Germaine White was born on the Flathead Indian Reservation and raised by the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness, and is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She is the Native American Engagement Director at the Mansfield Center at the University of Montana, and formerly served as the Information and Education Program Manager for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ Natural Resource Department. She has experience managing large scale outdoor environmental education events, developing multimedia educational materials, and implementing outreach programs for a diverse audience. These multimedia interactive educational materials integrate the wisdom inherited from our elders and ancestors – our traditional ways of knowing and understanding (Native Science) – with the best available western science. Such exchange and dialog are critically important in our region and through the ancestral territory of Indigenous peoples. Germaine is passionate about the work of cultural bridge-building and bring people together to protect the places that sustain us all. She looks forward to bringing her perspective to the Missoula Conservation Roundtable.

Among many notable accomplishments during her long career with the CSKT Natural Resources Department, Germaine coordinated the award winning “Explore the River” educational series, which included an interactive DVD and the book “Bull Trout‘s Gift,” a learning project focusing on Bull Trout restoration in the Jocko River. She also co-produced the book “Beaver Steals Fire” and the “Fire on the Land” interactive learning DVD. Germaine assumed leadership for the development and oversight of the Tribe’s Aquatic Invasive Species program, and secured funding for a major climate change education program for Indian Country from NASA.

Germaine was the first Tribal representative elected to the governing board of the Clark Fork Coalition, where she served for six years. She did so as an official representative of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, sanctioned by the Tribal Council. While on the CFC Board, she focused on building connections between tribal resource conservation and Missoula-based conservation.

In addition to her current work with the UM Mansfield Center, Germaine serves on the Board of the Glacier Institute and the Board of Salish Kootenai College.

By Sarah Bates