Then I told Wyatt about my grandfather’s 1932 promise. My late wife had Nez Perce ancestry, and I had promised to help return land to her people someday. The Wallowa Homeland Project needed a large parcel for a bison herd and youth cultural camp. I decided to sell them 2,260 acres of my 2,300-acre ranch.
For sixty-one days, we kept the transaction completely quiet. On the sixty-first morning, Wyatt and I went to the courthouse. I signed the land over to the Nez Perce Tribe, keeping only forty acres around my home. The tribe immediately issued the HOA a notice concerning its unauthorized road.
Corrine was stunned. She called emergency meetings and tried to rally the homeowners, but Francis revealed the truth about the road payments, environmental violations, and failed legal attacks. Most residents chose negotiation instead of following Corrine.
