WASHINGTON
- Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced
he has confirmed Clayton J. Gregory as regional director of the Bureau
of Indian Affairs (BIA) Pacific Regional Office in Sacramento, Calif.,
effective July 11. Gregory, an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe of
Montana with more than 20 years of government service, had been serving
as the acting regional director since May 2003.
"Clay Gregory is an
outstanding senior manager with a long commitment to serving Indian
people," Anderson said. "I am confident that, as director
of the BIA's Pacific Regional Office, he will continue to provide excellent
service to the California Indian tribes and their members."
Gregory started his federal
career in the early 1970s holding a variety of positions with the U.S.
Forest Service in Montana and Wyoming, including wilderness ranger/fireguard,
supervisory forestry technician, trail crew supervisor and forestry
aide. He later joined the BIA in Montana as a forester, and went on
to develop a career in natural resources management as a natural resources
specialist and, later, as a natural resources officer.
In the early- to late-1990s,
Gregory served three stints as acting superintendent of the BIA's Crow
Agency, also in Montana, which provides services to the Crow Tribe.
In that capacity, he oversaw the agency's day-to-day operations working
with the tribe to protect, conserve and enhance its trust assets and
resources while providing human services assistance to individual tribal
members, as well as working with other federal, state and local governments
and the general public.
From March 2000 to May 2003,
Gregory served as a natural resources officer in the BIA's Rocky Mountain
Regional Office in Billings where he supervised and managed the regional
Division of Natural Resources with programs in forestry and fire management,
land and minerals, and water resources. During his tenure, he chaired
the Crow Boundary Settlement Act of 1994 Steering Committee and the
Federal Water Rights Negotiation Team for the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana.
In addition, Gregory served
as acting deputy regional director of the Rocky Mountain Regional Office
in 2001 and in 2003. In that capacity he was responsible for overseeing
six BIA agency and field offices as well as tribal and trust programs
serving eight Federally recognized tribes in Montana and Wyoming.
As acting regional director
of the Pacific Regional Office, Gregory has supervised and directed
the day-to-day operations of four BIA agency and field offices as well
as trust and human services programs for the 104 Federally recognized
tribes in California.
Gregory graduated from Lodge
Grass High School in Lodge Grass, Mont., in 1970 and went on to the
University of Montana-Missoula where he earned a Bachelor of Science
degree in Forestry in 1978. He also successfully completed the Federal
Executive Potential Training Program (1992 - 1993) and the Interior
Department's Senior Executive Service (SES) Candidate Development Program
(2002).