thumb|150px|Indian Camas<br>([[Camassia quamash)]]

Camas prairies are found in several different geographical areas in the western United States, and are named for the native perennial camas (Camassia). The culturally and scientifically significant of these areas lie within Idaho, Montana, and the Pacific Northwest. Camas bulbs are an important food source for Native Americans.

Idaho

History

thumb|150px|Nez Perce chiefs, 1899

Named for the blue flowering camas—an important food source for all Native Americans in the interior Northwest—the Camas prairie is a traditional Nez Perce gathering place in north central Idaho.

From the Nez Perce National Historical Park: Camas prairie is interpreted at a highway pullout on the north side of U.S. Highway 95, about six miles (10&nbsp;km) south of Grangeville. This large prairie was a Nez Perce gathering place, where camas roots were harvested for thousands of years. Several nontreaty bands gathered at Tolo Lake in early June 1877 in anticipation of moving to the Nez Perce reservation. In response to the forced move and other hostile actions, several young Nez Perce people took actions that precipitated the Nez Perce War.

Camas prairies are found over a large area, mostly privately owned, that extends many miles between the Salmon and Clearwater River drainages. Most of the area is agricultural and the northern section is within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. Similar to the opening of lands in Oklahoma, the U.S. government opened the reservation for white settlement on November 18, 1895. The proclamation had been signed less than two weeks earlier by President Cleveland.

The area was home to the second subdivision of the Camas Prairie Railroad, known as the "railroad on stilts" due to its numerous trestles, most of which are constructed of timber. Breakheart Pass, a 1975 film starring Charles Bronson, was filmed on portions of the railroad on the Camas prairie. The railroad ceased operations in the late 1990s.

Counties

  • Camas County—In southern Idaho
  • Idaho County
  • Lewis County

Southern Idaho

In southern Idaho, east of Mountain Home, the high plain of Camas County around Fairfield is locally called the "Camas Prairie". The basin is about in dimensions with an area of about . The center of this relatively flat basin lies at elevations just below . The basin is bordered by the Salish Mountains on its eastern side and northern end and bordered by the Cabinet Mountains on its western side. These mountains rise above elevations of .

The Camas prairie region is sparsely populated and lies within the Flathead Indian Reservation. The two main populated places within this region are Camas (Ktunaxa: ya·qa·kmumaǂki) and Perma (Ktunaxa: kxunamaʔnam

Quaternary geology

The Camas prairie is well known for the large fields of Late Pleistocene giant current ripples that cover a substantial part of its surface. They were created during one of the many times when glacial Lake Missoula drained when its ice dam failed. From the northern edge of the Camas Basin, the fields of giant current ripples extend south (downcurrent) from four mountain passes that were once submerge inlets into the flooded Camas Basin. Southward, these fields of giant current ripples spread out and merge on the basin floor. These sedimentary bedforms are best seen in aerial images and at low sun angles.

These giant current ripples are large-to-very-large subaqueous gravel dunes and antidunes. Although they once covered a significantly larger area, they cover about of the Camas prairie basin. The wavelength of these dunes and antidunes ranges from and their height ranges from . They are all two-dimensional, flow transverse, sinuous, sedimentary bedforms. The wavelength and height of these giant current ripples decrease away (downcurrent) from the former inlets. Correspondingly, the size of the gravels comprising them decreases south (downcurrent) from boulder and cobble gravels to pebble gravels. Their foreset bedding is poorly defined and their dip varies from 14 to 23 degrees. In addition to the gravel dunes and antidunes, delta-like, expansion bars accumulated below each of the former subaqueous inlets. They consist of foreset beds that consist of boulder-cobble-pebble gravels.

The giant current ripples of the Camas prairie are analogous to similar giant Pleistocene bedforms described form Channeled Scablands of Washington. They are identical to the giant subaqueous bedforms that developed on the bottom of Lake Kuray-Chuya during the Altai flood in Siberia, Russia. These giant bedforms, which are rare or unknown outside of theoretical and experimental studies, preserved a unique record of the paleohydraulology of a Missoula Flood associated with the catastrophic emptying of Lake Missoula.

Camassia Natural Area in West Linn is managed by the Nature Conservancy.

Washington

The Burke Meadow, supported by the Burke Museum, is a camas meadow that was established in 2019 to promote tourism and traditional food use. It is maintained by University of Washington students and local Indigenous organizations.

Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve and Lacamas Prairie Natural Area, both protected by the Washington Department of Natural Resources, support camas populations.

See also

  • Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail
  • Palouse

References

  • Visit North Central Idaho – Camas Prairie
  • Eye of Idaho – Around Camas Prairie
  • Idaho Public TV – Camas Prairie Railroad
  • Historical Museum at St. Gertrude
  • Monastery of St. Gertrude
  • Glacial Lake Missoula.org – Camas prairie ripple marks in Montana
  • National Park Service—Nez Perce
  • U.S. Forest Service—Nez Perce