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2001 – 2014; 2022 – present
Native peoples have persevered as generations of Indigenous leaders and community members have worked tirelessly to protect their sovereignty, families, cultures, and homelands. Today, in tribal council chambers from Northern California to Southeast Alaska, this continuum of visionary leadership and care remains intact as contemporary Indigenous leaders continue to address the many political, cultural, environmental, economic, and social challenges facing them.
The desire to recognize the determination of Native peoples and the significant achievements of Indigenous leadership are the reasons the Indigenous Leadership Awards (ILA) were created. The awards are a public appreciation—a celebration—of each awardees’ unwavering dedication and impact.
2025 Indigenous Leadership Award Recipients
The 2025 Awardees represent Native homelands across the Pacific Northwest — the region where Ecotrust focuses its work as an organization — and includes seasoned as well as emerging leaders.
Together with family, friends, and colleagues, the Awardees were celebrated in a ceremony at the Redd on Salmon Street in Portland on October 15, 2025. Click on each awardee’s photo to read their interview and see their speeches from the award ceremony.
Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe | Executive Director of the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project | Tribal Council Member and Spokesperson for Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe
Is recognized as an emerging leader for her powerful voice in reversing the erasure of Nisenan people in California history, advancing federal recognition of her tribe, and sustaining Nisenan community and culture.
Wet’suwet’en Nation | Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief of the Big Frog Clan | Founder of the Centre for First Nations Governance | Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD), University of Victoria
Is honored for his pivotal leadership in advancing and transforming Indigenous self-governance globally and empowering First Nations to reclaim and exercise their inherent rights.
North Fork Mono Tribe | Chairman of the North Fork Mono Tribe
Is honored for his decades-long work to revitalize cultural fire practices and forge enduring partnerships among tribes, agencies, and communities for land, water, and cultural healing.
Chinook Indian Nation | Chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation Tribal Council and Culture Committee | Senior Program Officer at Inatai Foundation
Is celebrated for his leadership of the Chinook Indian Nation in its pursuit of federal recognition and his tireless work to revitalize the cultures and languages of tribes of the Lower Columbia River region.
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians | Tribal Council Member and former Cultural Resources Director for his tribe
Is recognized for his lifelong dedication to cultural preservation, tribal governance, and advocacy on behalf of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.
Karuk, Hupa, and Yurok | Co-founder and Program Director of FireGeneration Collaborative | Former member of the Northwest Forest Plan Federal Advisory Committee
In recognition of his emerging leadership to restore fire as a practice of Indigenous land stewardship, advance policy that supports tribal fire practices, and inspire new generations of leaders.
Amah Mutsun Tribal Band | Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria | Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People | Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation | Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians | Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria
Is recognized for the Network’s groundbreaking work to elevate tribal governance along California’s Pacific coast through stewardship, monitoring, and co-management and for building an innovative, collaborative, and growing alliance.
Nominations
This Call for Nominations is now closed. During the nomination period, we invited individuals, families, colleagues, tribes, First Nations, and Alaska Native villages and corporations to nominate Indigenous leaders making a difference in their community and beyond.
Full Awardee and Honoree List
Since 2001, the ILA has recognized 60 outstanding Indigenous leaders for their unwavering dedication to strengthen self-determination and their efforts to uplift their communities and lands. Nominated by their community and selected by their peers, these Indigenous leaders come from all walks of life and represent many different tribes, villages, First Nations, languages, cultures, and landscapes.
Shelly Covert (Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe)
Satsan (Herb George) (Wet’suwet’en Nation)
Ron Goode (North Fork Mono Tribe)
Tony A. (naschio) Johnson (Chinook Indian Nation)
Robert Kentta (Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians)
Ryan Reed (Karuk, Hupa, and Yurok)
Tribal Marine Stewards Network
SandeBea Allman (Oglala Lakota and Nimiipuu)
Darrell Hillaire (Lummi)
sm3tcoom (Delbert Miller) (Skokomish)
Delano Saluskin (Yakama)
Corinne Sams (Umatilla)
Theresa Sheldon
(Tulalip)
Sgaahl Siid Xyáahl Jaad
(Marina Anderson) (Haida/Tlingit)
Kh’asheechtlaa
(Louise Brady) (Tlingit)
Frances G. Charles (Lower Elwha)
Alyssa Macy (Wasco/Navajo/Hopi)
Corine Pearce (Pomo)
Gabe Sheoships (Cayuse/Walla Walla)
Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson (Haida)
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Youth Leadership Council
Julie Kitka (Chugach Eskimo)
Paul Lumley (Yakama)
Spring Alaska Schreiner (Inupiaq, Chugach Alaska Native Corporation shareholder and Valdez Native Tribe)
Michelle Week (Sinixt)
Roberta Reyes Cordero (Chumash Nation), Awardee (1941 – 2025)
Annita McPhee (Tahltan Nation)
Eric J. Quaempts (Yakama)
Roy Sampsel (Choctaw/Wyandotte) (1941 – 2017)
Arthur Williams Sterritt (Gitga’at)
Brian Cladoosby (Swinomish), Awardee
Patience Andersen Faulkner (Chugach Eskimo)
Micah McCarty (Makah)
Gail Small (Northern Cheyenne)
Jonathan Waterhouse (S’Klallam/Chippewa/Cree)
Delores Ann Pigsley (Siletz), Awardee
Nora Dauenhauer (Tlingit) (1927 – 2017)
Chief Adam Dick (Kawadillikall Clan of the Dzawatainuk Tribe of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation) (1929 – 2018)
Wayne Warren Don (Cup’ig/Yupik)
Chuck Sams (Cayuse/Walla Walla/Cocopa/Yankton Sioux)
Kim Recalma-Clutesi (Kwagiulth/Pentlatch), Awardee
Jessie Housty (Heiltsuk)
Terry L. Cross (Seneca)
Sandra Sunrising Osawa (Makah)
James Manion (Wasco), Awardee
Janeen Comenote (Hesquiaht/Kwakiutl/Oglala Lakota/Quinault)
Allen Pinkham, Sr. (Nez Perce) (1938 – 2025)
Brian Wallace (Washoe)
Patricia L. Whitefoot (Yakama)
Roberta (Bobbie) Conner (Cayuse/Umatilla/Nez Perce), Awardee
Carol Craig (Yakama)
Alfred (Bud) Lane, III (Siletz)
Lillian Moyer (Tahltan)
Guujaaw (Haida), Awardee
Harold Gatensby (Danka Tlingit)
Ilarion Larry Merculieff (Aleut)
Tawna Sanchez (Shoshone Bannock/Ute)
Judith Sayers, PhD (Nuu-chah-nulth)
W. Ron Allen (Jamestown S’Klallam), Awardee
Robi Michelle Craig (Kiks.adi Clan, Steel House, Tlingit)
Leaf Hillman (Karuk)
Chief Robert Simeon Pasco (Nlaka’pamux Nation) (1940 – 2025)
Shawn E. Yanity (Stillaguamish)
Sarah James (Neetasii Gwich’in), Awardee
Clarence Alexander (Dranjik Gwich’in)
Ivan Jackson, Sr. (Klamath/Modoc)
Teri Rofkar (Sitka Tribe of Alaska) (1936 – 2016)
Terry Williams (Tulalip Tribes) (1948 – 2022)
Jeannette Armstrong (Okanagan), Awardee
Billy Frank, Jr. (Nisqually) (1931 – 2014)
Susan Masten (Yurok)
Chief Nathan Matthew (Shuswap Nation)
Agnes Pilgrim (Takelma Band of Siletz) (1924 – 2019)
Kelly Brown (Heiltsuk), Awardee
Carol Craig (Yakama)
Kathleen Hill (Klamath)
Robert Sam (Sitka Tribe of Alaska)
John Ward (Taku River Tlingit First Nation)
Phillip Cash Cash (Cayuse/Nez Perce), Awardee
Susan Burdick (Yurok)
David Hatch (Siletz) (1936 – 2016)
Dennis Martinez (Tohono O’odham) (2024)
Pauline Hilistis Waterfall (Heiltsuk)
Featured
As a lead-up to the Indigenous Leadership Awards ceremony, our Indigenous Leadership Program curates a series of hour-long, online gatherings. This briefing series features tribal leaders from across the Pacific Northwest, who discuss the historical context of issues tribal communities have confronted over time and the ways Indigenous leaders responded. Attendees learn about little-known eras, issues, and subjects, all from an Indigenous perspective, and about the impact of Indigenous leadership on the well-being of tribal communities and beyond.
Ecotrust Project Team & Services
Want to learn more? Check out the full Ecotrust Staff & Board and all of our Tools for Building Collective Change.
We engage and communicate powerful stories at the intersection of equity, economy, and the environment.
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Any attempt to chart a sustainable course for the future must include the traditions, knowledge, and aspirations of Native people.
—SPENCER B. BEEBE, ecotrust founder
Resources
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
July 17, 2023 | Eight awardees to be celebrated during October 18 ceremony at the Redd on Salmon Street
Blog post
IN MEMORIAM | On August 5, 2022, Alan R. Parker walked on
Blog post
STAFF VOICES | In place of a land acknowledgement, Ecotrust staff are asking you to support Indigenous communities by taking action
Blog post
INTERVIEW | An interview with Cody Desautel about the impacts of climate change on the Tribes’ forest and economy and how they are responding to threats
Blog post
INTERVIEW | An interview with Gabe Sheoships, the Executive Director of the Friends of Tryon Creek
Blog post
PARTNER VOICES | An interview with Mike Durglo, Jr., the Tribal Historic Preservation Office director for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
Blog post
STAFF VOICES | Centering this region’s Indigenous peoples and traditional land and water management knowledges.
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STAFF VOICES | Centering this region’s Indigenous peoples and traditional land and water management knowledges.
Blog post
INTERVIEW | Jess Housty of the Heiltsuk First Nation shares the social and economic impacts following the grounding of the Nathan E. Stewart
Blog post
INTERVIEW | The story behind the Heiltsuk First Nation investigating and eventually litigating a 2016 diesel spill in unceded territorial waters
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INTERVIEW | Lisa J. Watt and Doe Hatfield interviewed Alan Parker following the publication of his recent book, Pathways to Indigenous Nation Sovereignty
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Tribes respond: Atlantics salmon in the Salish Sea 
PARTNER VOICES | Tribes around the Puget Sound have long objected to Atlantic salmon being farmed in the Salish Sea. An incident last August shows us why.
