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Hon.
Elizabeth Furse
Elizabeth Furse is a former member of the
United States Congress (First District of
Oregon). She served three terms (1992-98)
before retiring from Congress in 1998. Since
1998, she has worked with national tribal
leaders to establish the Institute for Tribal
Government in the Mark O. Hatfield School
of Government at Portland State University.
She serves as the Director of the Institute,
under the leadership of its Tribal Policy
Board. Ms. Furse received her B.A. degree
in education from The Evergreen College
(Olympia, WA), and studied law at Lewis
& Clark Law School (Portland, OR). She
has a lifelong commitment to Native American,
peace, environment, and justice issues.
She was co-founder of the National Coalition
to Support Indian Treaties (1970-78), was
Director of the tribal restoration project
for the Native American Program at Oregon
Legal Services (1980-86) and was the Founder
and Director of the Oregon Peace Institute
(1986-91). Ms. Furse was born in Nairobi,
Kenya and as a young adult in Cape Town,
South Africa she was a member of the anti-apartheid
Black Sash movement. During her tenure in
the U.S. Congress, Ms. Furse served on the
Merchant Marine & Fisheries, Banking,
and Armed Services Committees. Today, she
continues to serve as a public citizen on
several regional and national boards committed
to health, environment and economic issues.
Christopher Porter
In 1985, Christopher Porter secured his
first job on Capitol Hill as an intern for
a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Fifteen years later, he left the halls of
Congress to start YourCongress,
Inc. In between, Chris got a
college degree from American University
and a Capitol Hill education - holding every
possible job in a congressional office from
working with the mail to being Chief of
Staff to 22 people. In his career on Capitol
Hill, Porter advised three members of Congress,
serving as Legislative Assistant to Congresswoman
Mary Rose Oakar (1990-1992), Legislative
Director to Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse
(1992-1998), Co-Policy Director of the Congressional
Diabetes Caucus (1995-1998), and Chief of
Staff to Congressman David Wu (1999). Chris
is the founder and CEO of YourCongress.com,
an internet site and information service
designed to give everyone an easy and entertaining
way to find out what’s going on in
Washington. YourCongress.com has been lauded
by internet media giants including Yahoo!,
Netscape’s NetCenter, and About.com.
He is the author of “How to Get a
Job in Congress (Without Winning an Election),”
and has been published in a number of newspapers,
including the Washington Post, the Washington
Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the
Portland Oregonian.
Roy Sampsel, Choctaw and Wyandotte Tribes
Roy Sampsel is a Board Member of the Institute
for Tribal Government, the Tribal Leadership
Forum, and also president of Global Resources
Inc., a natural resources and management
consulting firm located in Portland, Oregon.
Mr. Sampsel received his B.A. in Political
Science from Portland State University.
From 1981-1983 he served as the Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Indian Affairs for the US
Department of the Interior in Washington,
D.C., where he worked on Indian rights protection
and natural resources policy (including
timber, fish, wildlife, oil, gas and minerals).
Mr. Sampsel also worked for the Bureau of
Indian Affairs on implementation of the
Indian Self-Determination and Education
Act. From 1977-79 he served as the first
Executive Director of the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (Portland,
Oregon), an inter-tribal agency created
to protect treaty fishing rights of the
Warm Springs, Yakama, Umatilla and Nez Perce
Tribes. From 1971-1976 he served as Special
Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior
for the Pacific Northwest Region (Oregon,
Washington, Idaho and Alaska). He was responsible
for assisting the Secretary in developing
and implementing departmental policy for
federal resources, and for liaison with
tribal and state governments and federal
agencies throughout the region. During the
past 30 years he has worked extensively
with tribal governments on inter-governmental
relations, and policy development and implementation.
Robert Miller, Esq., Eastern Shawnee
Robert Miller is an Associate Professor
of Law at Northwestern School of Law of
Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
He teaches Indian Law, Cultural Resources
Protection and other subjects. Before joining
the law school as a full time professor,
Mr. Miller taught Indian law courses as
an adjunct professor at Lewis and Clark
from 1993-98 and at Portland State University
in 1996 and 1999. Mr. Miller practiced Indian
law with Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker
from 1995-99. He represented tribal clients
and Indian individuals in federal, tribal
and state court litigation and before federal
agencies. He also concentrated on tribal
housing issues and helped draft the federal
regulations for the Native American Housing
Assistance and Self-Determination Act. He
has served as a tribal appellate judge for
various Northwest tribes since 1995. Mr.
