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More Membership Changes for Northwest Power and Conservation Council by Staff Columbia Basin Bulletin, May 20, 2021

Another membership change for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council took place this month with Mike Milburn replacing Bo Downen as a Montana member.

Milburn is a Montana native who was raised on a family cattle ranch in central Montana. He graduated from Montana State University with a geology degree. He married his childhood sweetheart and has three children and seven grandchildren. He was a pilot in the US Air Force and served in the National Guard. Most recently he was the Director of the Montana Department of Justice and then served on Gov. Greg Gianforte’s executive team up until a few days before the May Council meeting.

Last month, two other new members joined the Council. Montana’s Doug Grob replaced Jennifer Anders and Oregon’s Chuck Sams replaced Ted Ferrioli.

Grob is a native of Montana, born in Flathead Valley. He was a high honors graduate of the University of Montana. He traveled the world for about three years and was a teacher in Australia. He returned to the US and married his high school sweetheart. He worked in design in the fishing industry in Alaska, then returned to Montana and served as a trustee at Flathead Electric Cooperative for 20 years.

Sams is Cayuse, Walla Walla, Cocopah, and Yankton Sioux. He grew up on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Northeast Oregon.

Prior to joining the Council he held positions to include Executive and Deputy Executive Director for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), Communications Director for the CTUIR, Environmental Health and Safety Officer/Planner in the Tribal Planning Office for the CTUIR, President/Chief Executive Officer of Indian Country Conservancy, Executive Director for the Umatilla Tribal Community Foundation, National Director of the Tribal & Native Lands Program for the Trust for Public Land, Executive Director for the Columbia Slough Watershed Council, Executive Director for the Community Energy Project and President/Chief Executive Officer for the Earth Conservation Corps. Chuck has worked in the non- profit natural resource and conservation management field for over 25 years.

In addition, Chuck serves on the boards of the Oregon Cultural Trust and Gray Family Foundation.

Chuck holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Concordia University and a master of legal studies in Indigenous Peoples Law/Federal Indian Law from the University of Oklahoma. He is a veteran of the U.S. Navy where he served as an intelligence specialist.​ He lives with his wife, Lori Lynn (Reinecke) Sams and their four children on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, Oregon.