Bio
 

Jeffrey Thomas is a lifelong Muckleshoot tribal elder who descends from the Wasco, Yakama and Nez Perce tribes too. He is a senior fisheries biologist who began directing the Timber, Fish & Wildlife Program of the Puyallup Tribal Fisheries Department 33 years ago. Jeffrey was the continuous co-chair of the statewide “Timber, Fish & Wildlife Cultural Resources Roundtable” between 1994 and 2016, and has been the only tribal representative upon the Washington State Department of Natural Resources Small Forest Landowner Advisory Committee since it began its’ operations 22 years ago. Jeffrey is the president of the Tahoma Indian Center Board of Directors, and has been a cross-cultural ambassador since first performing with the Seattle All American Indian Dancers at 6 years old. He majored pre-med at the University of Washington, completing the Zoology program in 1985. Jeffrey began working as a salmon habitat biologist for local tribal organizations during 1983, up until joining the Puyallup Tribe to implement the 1987 Washington State Timber/Fish/Wildlife Agreement on behalf of their community ever since. Jeffrey is proud of finishing the University of Washington Marine Affairs M.S. program in 2016 - including his thesis entitled “Developing a Tribal/Salmonids Social-Ecological Systems Model” - and is proud to be co-instructing the three separate Muckleshoot Campus Northwest Indian College “cultural sovereignty” courses – along with his daughter Romajean – since 2018. Jeffrey is thrilled to have completed the University of Washington 2-year Native Education teaching certificate program, and was honored to join the UW Urban Forests Symposium Planning Committee as of 2020 too.