Miller graduated from Lewis & Clark
Law School College in 1991. In 1989-91,
he worked for the United States Attorney’s
Office. After graduation, he clerked for
Judge O’Scannlain of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
He then worked as an attorney at the Stoel
Rives firm in Portland from 1992-95. He
serves on the boards of the National Indian
Child Welfare Association, the Oregon Native
American Business Entrepreneurial Network,
the Eastern Oregon University Foundation,
and is a past Chair of the Oregon State
Bar Indian Law Section. Mr. Miller has published
numerous articles on Indian law including
fishing and hunting rights, economic development,
federal Indian alcohol policies, and tribal
government court systems. He has presented
numerous federal and state training sessions
on Indian law at various conferences, law
schools and colleges. His book, Native America; Discovered and Conquered, is available and can be ordered from the publisher.
Howard Arnett, Esq.
Howard Arnett is an Adjunct Professor teaching
federal Indian law at Lewis and Clark in
Portland, Oregon. He is also a partner in
the Bend, Oregon law firm of Karnopp, Petersen,
Arnett and Sayeg and is tribal attorney
for the Confederated Tribes of the Warm
Springs Reservation of Oregon. He received
his law degree from the University of Oregon.
From 1977-1981, Mr. Arnett was a staff attorney
with DNA – People’s Legal Services
– in the Chinle Agency office (Navajo).
Mr. Arnett is currently a member of the
Oregon, Arizona and Navajo Nation bar associations.
He has published several articles on Indian
law and is a frequent lecturer on Indian
law.
Don Wharton, Esq.
Mr. Wharton is a senior attorney in the
Boulder, Colorado office of the Native American
Rights Fund (NARF), a non-profit law firm
serving American Indian tribes and people.
He is a 1973 graduate of the University
of Colorado School of Law. He works primarily
in the areas of federal-Indian environmental
and natural resource law. He served as the
Assistant Attorney General for Natural Resources
and Special Projects for the Navajo Nation's
Department of Justice (1983-88). Prior to
that he was the founding Director of The
Oregon Legal Services Native American Program
(1979-83). From 1977-79, he served as a
solicitor in the Indian Affairs Division
of the Interior Department's Solicitor's
Office in Washington, D.C., and was Special
Counsel to the American Indian Policy Review
Commission (a joint congressional commission
on federal-Indian policy) from 1975-77).
From 1973-77 he was General Counsel to the
Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon. Mr. Wharton
was appointed the J. Skelly Wright Fellow
and Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law
School during the Spring Term of 1995. He
has been a lecturer for the National Indian
Justice Center; and served as President
(1980-83) of the National Association of
Indian Legal Services.
Robert Anderson, Bois Forte Band,
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Bob Anderson is an Assistant Professor of
Law and the Director of the Native American
Law Center at the University of Washington.
He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota
Law School. For 12 years he was a Senior
Staff Attorney for the Native American Rights
Fund (NARF) where he litigated major cases
involving sovereignty and subsistence issues
including the Katie John case. From 1995-2001
he worked for Department of Interior Secretary
Bruce Babbitt as Associate Solicitor for
Indian Affairs, and as Counselor to the
Secretary on legal and policy matters.
Marcus D. Ingle, Ph.D.,
Professor of Public Administration
Dr. Marcus Ingle is Professor of Public
Administration in the Mark O. Hatfield School
of Government and Director for Global Public
Service for the Executive Leadership Institute
at Portland State University. Dr. Ingle
has extensive international experience,
having recently directed the USAID Regional
Infrastructure Program for Water and Sanitation
in Southeast Europe with Booz Allen &
Hamilton. Prior to that, Dr. Ingle served
as the Project Director for the Vietnam
Highways Improvement Project in Hanoi, financed
through the Asian Development Bank. He has
worked with government, non-profit and business
organizations around the world. Dr. Ingle
is a specialist in leadership capacity building
and management, including participatory
and sustainability techniques for local
government, infrastructure, and environmental
programs. Dr. Ingle is skilled in the areas
of policy reform and implementation mechanisms,
institutional assessment, program development
and sustainability, contract negotiation
and administration, and organization development
techniques.
