The U.S. Department of the Interior's first-ever Secretary's Tribal Advisory Committee kick-off meeting works to bring Tribes to the decision-making table.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced Bay Mills Indian Community President Whitney Gravelle and Jamul Indian Village Chairwoman Erica Pinto will be the advisory committee's chair and vice chair respectively, according to a Sept. 29 news release.
"Tribes deserve a seat at the decision-making table before policies are made that impact their communities," Haaland said in the release. "With new leadership helping to guide the first-ever Secretary's Tribal Advisory Committee, Tribal leaders will engage at the highest levels of the Department on the issues that matter most to their people. I look forward to continued discussion and ensuring that the Department honors and strengthens our nation-to-nation relationships with Tribes."
Formation of the Secretary's Tribal Advisory Committee was announced in November. At the time, DOI announced periodic Tribal consultations that would included department updates, as well as tribal consultation policy and procedures contained in its departmental manual.
The two-day virtual kick-off meeting was facilitated by Senior Advisor to the Secretary Heidi Todacheene, according to the Sept. 29 release. Advisory committee members met with Haaland, Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau and White House Council on Native American Affairs Executive Director Morgan Rodman. Participants also attended sessions with representatives from the Office of the Solicitor; the Offices of the Assistant Secretaries of Fish and Wildlife and Parks; Indian Affairs; Insular and International Affairs; Land and Minerals Management; Policy, Management and Budget; and Water and Science.
The members of the Secretary's Tribal Advisory Committee were announced in a June 15 news release. There are 24 representatives comprised of a primary and alternate member from each of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' 12 regions.
The members include:
Alaska Region: Primary Robert Keith, Native Village of Elim president, and Alternate Gayla Hoseth, second Tribal chief for the Curyung Tribal Council;
Eastern Region: Primary Kelly Dennis, Shinnecock Indian Nation councilwoman, and Alternate Stephanie Bryan, Poarch Creek Indians Tribal chair;
Eastern Oklahoma Region: Primary Gary Batton, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma chief, and Alternate Del Beaver, Muscogee (Creek) Nation second chief;
Great Plains Region: Primary Dionne Crawford, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate for the Lake Traverse District councilwoman, and Alternate Cora White Horse, Oglala Sioux Tribe councilwoman;
Midwest Region: Primary Whitney Gravelle, Bay Mills Indian Community president, and Alternate Michelle Beaudin, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin councilwoman;
Navajo Region: Primary Jonathan Nez, Navajo Nation president, and Alternate Daniel Tso, Navajo Nation council delegate;
Northwest Region: Primary Kat Brigham, Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation chair of the board of trustees, and Alternate Timothy Greene, Makah Tribe chairman;
Pacific Region: Primary Erica Pinto, Jamul Indian Village of California councilwoman, and Alternate Reid Milanovich, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians councilman;
Rocky Mountain Region: Primary Jody LaMere, Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy's Reservation councilwoman, and Alternate Jordan Dresser, Northern Arapaho Business Council councilman;
Southern Plains Region: Primary Walter Echo-Hawk, Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma president, and Alternate Reggie Wassana, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma governor;
Southwest Region: Primary Mark Mitchell, APCG Chairman of the Pueblo of Tesuque, and Alternate Christopher Moquino, Pueblo de San Ildefonso governor;
Western Region: Primary Amber Torres, Walker River Paiute Tribe councilman, and Alternate Terry Rambler; San Carlos Apache Tribe councilman.
