The Yurok Tribal Council regrets to inform the membership of the resignation today of Dr. Thomas Gates, the tribe’s Self Governance Officer and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, effective June 13, 2008.    Over the last 18 years, Dr. Gates has been involved with the Yurok Tribe as a volunteer, consultant and employee.  Dr. Gates and his wife are moving to the Sacramento area to move closer to their parents, and to take on new career, academic and educational opportunities.  

During the past 18 years, Dr. Gates contributions to the reputation of the Yurok Tribe as a leader in cultural resources management and in self governance have been immeasurable.   In concert with Tribal leaders, community members and other staff, Dr. Gates helped create a cultural resources program that (covers) such areas as site mapping, archeology, repatriation, archiving, and information center and cemetery restoration.   For the last several years Dr. Gates has been one of the primary leaders in the tribe’s efforts to reclaim reservation and ancestral lands, including the development of a Tribal Park and Sustainable Forest that would cover over 50 thousand acres in the Klamath River Basin.   Most recently, Dr. Gates has been heavily immersed in efforts to restore the Condor to the Northern California and to establish a marine sanctuary along the coast that will protect the tribe’s resources.

The Yurok Tribe deeply appreciates the contributions of Dr. Gates and wishes him the best in his future endeavors.