Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
A nation today
Background
The Treaty of June 9, 1855 that the Tribe publishes in full opens by naming the fourteen tribes and bands that made it, among them the Yakama, Palouse, Pisquouse, Wenatchsahpam, Klikatat, Klingquit and Wish-ham, and states that for the purposes of that treaty they are to be considered as one nation, under the name of Yakama. The first boundary of the land ceded runs from Mount Rainier, and the second article reserves a tract for the use and occupation of those same confederated tribes and bands. The Tribe's language program calls its language Ichishkíin and lists classrooms for it in Head Start centers, elementary and high schools across Toppenish, Wapato, Mount Adams, Goldendale, Ellensburg and Yakima, and in the Yakama Nation Tribal School, with the Yakima School District's high school classes marked Seal of Biliteracy eligible. The Tribe's Tribal Historic Preservation Office states its mission as managing, consulting and directing the protection of cultural resources. Headquarters are at 401 Fort Road in Toppenish, Washington.
Visit and learn
Yakama Nation Museum and Cultural Center
Open every day from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The campus holds the museum, a gift shop, a theater and the Tribe's library, and its exhibits include the Nipo Strongheart Collection of rare books, historic photographs and artifacts. Group tours must be arranged in advance, and the museum's own rules ask for no photography and no food or drink.
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation's own site
Tribal lands have their own laws. Check the nation's site before you visit.
Parks on its homelands
Mount Rainier National ParkThe park says the Taidnapam people, whose traditional lands included Ohanapecosh and the southeast of Mount Rainier, are represented today by the modern Cowlitz and Yakama tribes. Source
Programs
Yakama Nation Language Program
The Tribe's stated purpose is to preserve and protect the tribal culture, traditions and, foremost, the language, so that the people have spiritual, emotional and physical well-being and so that cultural education reaches every generation. The page lists named classrooms, a map of the schools, early childhood learning, rotating elementary classes, high school first and second year sequences, middle school classes, an annual week-long intersession class, and monthly culture nights.
Yakama Nation Museum
The museum opened in 1980 and sits at 100 Spiel-yi Loop in Toppenish, Washington. Its published mission is to care for, collect and protect the items that promote and preserve Yakama Nation culture. Admission is listed at $6 for adults, $4 for college students, military service members and seniors, $2 for children ten and under, and $15 for a family of four, and the hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day of the week. Group tours require an appointment, and the museum asks visitors for soft feet, a soft voice, no photography, and no food or drink.
Sources
- https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-01-30/html/2026-01899.htm
- https://yakama.com/about/treaty/
- https://yakama.com/programs/language/
- https://yakama.com/programs/tribal-historic-preservation-office/
Checked September 2026.