Washington State Conservationist Roylene Rises at the Door will discuss traditional American Indian conservation efforts and current tribal issues, state and nationwide, in a talk scheduled 7 p.m., Sunday September 23 at Skagit Valley College's Friday Harbor Campus.
The program is free. Call the park at (360) 378-2240, extensions 2233, 2227 or 2228 for accessibility and other program information.
Rises at the Door's talk is the eighth and final program of a series held this summer and fall that explored First Nations/American Indian stewardship on the San Juan Island environment and throughout the Pacific Northwest, Canada and arctic regions. The series was co-sponsored by San Juan Island National Historical Park and the Madrona Institute.
Rises at the Door was born and raised on the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. She is the granddaughter of the late Roy H. Doore, Sr. and Mildred Tatsey Doore, and the late Victor "Bud" Harmon and Sharlene Harris, of Big Sandy, Montana. Her parents are Roy and Cynthia Doore of Browning, Montana. Her family continues to reside on the original allotment the government assigned to her great-great-grandfather, Rides at the Door.
She attended Montana State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in range science with a minor in soils. Growing up on her family's ranch, her cultural values of caring for the land, her mother being a science teacher, and her father's work in the natural resources field, has contributed to what she felt was her destiny - a career in conservation. She enjoys caring for her horses, a family tradition that has spanned seven generations. Rises at the Door's 20-year history with NRCS began while still in college, working as a soil conservationist.
After graduation, she continued to do soil conservation planning in Havre, Miles City, and Conrad, Montana. A promotion to District Conservationist took her to Shelby, Montana. Her career then led her to Phoenix, Arizona, where she served as the American Indian Liaison for the state. She worked in Oklahoma for five years as the Assistant State Conservationist for Field Operations and the State Conservationist for Rhode Island. She is now the State Conservationist for Washington State.
