Tribal Research Program

Michael began his career with Spruce Grouse research in the Adirondacks as part of his Environmental Studies B.S. at SUNY ESF, continued with aquatic foodbase studies on the Colorado River earning his M.S. in Biology at Northern Arizona University. Then in the mid 90’s, Mike had the opportunity to work with the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s Environmental Contaminants Salt Lake Field Office conducting fish and bird egg surveys and with the UC Davis Clear Lake Research Center collecting contaminated soils and groundwater from the Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine Superfund Site and mercury and blue-green algal surveys on Clear Lake.

In 1998, Mike started with Big Valley Rancheria and worked with the Tribal Council to establish the Environmental Office of the Tribe and began the annual Tule Boat Festival. . During the past 25 years, Mike has worked with Tribes in the Clear Lake watershed as an Environmental Director and has participated in the annual gatherings and youth campouts hosted with the neighboring Tribes of the North Coast Mountain region. Currently, Mike as the Water Resource Manager with the Potter Valley Tribe is developing the Tribe’s clean water quality monitoring program for properties in both the Russian and Eel River watersheds and is assisting with a Forest Management Plan’s environmental review and climate change adaptation planning.

Nominating Tribe: Potter Valley Tribe

Will is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians, a federally recognized Indian Tribe and Ewiiaapaayp Indian Reservation in east San Diego County, California, since 1995. Will is CEO of the Tribe’s federally chartered tribal corporation, the Leaning Rock Business Corporation. Will is also CEO of the Tribe’s non-governmental organization (NGO) certified by the United Nations for civil society consultative status since 2014. In 2018, Will completed ten years as Executive Director of the California Association of Tribal Governments (CATG), the state-wide, inter-tribal, non-profit association of federally recognized Indian tribes in the state of California, with 34 member tribes that serves the interests of all 110 California tribes, and the largest regional inter-tribal association in the U.S. CATG dissolved in fulfillment of its priority objective to merge with the three regional tribal chairman’s associations to form the California Tribal Chairman’s Association.

Will is an elected tribal official serving his fourteenth term (28 years) as Assemblymember and eighth term (16 years) as a Vice President of the Executive Council for the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Will is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tlingit & Haida Tribal Business Corporation (THTBC), a federally chartered tribal corporation operating commercial business enterprises for the Central Council

Honorable Christina McDonald is the Vice Chairperson for North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians. Vice Chair McDonald has over 12 years of tribal government project development and a strong background in executive board leadership and policy making. As the Environmental Director for North Fork Rancheria from 2013-2021, she brings with her a robust background in environmental sciences and cultural resource management. She is versed in facilitating government- to- government relationships with County, State, and Federal agencies and has an extensive experience providing nourishing efforts of local, state, federal non-profit organizations, and local tribes.

Connor is an experienced Natural & Working Lands Specialist focusing on the critical relationships and responsibilities associated with conserving, restoring, and managing Southern Californian Natural and Working Lands. He integrates his work at the Climate Science Alliance with graduate research at the Institute of the Environment-Working Lands Innovation Center and as a National Science Foundation Research Trainee at the Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute-Sustainable Oceans. Connor works closely with scientists, managers, agricultural partners, Tribal representatives, and other partners to support climate adaptation strategies within ecosystem stewardship. He is a Pala Tribal citizen (Payomkawichum/Cahuilla) and works to integrate his peoples’ Traditional Ecological Knowledge with emerging and innovative technologies. Connor acquired a B.S. in Sustainability Studies at the University of California, Riverside, and continues his academic pursuits as a Ph.D. student in Ecology at the University of California, Davis.

Raymond Gutteriez is the Eco-Cultural Ecologist for the Wuksachi Indian Tribe. He started his career in natural resources in 2009 as an intern with UC Merced’s NSF-REU where he studied forest stand relationship with California Spotted Owl nesting and reproduction success. His early career work was as a seasonal biological technician for the NPS, USFS, USGS, and as a Americorps member with the Sierra Foothill Conservancy, then attended the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in pursuit of a master’s degree. After working for Hoopa Tribal Forestry as a Youth Intern Coordinator and Wildlife technician. After this returning to his ancestral homelands, Raymond accepted a position with Cold Springs Rancheria of Mono Indians as their Environmental Program Manager, where he was responsible for the EPA General Assistance grant and part 106 and 319 water quality grants. Then he moved on to work for the Great Basin Institute with the Hume Lake Range District. After which he was hired by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as an Environmental Scientist.

