2025 Design-Your-Own Fellowship Applications are Open

Jacklyn Bryan

Hosted by Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc.
Sponsored by Anonymous, Brico Fund
Service location Madison, Wisconsin
Law school Vermont Law School
Issue area Environmental Justice, Indigenous Peoples' Rights
Fellowship class year 2017
Program Design-Your-Own Fellowship

The Project

Jacklyn engaged Tribes to hold Wisconsin accountable to Clean Water Act (CWA) by legally and technically assisting a collaboration that assesses and addresses Tribes’ risks from the State’s regulatory failures.

Failures in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ (WDNR) administration of the federal CWA were documented in a Petition for Corrective Action filed by Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA), and in a report by the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau. Deregulation of public health, cultural practices and governmental sovereignty are all compromised by WDNR failure to comply with the CWA. Degradation puts the Tribes at special risk of harm as they depend on intact wild places for their cultural and nutritional well-being.

Fellowship Highlights

Jacklyn researched foundational relationships already established between host site, agencies and various Wisconsin tribes. She established an inter-tribal Advisory Committee that provided tribal issue area guidance and perspective. She traveled around the State to speaking engagements that aimed at educating and rallying tribal allies and advocates to join in understanding the complexity of this work. Finally, Jacklyn’s proudest highlight is leaving a new Class of 2019 Fellow to take over the work she’s leaving behind.

What’s Next

Jacklyn plans to transition back to California where she will continue to contract with Big Pine Paiute Tribe as a Tribal Policy Analyst in the immediate future.