Environment | National | Politics

President Obama elevates role of Suquamish Tribe chairman on key panel

Friday, November 4, 2016

Leonard Forsman, at podium, serves as chairman of the Suquamish Tribe. Photo by Washington State Department of Transportation

The leader of the Suquamish Tribe of Washington will serve a greater role on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a federal agency that raised concerns about the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Chairman Leonard Forsman was named vice chair of the council by President Barack Obama on Thursday. He appears to be the first indigenous person to serve in that role since the independent body was established by Congress in 1966.

“The talent and expertise these individuals bring to their roles will serve our nation well. I am grateful for their service, and look forward to working with them," Obama said in announcing Forsman's elevated role.

Forsman joined the council in May 2013 and chairs its Native American Affairs Committee. In a column in his tribe's November 2016 newsletter, he said he has been working on a report that will "outline improvements needed to strengthen historic preservation in Indian Country and beyond."

Those efforts include consultation of tribes with regard to large infrastructure projects like Dakota Access. In May, the council questioned whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers complied with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires an examination of the effects of the pipeline's impacts on historic, sacred and cultural sites.

"Tribes should have opportunities to review and comment on the identification and evaluation efforts, assessments of effects, and the other related tribal issues where they have special expertise," a director from the council wrote in the letter, a copy of which was posted by Turtle Talk. "Unfortunately, the coordination of the Corps, thus far, has not resulted in productive tribal consultation consistent with the Section 106 regulations."

The letter was written to Colonel John W. Henderson, the Commander of the Omaha District, who called #NoDAPL resisters "trespassers" in a letter that was taken as an invitation by a county sheriff to engage in another confrontation in North Dakota this week.

Biographical information about Leonard Forsman, provided by the White House, follows:

Leonard Andrew Forsman is Tribal Chairman of the Suquamish Tribe, a position he has held since 2005. Mr. Forsman was the Tribal Spokesperson of the Suquamish Tribe from 2003 to 2005. He was a Research Archaeologist at Larson Anthropological and Archaeological Services from 1992 to 2003, and a Consultant at King County Arts Commission from 1991 to 1992. Mr. Forsman served as Director of the Suquamish Museum from 1984 to 1990 and was a Research Assistant at the Suquamish Tribal Cultural Center from 1982 to 1984. He was first appointed as a member to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in 2013. Mr. Forsman received a B.A. from the University of Washington and an M.A. from Goucher College.