Jaime A. Pinkham, Nez Perce Tribe
Mr. Pinkham is a member of the Nez Perce
Tribe and is currently a consultant to Portland
State University’s Institute for Tribal
Government. He received degrees in forestry
from Oregon State University and Peninsula
College and is a graduate of the Washington
Agriculture and Forestry Leadership Program.
His career has been devoted to serving Indian
Country in various capacities. He was the
Director of the national Tribal Lands Program
for the Trust for Public Land (TPL) in Portland,
Oregon, and was twice elected to the Nez
Perce Tribal Executive Committee where he
served both terms as Treasurer. He also
managed tribal fisheries, wildlife, forestry,
agriculture, and cultural resource programs
for the tribe. He has also worked for the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Washington
State Department of Natural Resources, Willamette
Industries Inc. and the U.S. Forest Service.
He currently serves on various boards including
the Governing Council of The Wilderness
Society; the Native Nations Institute for
Leadership, Management and Policy through
the Udall Center at the University of Arizona;
Potlatch Corporation’s Citizens Advisory
Committee in Idaho; and the Bonneville Environmental
Foundation. His past national leadership
positions include Chairman of the Board
of Directors for the American Indian Science
and Engineering Society; President of the
Inter-Tribal Timber Council; and Chairman
of the Tribal Lands Advisory Council for
TPL. He received the Earle Wilcox National
Award from the Intertribal Timber Council
and the Chief Sealth Award from the Native
American Fish and Wildlife Society, both
recognizing his service to tribal communities
in natural resources. He also volunteers
his time to various tribal and natural resource
causes. He sings with the Nez Perce Nation
Drum and has two daughters, Lindsay and
Alex.
Billy Frank, Jr., Nisqually
Northwest Indian Fish Commission Chairman/Tribal
Natural Resource Manager
Billy Frank, Jr. of the Nisqually Indian
Tribe, has been Chairman of the Northwest
Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) for
22 years. In this capacity, he “speaks
for the salmon” on behalf of 19 Treaty
Indian Tribes in western Washington. Under
his leadership, the tribal role over the
past 30 years has evolved from that of activists,
fighting the state to secure fishing rights
reserved in treaties with the United States
government, to managers of the fish, shellfish
and other resources. Supported by the NWIFC,
the tribes are unsurpassed in their abilities
as natural resource managers.
In the 1960’s and early 70’s,
Frank was a grass roots political activist
who was frequently jailed for his role in
civil disobedience, which involved taking
part in numerous “fish-in’s”
in opposition to state authority over the
tribes. Years of resistance finally paid
off when federal court ruled in favor of
the tribes in U.S. v. Washington,
the “Boldt Decision” of 1974.
The ruling, supported by the U.S. Supreme
Court in 1979, reaffirmed the treaty-protected
fishing rights of the tribes. Among other
things, the ruling stated that the tribes
have a right to catch up to 50 percent of
the harvestable resource, and that the state
and the tribes must co-manage the resource.
NWIFC was formed in 1975, to support tribal
fisheries management activities and to enable
the tribes to speak with a united voice.
In addition to helping the tribes develop
cooperative fisheries plans, the NWIFC board
of commissioners and commission staff help
coordinate such programs as enhancement
and habitat management. This example of
state/tribal cooperation has had its challenges,
but it has been fundamentally successful
and has inspired similar efforts in other
parts of the U.S. and the world. With Frank’s
leadership, the NWIFC and the tribes it
serves are working to protect and restore
the natural resources for Indians and non-Indians
alike.
Celebrated regionally, nationally and internationally
as an outstanding Native American leader,
Frank has been the recipient of numerous
recognition awards, including the 1991 Albert
Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism and
2004
Indian Country Today Inaugural American
Visionary Award.
Alan Parker, Esq., Chippewa Cree
Alan Parker is a professor and the Director
of the Northwest Indian Applied Research
Institute at The Evergreen College (Olympia,
WA) where he has been a member of the faculty
since September of 1997. In May, 2000 Governor
Gary Locke appointed Professor Parker as
the first Native American attorney to serve
on the Washington State Gambling Commission.
A citizen of the Chippewa Cree Tribal Nation
of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation in
Northern Montana, Alan practiced law in
Washington, D.C. for over twenty years where
he directed the Tribal Government Task Force
of the American Indian Policy Review Commission
(1975-77) and was the first Native American
to serve as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs. In 1987, Senator
Daniel K. Inouye appointed Alan to the position
of Staff Director of the Senate Committee
on Indian Affairs, a position he held until
1991. During his service in the Senate he
was involved in development of the following
legislative initiatives: the Indian Child
Welfare Act, the Indian Religious Freedom
Act, the Native American Graves Protection
and Repatriation Act, the Tribal Self-governance
Act and the American Indian Development
Finance Corporation Act. He also served
as President of the American Indian National
Bank in Washington, DC from 1982 through
1987.
