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The Burns Paiute Reservation is located in rural eastern Oregon. The Burns Paiute Tribe is primarily comprised of the descendants of the Wadatika Band of Northern Paiutes. The traditional homelands of the Burns Paiute include 5250 square miles of land in central-southeastern Oregon, Northern Nevada, northwestern California and western Idaho. The Burns Paiute still maintain aboriginal title to much of their aboriginal territory. The Tribe currently has 402 enrolled members of which 142 people call the Reservation their home. They are a relatively “young” community with over 50% of their population under the age of 18.

The Burns Paiute consider themselves “the last truly free people in Oregon.” Their ancestors resisted encroachment of Euro-American settlers, refused to cede their lands, and fought to preserve traditional life ways. A treaty of “Peace and Friendship” was eventually signed, but never ratified. An Executive Order Reservation was established in 1869 that set aside 1.8 million acres for their people, but the Malheur Reservation was short-lived. An uprising to the east, the Bannock War, came to their homeland and when the people abandoned the Malheur Reservation to escape further conflict, a heavy price was paid. After the “war,” their surviving ancestors were forcibly marched over 300 miles in knee-deep snow to Fort Simcoe and Fort Vancouver in Washington State. In their absence, the Malheur Reservation was returned to “Public Domain” and a makeshift tribal encampment was established on the outskirts of the town of Burns, Oregon. For numerous reasons, the post-contact displacement of the Wadatika also allowed for preservation of the language and many traditional subsistence and cultural practices.

[Information adapted from the “About the Tribe” webpage from the Official Website of the Burns Paiute Tribe; Accessed: 05/17/2023]