Jill Weitz is the new Natural Resource Manager for the Native Lands & Resources division. Her job will focus on transboundary watershed governance throughout the region.
Weitz earned her master's degree in Natural Resources Law and Policy from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2010.
Since 2013, Weitz has been working alongside tribes, local communities, fishermen, and business owners to defend and sustain Southeast Alaska's largest salmon-producing rivers and the communities dependent upon them in her work with Salmon Beyond Borders.
Tlingit & Haida has been conducting water quality monitoring since 2015. Weitz said that’s important because it sets a baseline of data to ensure communities in Southeast Alaska remain protected from any development upstream in British Columbia and ensures our water is clean and our salmon remain wild and productive.
“I think that healthy water and healthy salmon make for healthy communities,” Jill shared. “The transboundary work creates opportunities for building relationships and collaboration with other tribes and communities throughout Southeast Alaska, British Columbia and the Lower 48 to work together for improved management of these shared rivers that are so integral to Southeast Alaska."
She’s eager to continue this important work on behalf of Tlingit & Haida to make sure the Tribe has a seat at the table when it comes to working with local, state and federal agencies to make policies about how the watersheds are managed going forward.