Camas Prairie is not just grassland – it is an historic place. Tolo Lake, just south of the prairie, was a gathering place and in 1877 Nimiipuu bands gathered here after they were ordered to leave their home in the Wallows in Oregon. It is the origin of the Nez Perce flight of 1877.
The Camas Prairie is named after the perennial camassia or camas. The bulbs of this blue-flowering plant were a crucial food source for the Native Americans.