Donna House

New Mexico

Donna House (Diné) has over 20 years experience in the conservation of bio-cultural diversity nationally and internationally. House assists Indigenous Peoples community-based organizations in protecting traditional bio-cultural assets from adverse development. House is a botanical consultant specializing in ecological knowledge research and environmental policy at the local, national and international level. House has worked with NGOs around the world, developing a broad perspective on conservation and management of Indigenous Peoples lands.

She also worked for Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D. C., Navajo Nation Heritage Program, mainstream environmental organizations and foundations and, a past member of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Recovery Team for Endangered Plant Species. House’s educational process incorporates traditional Native conservation ethics with scientific information to create the necessary protection and conservation for disappearing species and cultural sites.

House received The American Society of Landscape Architects Travel Award for work at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.; Recognition forProtecting and Keeping Our Mother Earth Beautiful and Bountiful For All from the Center of Southwest Studies and Navajo Studies Conference Inc.; The American Society ofLandscape Architects Merit Award for a highway/bio-cultural; a Richard Thompson Memorial Lecturer, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (dedicated to the perpetuation of the moral concerns and humanistic values); an Activist-in-Residence with A. E. Havens Center for Study of Social Structure and Social Change, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

She inhabits a farm along the Rio Grande, north of Ohkay Owingeh territory in New Mexico and on the Navajo Nation.

2010 Participant