William H. Veeder Water Law Conference
September 28-29, 2007
Speaker Biographies
Professor Robert Anderson, Director, Native American Law Center, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle
Professor Anderson is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Native American Law Center. Before joining the law school, he was a Senior Staff Attorney for the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, Colorado and Anchorage, Alaska for twelve years. He litigated major cases involving Native American sovereignty, hunting and fishing rights, and natural resources. From 1995-2001, Professor Anderson served as an appointee of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt where he provided legal and policy advice on a wide variety of Indian law and natural resource issues. He teaches Indian Law, Public Land Law, Water Law and first-year Property Law. Professor Anderson was selected by students as a Philip A. Trautman Professor of the Year in 2005 and 2007. In 2007, he received the Native Justice Award from the Northwest Indian Bar Association. He is an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (Bois Forte Band).
Professor Anderson is an author and member of the Board of Editors of Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law (2005 ed.) Recent publications include Indian Water Rights: Settlements and Litigation, Tulsa L Review (2007); and Indian Water Rights and the Federal Trust Responsibility, 46 Nat. Resources J. 399 (2006).
Patti Bailey, Water Quality Manager, Colville Confederated Tribes, Nespelem
Patti Bailey is an Environmental Planner for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation. Since 1997, her focus has been on environmental issues of the Columbia and Okanogan Rivers, both international waters and boundary waters of the Colville Indian Reservation. From 1982 to 1996 she was involved in the development of tribal fish and wildlife management programs for her Tribe. A member of the Colville Tribes, Ms. Bailey is a graduate of Eastern Washington University. She is an adult student of traditional and contemporary basketry and enjoys kayaking on the Columbia River.
Jack Fiander, Attorney at Law, Yakima, WA
Jack Fiander practices law on the arid Yakama Reservation, where water is among the region’s most sought-after resources. He previously served as Yakama Nation Legal Counsel and served one term as a member of the Yakama Tribal Council. Mr. Fiander will be co-teaching the Legal Research and Writing course at the 2008 American Indian Law Center Summer Pre-Law Program.
David R. Lundgren, Attorney at Law, Bandon, OR
Dave Lundgren has worked for tribes for over 25 years. From 1982-1987 he worked with the Tribal Attorneys of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, mainly on water-rights related issues. In 1986 he clerked for the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs. In 1987 he worked on congressional issues with D.C. law firms specializing in federal Indian law, and subsequently served as in-house general legal counsel for the Nisqually Indian Tribe and then the Spokane Tribe of Indians until 2002. He currently maintains a private practice in Bandon, Oregon, where he represents tribes and tribal organizations exclusively. Current clients include the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians in California, the Yakama Nation, the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Louise Mandell, Q.C., Mandell Pinder, Vancouver, B.C.
Louise Mandell is a solicitor and barrister practicing with the firm Mandell Pinder. Ms. Mandell received her formal education at UBC with a B.Ed. and L.L.B. She has worked exclusively in the area of aboriginal and treaty rights since 1977, working with a large number of Bands, providing legal options, presenting the claims to Government and negotiating settlement and resolution of the claims. Louise Mandell has represented numerous First Nations and Banks in a number of landmark court cases asserting aboriginal and treaty rights, including Regina v. Sparrow, Guerin v. The Queen, Delgamuukw v. The Queen, and Regina v. Van der Peet.
Rachael Paschal Osborn, Director, Columbia Institute for Water Policy, Spokane
Rachael Osborn is executive director of the Columbia Institute for Water Policy, a public interest organization, located in Spokane, dedicated to the equitable and sustainable management of the freshwater resources of the Columbia watershed. She is a public interest water lawyer and teaches water law at Gonzaga Law School. She received a B.A. in environmental studies and a J.D. from the University of Washington. Ms. Osborn is co-founder of two non-profit organizations dedicated to protecting water resources in Washington state and the Columbia River watershed: the Center for Environmental Law & Policy (sister organization to the Columbia Institute) and Washington Water Trust.
Gary Passmore, Director, Environmental Trust, Confederated Colville Tribes, Nespelem
Gary Passmore was born in New York City and grew up in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area. When he entered the University of Nevada Reno his advisor suggested he go into water resources by saying: “People have been fighting over water in the west since 1849 and probably always will. There will always be a demand for hydrologists.” Mr. Passmore worked for the Desert Research Institute off and on from 1969 through 1974 doing water chemistry, geologic mapping and hydrology. This exposed him to a rich environment of chemists, hydrogeologists, and computer scientists who served as mentors. Mr. Passmore received a Master of Science in Hydrology in 1975 (it was actually “hydrogeology”, but the term wasn’t in general use at that time).
He became interested in Indian water rights while at university because it was a controversial local issue and it combined two subjects of interest to him: Indians and water. When taking a course in water law he did a paper on the Pyramid Lake Piute Tribe’s legal struggle to secure their water right from the Truckee River. It was while doing research for this paper in a law library that Mr. Passmore first ran across the name of William Veeder; in fact, much of what he could find written about specific Indian water rights cases was penned by Mr.Veeder. Being at that time an impressionable young man, Mr. Passmore was impressed by what he read.