Raymond is committed to the revitalization of his community’s culture and relationship to land. He practices a number of ancestral skills: flint knapping, cultural burning, friction fire, bow making, and tends to food and medicine plants.

Ms. Williams-Claussen is a Yurok Tribal member raised near her ancestral village of Wehl-kwew’ in Yurok country, a Harvard graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemical Sciences, a Master’s Candidate in Natural Resources with an emphasis in conservation policy at California Polytechnic Humboldt, and has 15 years of on-the-ground wildlife and ecosystem management and research experience in Yurok country and surrounding lands in northern California. As such she brings with her a balanced perspective on the needs of integrating traditional and Indigenous knowledge with Western science to address today’s growing climate impacts. As Director of the Yurok Tribe’s Wildlife Department, she is part of an integrated team within the Tribe’s Natural Resource Division, and so can also serve as a conduit to other Natural Resource Department Directors in regard to a variety of ecological questions.

Dean Tonenna is a botanist and is involved in a variety of conservation projects which include rare plant monitoring, native seed collection, riparian and rangeland health evaluation, and vegetation classification using satellite and aerial imagery. Dean has been brought up in the traditions of his people, the Kootzaduka’a, a Native American Tribe, who live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Mono Lake and Yosemite, California. Dean integrates his ethnobotanical knowledge along with his formal training in plant biology and ecology to better steward vegetation resources within his traditional homeland. Dean has undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of California, Berkeley.

Haku, my name is Casmali Lopez, I grew up down the creek from the old hot springs, and up the creek from the village of Shalawa. My family is the last family to hold onto land in what was once the community of old indian town, located in so-called Santa Barbara, California. It has been an honor to be brought up in my families and communities traditions and they have guided my life. To speak for myself is really the task of stating all those who taught me all the truth of spirit I know. For that I must extend my gratitude to the Tomol Society for accepting me as a singer and a paddler. Further, I must extend my gratitude to the Syuxtun Plant Mentorship collective for helping me first study the plants. I have found great beauty and power in the tools of mathematics and for that I must thank my professors and cohort while I completed my Bachelors of Arts in Mathematics at Colorado College. None of this could be uttered without my family, my brothers, my father and my mother. And of course, that creek, and so many more.

Nathan K. Nunez is a lineal descendant of the Serrano mountain village, Xaapchivit (Japchibit), located in the Eastern San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California. Nathan is a leader in the outdoor education industry and a boots-on-the-ground advocate for the Eastern San Gabriel Mountains and the surrounding watershed. Nathan has spent his whole life immersed in the Gabrielino community of Los Angeles County, practicing the songs, dance, and cultural ways of the local indigenous people. Much of Nathan’s current work involves the preserving, restoring, and uncovering of the stories of the Xaapchivitam people. Nathan has been a leading advocate for change and advancement of traditional stewardship and relations of land management practices within the Angeles National Forest. Nathan founded a volunteer group called Canyon City Environmental Project (CCEP) to bring people together and address longstanding issues of excess trash within San Gabriel Canyon. This work evolved and continued to grow into one of the largest environmental movements in the history of the San Gabriel Mountains. Over the years, Nathan has led over a thousand volunteers on clean-ups within the San Gabriel Mountains. Nathan continues to share his passion for rekindling our connection to the natural landscape by leading an organization connecting youth from underserved communities to nature. As the CEO of Nunez & Nunez Consulting Services, Inc., Nathan has partnered with the Watershed Conservation Authority and Rivers and Mountains Conservancy to provide free camping trips to Southeast Los Angeles youth.

Samantha Johnson Yang is a Tongva Biologist, and science illustrator. She currently works for her tribe developing educational materials for students of all ages in the LA County area interested in learning more Native Science. She is also the founder and lead of the Tongva Land Stewardship Crew, a group of tribal youth whose work in invasive species removal saved homes during the Eaton Canyon Fire of 2025.