Keystone’s Ernest House Jr. Named Co-Director of the Water & Tribes Initiative

Keystone Policy Center is pleased to share that Ernest House Jr., director of Keystone’s Center for Tribal and Indigenous Engagement, has been named a co-director of the Water & Tribes Initiative (WTI).

Ernest will take on this new responsibility in addition to his ongoing work at Keystone. He joins Lorelei Cloud in sharing the co-director seat previously held by one of WTI’s founding co-directors. Lorelei is a member of the Southern Ute Tribe and has served as both Chair and Vice-Chair of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. She is the first Native American to serve on a state water board. She is also co-founder of the Indigenous Women’s Leadership Network and serves on the board of The Nature Conservancy in Colorado.

WTI is a basin-wide effort to elevate Tribal water interests in the management of the Colorado River. Ernest, Lorelei, and current WTI co-director Matt McKinney will share day-to-day leadership of the initiative.

Ernest’s new role reflects Keystone’s decades-long commitment to Tribal engagement and forges a new partnership in supporting Tribes and water issues. Since its founding, Keystone has partnered with Tribal Nations on issues ranging from energy and natural resources to water and sovereignty, work that continues through our Center for Tribal and Indigenous Engagement, which Ernest leads. Keystone looks forward to bringing that experience to bear in support of WTI’s mission.