Household and family groups were the heart of Nimiipuu, or Nez Perce, society, with families living and working together, forming social alliances, and each man, woman, and child contributing to the common good. The Nimiipuu were both independent and interdependent: villages were governed by councils that chose and advised headmen, local villages formed bands with representative councils and band headmen, and adjoining bands organized into composite bands sharing common background, blood, and marital ties, while each village and band retained autonomy. Men were responsible for family welfare by making tools, training youth, and providing sustenance through hunting and fishing, especially for salmon and other fish in the Columbia River basin. Women managed households, prepared and preserved food, cared for children, and used extensive botanical knowledge to gather edible and medicinal plants, with roots and berries making up over a quarter of the daily diet. The Nimiipuu also took part in a far-reaching trade network in which trade shared resources, marriage, alliances, and ideas, with dugout canoes carrying goods and people along river systems and Celilo Falls on the Columbia River near The Dalles, Oregon, serving as a primary trading center for Plateau Tribes. Tradition, education, and self-sufficiency remained central to preserving this way of life, as families and extended kin helped children develop skills such as hunting, gathering, and fishing, celebrated milestones including name giving, first kill, and first root digging ceremonies, and carried forward cultural identity across generations before and after the 1855 and 1863 treaties.