Veteran tribal relations coordinator Amilee Wilson has been appointed by NOAA Fisheries to serve as Alaska tribal relations coordinator.

Her key responsibility is to improve NOAA Fisheries’ relations with Alaska Native tribal and coastal communities, including providing technical support on tribal consultation, sovereignty, governance and protocols during project and program development.

Tribal Relations Coordinator Amilee Wilson

Wilson, who grew up on a cattle ranch in northwestern Olympia, Washington, said one of her objectives is to establish and maintain strong cross-cultural relationships with tribal leaders, councils and technical staff to help ensure equitable access to cultural and natural resources important to their lifestyle.

“In addition, I develop, recommend and distribute tribal policies, issue tribal program procedures and guidelines and prepare a wide variety of reports in response to internal agency work,” she said.

Wilson, herself a descendant of the Shinnecock Nation whose homelands are what is now New York and Connecticut, recently established and chairs the Alaska Regional Tribal Engagement Team to increase agency collaboration and outreach to Alaska Native tribal and coastal communities.

Her passion for fisheries began with exploring pastures, forests and creeks running through the ranch she grew up on, where she watched salmon pushing their way up to spawning grounds in small creeks on the property. “I think this is where my love for the environment, conservation and stewardship came about and why I became a fisheries biologist,” she said.

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“Our cattle ranch was located adjacent to the Skokomish Indian Tribe, and they became our Native family,” she said. “They taught us how to plan the three sisters (squash, beans and corn) in our garden and traded their smoked salmon for our chickens in the late summer and fall.”

Wilson, a resident of Yakutat, Alaska, previously served as the tribal coordinator for the NOAA Fisheries West Coast Regional Office in Lacey, Washington and Portland, Oregon.

She earned a master’s degree in public policy and a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Evergreen State College.  She also holds certificates in tribal relations from the Hatfield Institute for Tribal Government at Portland State University and in diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace from the University of Southern Florida.

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