Flathead Indian Reservation

A reservation in western Montana established for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, encompassing parts of Lake, Sanders, Missoula, and Flathead counties.

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Hellgate Treaty: A 1855 treaty in which the Bitterroot Salish, Pend d’Oreille, and Kootenai ceded much of their territory to the United States. Its land cession established the reservation and the treaty obligations that remain central to tribal claims.
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes: A federally recognized tribal nation comprising the Bitterroot Salish, Pend d’Oreille, and Kootenai peoples of western Montana. The Tribes govern the reservation and represent its Indigenous communities.
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Tribal Council: The elected governing body of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The council exercises the Tribes’ governmental authority on the reservation.
National Bison Range: A wildlife refuge in Montana established in 1908 to conserve American bison and other native wildlife. The Tribes regained management of this refuge within their reservation in 2020.
Flathead Indian Reservation land allotment: The division of reservation lands into individual parcels under federal allotment policy, followed by the opening of surplus lands to settlement. Allotment produced the reservation’s checkerboard land ownership and lasting jurisdictional complications.
Stevens Treaties: A group of treaties negotiated in the Pacific Northwest by territorial governor Isaac Stevens during the 1850s. The Hellgate Treaty belonged to this wider federal campaign to secure Indigenous lands.
Pend d’Oreille: An Indigenous people of the inland Northwest, including communities along the upper Columbia River and in western Montana. The Pend d’Oreille are one of the peoples whose treaty homeland includes the reservation.
Flathead Agency: A United States Bureau of Indian Affairs agency serving the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana. The agency is the federal administrative counterpart to tribal government.
Flathead Lake: A large freshwater lake in northwestern Montana, fed mainly by the Flathead River. The lake lies partly within the reservation and is central to its fisheries and water management.
Flathead Reservation opening: The 1910 opening of remaining reservation lands to non-Native settlement after federal allotment. The opening accelerated non-Native settlement and reduced the Tribes’ land base.