumes from the paper mill on its banks.
Just past the reservation’s border, a billboard greets the driver with an admonition, urging you to “Honor the Treaty of 1855 with the Nez Perce — Breach the Snake River Dams.”
The billboard is the tribe’s response to the four hydropower dams on the Snake River. The Lower Snake River dams have long been controversial for the part they have played in decimating the Pacific Northwest’s once-abundant salmon and steelhead populations.
As night falls on the reservation, another response can be seen in
