Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation

The USRT Foundation is composed of four Indian tribes of the Upper Snake River region in Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon: Burns Paiute Tribe, Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation, and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation. In 2007, the USRT Foundation Charter was adopted pursuant to the Motherhood Document of 1998. The primary goal of the USRT Foundation Charter is to facilitate tribal unity to protect and nurture all compacting tribes’ rights, languages, cultures, and traditions in addressing issues related to the Snake River Basin. The tribes established a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, USRT Foundation, Inc., and opened headquarters in Boise, Idaho. The four tribes have common vested interests to protect rights reserved through the United States Constitution, federal treaties, federal unratified treaties, executive orders, inherent rights, and aboriginal title to the land, which has never been extinguished by USRT member tribes. The USRT Foundation works to ensure the protection, enhancement, and preservation of the tribes’ rights, resources, cultural properties, and practices and that they remain secured. These include but are not limited to hunting, fishing, gathering, and subsistence uses.