Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals

Ashley Gries

Ashley is the Sr. Program Coordinator for ITEP’s National Environmental Information Exchange Network, where she works to support and coordinate the activities of the Tribal Exchange Network Group (TXG). She received a dual bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Interior Architecture from Iowa State University, and an M.Sc. in Environmental Conservation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she focused on biocultural restoration, southwestern hydropolitics, and conservation management. Ashley’s experience includes community-based mangrove and tropical forest restoration in neo-tropical coastal communities, biocultural restoration of Indigenous food systems, culturally-sensitive non-native species management in the Great Lakes region, and dryland riverine restoration research in the southwestern U.S.

She has also worked on water policy research, advocating for improvements in the formation of a durable WOTUS definition by USACE and the EPA, for improvements in federal funding opportunities for Native-led watershed restoration projects, and for improvements in co-management opportunities for Native Nations and Indigenous communities on federal and state lands. Prior to obtaining her Master’s, Ashley’s work centered on sustainability in design and the built-environment, including LEED certification and green building.

Her research interests include Indigenous water governance, durable river and water quality protections, socio-ecological sustainability, and environmental justice. In her free time, Ashley loves to spend time on rivers paddling and whitewater rafting.

Ashley can be reached by email at Ashley.Gries@nau.edu.