PORTLAND, Ore. – Aja K. DeCoteau, a member of the Yakama Nation, joined the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission March 8 as the new manager of the watershed department. DeCoteau, 29, has been serving as the program manager for the Yakama Nation’s Environmental Management Program in Toppenish, Wash. for the past two years.

“I am very excited to be joining CRITFC,” she said. “I am looking forward to working with all of CRITFC’s member tribes and tribal staffs and eager to implement the tribal restoration plan Wy-Kan-Ush-Mi Wa-Kish-Wit in a period where we face numerous challenges like climate change and competition for water resources.”

DeCoteau comes to CRITFC with a strong background in regional water and air quality issues, environmental review and environmental health issues. She will oversee restoration and protection of fish habitat projects under the tribes’ salmon restoration plan while providing technical and funding support to CRITFC’s member tribes. DeCoteau will take a leadership role in the implementation of the Northwest Power and Planning Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program and will be essential to CRITFC’s implementation of the Columbia Basin Fish Accords.

“These are momentous times for treaty-based fisheries management,” said Paul Lumley, CRITFC’s executive director. “Aja’s experience and ties to the tribal community will be essential to helping the tribes’ meet their goals and moving CRITFC’s watershed department into the future.”

DeCoteau has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Native American studies and environmental studies from Dartmouth College and a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University. Laura Gephart has been acting as CRITFC’s watershed manager for the past year.