Cheryle Cobell Zwang

Advisor, Native Nations

Cheryle Cobell Zwang is an advisor to the Foundation for America’s Public Lands who is supporting the Foundation’s initiatives to develop working relationships with Native nations within the Colorado River Basin, and to collaboratively work to enhance the drought resilience of BLM-managed lands and waters.

Through these efforts, Zwang will work with native nations and partners to create collaborative opportunities of mutual benefit. Zwang is an enrolled member of the Amskapi Piikani (Blackfeet Nation) of Montana and was born and raised on the 1.5 million acre reservation that borders what is now Glacier National Park.

Zwang has a long history of working collaboratively with Native nations and brings 30 years of professional experience working within two federal land management agencies—the U.S. Forest Service and the Idaho Bureau of Land Management. She previously served as a Tribal Liaison for the Interior Columbia River Basin Project and worked in partnership with the Shoshone-Paiute and Shoshone-Bannock Tribes to build greenhouses in connection with their high schools and facilitate community seed collection. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Glacier National Park Conservancy and is the Chair of the Conservancy’s Tribal Relations Committee. In these roles, she has helped to solidify relationships with the Blackfeet Nation (Amskapi Piikani) and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. In addition to her federal staff and leadership experience, Zwang graduated from Montana State University with a Bachelor of Science degree.

What Public Lands Mean to Me

What is your favorite thing to do on public lands or in public waters?

I can’t pick just one thing. Our family likes to fish, hunt, picnic, hike, float, sightsee and we’ve done all of these things on public lands. Our public lands. Yours and mine.

Where is your favorite spot?

My favorite place is the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA just outside of Boise Idaho (like many areas on public lands, it’s a best kept secret). There is a 700-foot canyon that is home to over 800 pairs of different kinds of birds of prey. It is home to the greatest concentration of nesting birds of prey in North America…I believe the world! Go in the spring and you can see them. And it’s saved for us all to enjoy on public lands.

What excites you most about working with the Foundation? (or, What excites you most about the work of the Foundation?)

What made me want to come out of retirement and be a part of the work of the Foundation for America's Public Lands is their mission. A mission that supports investment in the beauty and the value of public lands. Not only their value as multiple use lands, but their intrinsic value, and their worth can only be increased through work like the Colorado River Basin Restoration Initiative. To have the opportunity and additional funding to restore public lands and waters is wonderful! Add the fact that I get to work with and involve people, like the tribes, who are the original caretakers of these, their homelands, is a bonus. It is a wonderful opportunity and I want to be a part of it.”