Kathryn Harrison, Molalla
Kathryn Harrison is a Chairwoman
of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand
Ronde Community of Oregon. Her father, Harry
Jones, was full-blooded Molalla (Grand Ronde);
her mother, Ella Flemming, was one-half
Aleut. Ms Harrison was orphaned at age 10
and lived in foster homes until the age
of 14, when she was sent to Chemawa Indian
School (Oregon). She is a graduate of Chemawa
and of Lane Community College, Eugene, Oregon
where she earned a nursing degree. Kathryn
is known for her community organizing successes
and her central role in obtaining federal
recognition and restoration of the Grand
Ronde Tribe in 1983. She has a long history
of working with tribal elders and children
and is known for her spirituality. In addition
to serving as tribal chairwoman for six
years and as a member of the tribal council
for 21 years, Ms. Harrison represented the
Tribe’s interest in many organizations,
including the Native American Program of
Oregon Legal Services; the state Indian
Council on Aging; the Commission on Indian
Services; the Historic and Preservation
Advisory Board; the Oregon Women’s
Political Caucus; the Willamette River Restoration
Initiative Board of Directors; the Spirit
Mountain Community Fund Board of Trustees;
the Affiliated Tribes of NW Indians and
the National Congress of American Indians.
She has the following honors and distinctions:
YWCA Woman of Achievement Award (1995);
Distinguished Service Award, League of Women
Voters (1995); American Indian Business
Leaders White Crown Award (1999); Women
of Achievement Award, Oregon Commission
for Women (1999); and the Tom McCall Leadership
Award from SOLV (2001). She is currently
serving as a governor’s appointee
to the Oregon Council for the Humanities.
Kathryn is a founding member of the Policy
Board of the Institute for Tribal Government
at Portland State University where she is
a Distinguished Fellow. She oversees the
“Great
Tribal Leaders of Modern Times Interview
Project,” a video collection
of the personal histories of contemporary
tribal leaders.
Russ Lehman
Russ Lehman teaches politics and policy
making at the graduate level at Seattle
University and The Evergreen College. He
has been a lawyer and policy director at
the state legislative level and on a gubernatorial
levels. He helped create and now leads the
First American Education Project, which
is the only tribally owned and run organization
that educates the public, policy makers
and the media about election issues of importance
in Indian Country. The First American Education
Project has a perfect record of election
victories and is involved in educational
activities in many states in the 2004 elections.
George Mackenzie-Grieve
Mr. Mackenzie-Grieve is Manager of the Yukon
Division of the Environmental Protection
Branch of Environment Canada. He graduated
from University of Calgary, Alberta in 1970
with a M.Sc. in Biological Sciences (ecology).
The next 10 years he was an instructor in
Biological Sciences at Malaspina College-University
in Nanaimo British Columbia. In 1979, he
and his family moved to Whitehorse where
they have lived for the past 25 years. The
first two years in the Yukon (1979-1981)
were spent working with in the parks program
of the Department of Renewable Resources
of the Government of Yukon. In 1981 he joined
Environment Canada and served as the Head
of the Environmental Assessment/Biological
Services Section from 1981 to 1987. Since1987,
he has been the Manager of the Yukon Division
of the Environmental Protection Branch.
Brian MacDonald (Champagne and Aishihik
First Nations)
Brian L. MacDonald is a Champagne and Aishihik
First Nations citizen who practices law
in Whitehorse Yukon. He has been a member
of the Yukon Bar since February 1999 and
has worked almost exclusively with First
Nations and Aboriginal Organizations on
the implementation of land claims agreements.
His practice has focused primarily on aboriginal
rights law, environmental law and corporate
law. Most recently he has been involved
with the development and implementation
of the Species at Risk Act (Canada), and
issues related to the protection and utilization
of aboriginal traditional knowledge in regulatory
processes both at the local level and at
the international level. He has participated
in discussion with the United Nations’
Convention on Biological Diversity and the
World Intellectual Property Organizations’
Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources,
Traditional Knowledge and Folklore.
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