Indigenous Connections Roundtable: National Conservation Training Center
Fulfilling the Trust Responsibility to Tribes, the Native Hawaiian Community, and Alaska Native Corporations and Organizations
What specific obligations do Tribal trust responsibilities entail? How do these responsibilities contribute to the co-stewardship of federal lands and waters? Melissa Castiano will share her tangible experiences with Tribal trust responsibilities as an Indigenous person and federal employee. Melissa is from northwest New Mexico. She is of the Mexican Clan, born for the Salt Clan. Her maternal grandfather’s clan is Red Running into Water Clan, and her paternal grandfather’s clan is the Mexican Clan. Melissa was born in Shiprock, New Mexico, and obtained her Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Science from New Mexico State University. She began her career with U.S. Fish and Wildlife in 2002 as part of the Student Career Employee Program and became a permanent biologist in the Division of Ecological Services at the Southwest Regional Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She spent her expansive career with the Service providing leadership in tribal engagement and relations and supporting the next generation of Native youth conservation leaders through Service programs with partner agencies and organizations. In 2022, Melissa joined the National Park Service to serve as the National Park Service Intermountain Region’s Native American Affairs Liaison