Indigenous Advisory Council

Ms. Paulette Fox, Natowaawawahkaki - Holy Walking Woman is a member of the Blackfoot Confederacy from the Blood Tribe / Kainai Nation in southern Alberta. As an Indigenous knowledge and wisdom keeper, environmental scientist and entrepreneur, Paulette brings a unique perspective and is a recognized leader in her field as an Indigenous environmental practitioner. Her work is well sought out by governments, organizations, and institutions that seek to enhance their outcomes and transform their relationships with Indigenous Peoples through reconciliation and rights-based approaches. She co-founded the transboundary tribal-led bison conservation and cultural Iinnii Initiative, the Buffalo Treaty, and specializes in Biocultural Diversity systems design. Currently, she advises on Indigenous-led research and Conservation through Reconciliation (CRP) at the University of Guelph, ON, while pursuing doctoral studies in environment and geomatics. Her research looks at large landscape cumulative effects to Blackfoot biocultural diversity using WebGIS, site analysis and computer simulations. The outcomes of her research will support Indigenous-led conservation and governance as well as enhance a continental biocultural strategy for bison reintroduction through partnerships with the Wildlife Conservations Society (WCS). Paulette has served on numerous conservation and watershed management boards and committees along with national advisory and expert panels. Currently, she is vice-Chair of the Canadian Mountain Network, a National Centre of Excellence based out of the University of Alberta, where she serves on the Indigenous Circle of Advisors, Governance and Research Management Committees. Ms. Fox is also a member of the Indigenous advisory group for the Great Sand Hills Bison Reintroduction with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) in Saskatchewan where she recently advised on the plan for Old Man on His Back Bison Restoration. Paulette formerly coached figure skating in British Columbia as well as power skating and hockey at home on the Blood Reserve in Alberta; she now enjoys skating and spending time with her three children: Austin, Jaklyn and Dallis.

Shelly Fyant, is a member of the Bitteroot-Salish. She is the former Chairwoman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT). In her role as leader of these tribes, she managed the return of the National Bison Range to CSKT and the tribes’ recent 1.9 billion dollar water compact settlement. Ms. Fyant’s contributes to the her community through work she does food sovereignty as the founder of the Healing the Jocko Valley Food Sovereignty Project. 

Helen Augare Carlson Mamiatsikimiiaki-Magpie Woman is an enrolled member of the Ampsakapii Pikanii Blackfeet Tribe. She was born and raised on the Blackfeet Nation in Northern Montana. She is the wife of Sheldon Carlson (Mistakiiootahs – Mountain Horse) and mother of two daughters and a son. Her family are tied to the Two Medicine River Valley. She attended the Browning Public Schools, Blackfeet Community College, and Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Montana in Business Administration with emphasis in Management and Information Systems. Helen began her career in STEM education reform as the director of the Rural Systemic Initiative project at Blackfeet Community College in 2000. As a result of her leadership in education reform through the development of the NSF-funded Blackfeet Community College Rural Systemic Initiative (BCC-RSI) and Native Science Field Centers, she is demonstrating outstanding mentoring that significantly increases the participation of Native American youth K-12, tribal college students, and graduate educators in STEM throughout the Northern Rockies and Plains. Helen is currently the Title III Director in the Institutional Development Department at Blackfeet Community College. Together with her husband they hold the Ksisktahkii Mopistan Beaver Bundle and the Ponoka Iikokan (Elk Painted Lodge). She is also a student of the Niistipowahsinni language and a devoted advocate of IINNII relatives.

Jason Baldes, is a member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe from the Wind River Indian Reservation (WRIR) in Wyoming. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Land Resource & Environmental Sciences from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Interest in Indigenous cultural revitalization has afforded Baldes opportunities to work in New Zealand, Russia, and Denmark. Work in his own community has been focused on the reintroduction of Bison/Buffalo to the WRIR and is currently the Buffalo Representative for the Eastern Shoshone Tribe serves on the Advisory Board for the Tribal Lands Program of the National Wildlife Federation. He is currently the Tribal Buffalo Program Manager for the National Wildlife Federation and a representative of the Eastern Shoshone Tribal Buffalo Program. With his father and others, we worked diligently to bring buffalo back to the Eastern Shoshone. He is the former Executive Director of the Wind River Native Advocacy Center, a non-profit organization with a mission of empowering Native Americans in Wyoming to have a stronger voice through community organizing, education, research, legal advocacy and leadership development. Mr. Baldes is also an instructor at Central Wyoming.