Milton Bluehouse Jr., an intergovernmental relations specialist on tribal environmental issues and member of the Navajo Nation, is joining the Udall Foundation’s U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution beginning Feb. 16. Bluehouse’s primary duties will relate to the work of the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution’s Native Dispute Resolution Network, intercultural and intergovernmental training, and consensus building services on matters involving Native nations and federal agencies.

“The Udall Foundation has a long-term commitment to working on issues involving American Indians,” said Ellen Wheeler, the foundation executive director. “Included in that is the work of the U.S. Institute to assist parties in the collaborative resolution of conflicts that involve Native peoples and are related to the environment, natural resource or public/trust lands, cultural property and sacred sites. In 2010, we are increasing our efforts in this area and putting additional resources towards our Native American programs. We are very excited to have Milton join us.”

Most recently, Bluehouse served as the Environmental Justice and Tribal Government Liaison at the New Mexico Environment Department where he helped develop tribal communication and collaboration policies for the department and four other state agencies. He also worked for the Navajo Nation’s Office of Legislative Services and the Navajo Nation’s Washington, D.C. office, and at the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department.

In 1999, Bluehouse served as intern in the Udall Foundation’s Native American Congressional Internship Program, where he worked at the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources. He also honorably served in the United States Marine Corps from 1991 – 1995 and received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

The U.S. Institute is a federal program established in 1998 by the U.S. Congress to assist parties in resolving environmental, natural resource and public lands conflicts. It serves as an impartial, non-partisan institution providing professional collaboration, consensus building, and mediation services and resources to all parties involved in environmental disputes.

Since its creation, the U.S. Institute has been involved in hundreds of environmental disputes around the country. In 2000, it formed the Native American and Alaska Native Environmental Program that assists Native nations, federal agencies and other parties with government-to-government consultation, facilitated negotiations, collaborative policy development and implementation, capacity building, consensus building and collaboration in the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act, and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

In 2004, the U.S. Institute created the Native Dispute Resolution Network as a resource for individuals seeking assistance from a collaborative conflict resolution practitioner with experience dealing with conflicts where Native people and environmental, natural resource or public/trust lands, cultural property, and sacred sites issues are involved. Network members include American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and other practitioners who are experts in alleviating conflict in Indian country. Several working groups of network members, which include Native individuals, work with U.S. Institute staff to develop the network so it may provide useful tools for Native dispute resolution.

The Udall Foundation is an independent federal agency based in Tucson, Ariz., and with a Washington, D.C., office. In addition to the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, it operates scholarship, fellowship and internship programs for studies related to the environment and Native American issues. The foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.