Billy Frank, Jr

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.

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 manage the resource as co-managers.

Dr. Estella Leopold

Dr. Estella Leopold, youngest daughter of Aldo Leopold, is Emeritus Professor of Botany and past director of the Quaternary Research Center at the University of Washington. Dr. Leopold was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and American Philosophical Society. Her research interests and publications focus on paleobotany, forest history, restoration ecology, and environmental quality. She studies fossil pollen and seeds to reconstruct ancient vegetation and climate in Alaska, China, and the western U.S. Her conservation activites focus on forest management issues.

Charles Wilkinson

Distinguished University Professor, Moses Lasky Professor of Law

History and Society in the American West; Indian Law; Public Land Law; Water Law

Links: University of Colorado Law School

University of Colorado Law School

Prior to joining the faculty of CU Law School, Charles Wilkinson practiced law with private firms in Phoenix and San Francisco and then with the Native American Rights Fund. In 1975, he became a law professor, teaching at the law schools of the University of Oregon, Michigan and Minnesota before moving to Colorado in 1987.

His primary specialties are federal public land law and Indian law. In addition to his many articles in law reviews, popular journals, and newspapers, his thirteen books include the standard law texts on public land law and on Indian law. He also served as managing editor of Felix S. Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law, the leading treatise on Indian law. The books he has written in recent years, such as 1992's The Eagle Bird, are aimed for a general audience, and they discuss society, history, and land in the American West. He won the Colorado Book Award for Messages From Frank's Landing, a profile of Billy Frank, Jr. of the Nisqually Tribe of western Washington. In his latest book, Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations, he poses what he calls "the most fundamental question of all: Can the Indian voice endure?" Listen to an interview on Colorado Public Radio conducted by Dan Drayer about Blood Struggle.

Professor Wilkinson has received teaching awards from his students at all three law schools where he has taught, and the Universities of Colorado and Oregon have given him their highest awards for leadership, scholarship, and teaching. He has also won acclamation from non-academic organizations.

Gov. Mike Lowry

Mike" Lowry served as the twentieth governor of the state of Washington from 1993 to 1997.

Lowry was born and raised in St. John, Washington, and graduated from Washington State University in 1962. He was elected to the King County Council in 1975. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Washington's Seventh Congressional District in 1978, where he served until 1989. Within Congress Mike Lowry advocated for environmental protection, including fisheries protection as a basis for enlarging the 1984 Washington Wilderness bill.

Lowry was elected governor in 1992.  The governor's environmental agenda included the successful "Jobs for the Environment" program, which has put more than 400 unemployed timber workers and others back to work repairing long-neglected watersheds at 90 sites throughout Washington.

In addition, the governor helped secure more than $110 million over the past three years for the Washington Wildlife

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.

(see also:  The Institute for Tribal Government)

and Recreation Program, which acquires land for wildlife conservation and outdoor recreational purposes. The program was established in 1990 at the urging of a coalition of organizations and individuals led by Lowry and former Gov. Daniel Evans. Since then, a total of $224 million has been appropriated for 386 projects.

More recently, Lowry has been active in building affordable housing for Washington's migrant farm workers.

For more, see Office of the Governor

The National Wildlife Federation presented him with its National Conservation Award, and in its 10-year anniversary issue, Outside Magazine named him one of 15 "People to Watch," calling him "the West's leading authority on natural resources law." He has served on several boards, including The Wilderness Society, Northern Lights Institute, and the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado. Over the years, Professor Wilkinson has taken on many special assignments for the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, and Justice. He was a member of the tribal team that negotiated the 1997 Joint Secretarial Order of the Interior and Commerce Departments concerning tribal rights under the Endangered Species Act. He served as special counsel to the Interior Department for the drafting of the Presidential Proclamation, signed by President Clinton in September, 1996, establishing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. In December 1997 Agriculture Secretary Glickman appointed him a member of the Committee of Scientists, charged with reviewing the Forest Service planning regulations. Professor Wilkinson acted as facilitator in negotiations between the National Park Service and the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe concerning a tribal land base in Death Valley National Park; in 2000 Congress enacted legislation ratifying the resulting agreement. He is currently serving as facilitator in far-ranging negotiations between the City of Seattle and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.

Honorary Board Members