The Yakama Indian Reservation

The  Yakama Indian Reservation (spelled Yakima until 1994) is a Native American reservation in Washington state of the federally recognized tribe known as the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.The tribe is made up of Klikitat, Palus, Wallawalla, Wanapam, Wenatchi, Wishram, and Yakama peoples.Toppenish  is a city in Yakima County, Washington. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 8,854 It is located within the Yakama Indian Reservation, established in 1855.Toppenish calls itself the city of Murals, as it has more than 75 murals adorning its buildings. The first, "Clearing the Land", was painted in 1989, and the city hosts horse-drawn tours and annual art events. All historically accurately depict scenes of the region from 1840 to 1940According to the United States Census Bureau, the reservation covers 2,185.94 square miles and the population in 2000 was 31,799. It lies primarily in Yakima and the northern edge of Klickitat counties. The largest city on the reservation is Toppenish.About 80% of the Yakama reservation's land is held in trust by the federal government for the benefit of the tribe and tribal members.The remaining 20% of the reservation's land is privately owned. Some 410,000 acres of the reservation are shrub-steppe rangeland; as of 2014, about 15,000 wild horses roamed these lands—an unsustainable population, many times what the land can support.HistoryThe reservation was created in 1855 by a treaty signed by Washington Territory Gov. Isaac Stevens and representatives of the Yakama tribe. Several Native leaders believed that those representatives did not have the authority to cede communal land and had not properly gained consensus from the full council or tribe. A dispute over the treaty conditions led to the Yakima War (1855–1858), which the Yakama and allied tribes waged against the United States.In 1994, the Yakima Tribal Council unanimously voted to change the spelling of the tribe's name from Yakima to Yakama, matching the spelling of the 1855 treaty.The pronunciation remained the same.So “Something's got to change': Experts sound alarm on dangers of US maternity care shortage One-third of U.S. counties are maternity care deserts, according to a report.By Faith Abubey, Patty See , Victoria Moll-Ramirez, and Allie Weintraub April 17, 2023 Early on in her pregnancy, Tori Wapsheli made plans to deliver her second child in the same hospital where she had her first — Astria Toppenish Hospital on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington State. But with just three months left in her pregnancy, the hospital suddenly shut down its Family Maternity Center, leaving Wapsheli and others in the community scrambling. In a news release, the hospital cited higher costs, reduction of Medicaid reimbursement from 150% to 100%, inability to recruit enough staff and a 50% decrease in deliveries as the reason for the closure."Just being so far out here, Toppenish was the place that would have worked easier," Ciera Wheeler, who was more than 7 ½ months along when the pregnancy ward closed, told ABC News.Patients in active labor who come to Astria Toppenish when there's no time to stabilize and transfer them before delivery will now have their babies delivered in the emergency room and then, after being stabilized, transferred by ambulance to another hospital, the release said.For Wheeler, the closest hospital with a maternity ward was now 45 minutes away, she said.Support the show