Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk (Ute Mountain Ute)

Regina is an enrolled member of the Weminuche band of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, and former co-chair of the Inter-Tribal Coalition on Bears Ears. To Regina, being Ute means being able to roam her traditional territory across Colorado and two-thirds of Utah as did her ancestors. While the Ute consider themselves “mountain people,” the Weminuche band typically lived in a desert environment, learning to manage their relationship with the environment by “living light on the land” and always “leaving a little behind.”