Mr.Passmore began work for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in of 1975 when they were embroiled in what would be known as the “Walton Case.”
Tom Ring, Hydrogeologist, Water Program, Yakama Nation, Toppenish
Tom Ring is a hydrogeologist with the Water Resources Program of the Yakama Nation. He has held this position since 1990 and, in that role, has worked on a variety of projects involving groundwater and surface water quantity and quality, water rights, irrigation and fisheries issues and planning for future water needs. Previously he worked for the Water Resources Program at the Washington Department of Ecology. Tom has Bachelors and Masters of Science degrees in geology from Central Washington University and Northern Arizona University respectively. He has taught geology and hydrogeology classes at Central Washington University and is a licensed geologist and hydrogeologist in Washington State. When not working, he enjoys hiking, climbing, and skiing in the mountains of the west.
Sam Sampson, Editor, Colville Tribal Tribune, Nespelem
Sam Sampson is editor of the Colville Tribal Tribune. He holds a B.A. in Journalism from Eastern Washington University and served as a journalist in the U.S. Marine Corps between 1960-1966, including an assignment to the Armed Forces Radio-TV Station in Okinawa. Mr. Sampson served on the Colville Business Council from 1976-1980 and attended the Walton trial, held in federal district court in Spokane. Mr. Sampson is an enrolled member of the Confederated Colville Tribes, with family ties to the Umatilla, Nez Perce and Yakama Nations.
Sheri Sears, Resident Fisheries Manager, Fish & Wildlife Department, Confederated Colville Tribes, Nespelem
Sheri Sears is the Resident Fish Manager for the Fish & Wildlife Department of the Confederated Colville Tribes, where she provides oversight on fisheries projects, professional biological research, fisheries planning and other projects. She previously worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, Stevens County Conservation District, the City of Cheney, and as a registered nurse.
Stephen H. Suagee, Office of the Reservation Attorney, Confederated Colville Tribes, Nespelem
Steve Suagee is an attorney in the Office of the Reservation Attorney of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the on-reservation general counsel to the Colville Tribes’ government. The Colville Reservation consists of approximately 1.4 million acres in North Central Washington State, including significant portions of the Columbia and Okanogan Rivers. Mr. Suagee has served in this position for nearly 13 years, concentrating on the Tribes’ natural resources and environmental issues, including a broad array of water resources regulatory and rights protection matters. He currently represents the Colville Tribes in federal court litigation related to ESA compliance for the Federal Columbia River Power System and in negotiation of agreements with the State of Washington related to the State’s Columbia River Water Management Program. From 1986-92, he served as Tribal Attorney for the Hoopa Valley Tribe in northwest California, where his work led directly to significant increases in instream flows released into the Trinity River by the Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project, which is describe in his article A Tribal Strategy Increases Streamflows to Restore a Fishery, Natural Resources and Environment, Vol. 9, No. 3, Winter 1995, pp. 23-27.
Mr. Suagee has served on the Board of Directors of the Washington Water Trust (WWT) for the past 7 years, including several years as Board President. WWT is a public interest organization devoted to improving instream flows in Washington by acquiring existing water rights from willing transferors. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law, and admitted to practice in Washington, Oregon, and California. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
Please note: The views expressed by Mr. Suagee are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation or the Washington Water Trust.
Mel Tonasket, Former Chairman, Colville Business Council, Omak
Mr. Tonasket is former chairman of the Colville Tribal Business Council, where he served for more than 20 years. He also served two terms as president of the National Congress of American Indians, mobilizing national support for major tribal legislation passed in the 1970s. He worked develop the Centennial Accord, which delineates principles of government to government relationship between Northwest Tribes and the State of Washington.
Lois Trevino, Water Administrator, Confederated Colville Tribes, Nespelem
Lois Trevino is water code administrator for the Environmental Trust Department of the Colville Confederated Tribes. She holds a B.A. in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. Ms. Trevino is a member of the Confederated Colville Tribes, and has worked for the CCT for 27 years in various natural resource positions.
Mary Verner, Executive Director, Upper Columbia United Tribes, Spokane
Mary Verner worked as a planner and Natural Resources Director for the Spokane Tribe from 1992-2002, and from 2002-present has served as Executive Director for the Upper Columbia United Tribes. She holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Management, and a Law Degree with concentrations in Environmental and Indian law. Her current work engages numerous Tribal governments, federal, state and local agencies in addressing natural resource issues, including water management.
Thomas M. Watson, President, Watson Engineering, Helena
Mike Watson is President of Watson Engineering, located in Helena, Montana, a firm that specializes in all aspects of the planning and operation of water resource projects in the Missouri, Colorado, Columbia and Puget Sound basins. He has served on technical committees of the International Joint Commission, testified as expert witness in complex water rights litigation, and investigated and reported on the economic value of water for various uses. Mr. Watson received his B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Denver and Montana State University respectively.