Louis Pitt Jr., the director of government affairs and planning for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, has been nominated to join the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

Gov. Kate Brown nominated Pitt to replace Chuck Sams, who is leaving the council to start a position as the head of the National Parks Service.

The nomination for Pitt, 73, is in recognition of a long career in the service of Native American tribes, as well as work in natural resources and fisheries.

The council is a regional organization that seeks to balance environmental and energy needs in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The Portland-based council develops electric power plans that will provide energy for the region at low costs for the economy and the environment.

The council’s most recent plan was approved in 2010, and while the plans are intended to guide policy for two decades, they are updated every five years.

Pitt has a long history of working and exploring in the Columbia Basin.

As a child, he used to visit Celilo Falls, the famed fishing area on the Columbia River for Native Americans. The Dalles Dam flooded Celilo Falls, which is now underwater. As an adult, he worked to protect fish habitats with the Warm Springs department for Natural Resources.

“My heart is in with fish. I don’t want to compromise that in any way, but I want to be fair with the fish, the state, the tribe, and myself,” said Pitt. “I have spent years volunteering with the state, and I am getting old and cranky, so I would like to spend my time wisely and effectively.”

Pitt, who grew up on the reservation and in Madras, has also held positions with the state, working on advisory committees for three different Oregon governors. He said he hopes that he can do his part to help restore habitat to support fish in their struggle to get past dams built in the Columbia Basin.

“I need to find out exactly what the council can do,” said Pitt. “I have known over the years that the industrial folks haven’t been all that forthright with the facts, and dams do damage, so what more can we do.”

The nomination also allows Pitt to fulfill a lifelong goal. “On my bucket list is helping those fish that fight to get back to Idaho,” he said.

Pitt’s nomination still needs to be confirmed by the Oregon Senate. The appointment is a three-year term that would last until January 2024.

Brian K. Mercier, northwest regional director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said Brown made the right call in nominating Pitt.

“He is an excellent nomination by the governor,” said Mercier in an email. “He knows the northwest region and the challenges we face, for both Native and non-Native communities. His experience and length of service in Indian Country is difficult to find in any other potential nominee.”

Pitt said his upbringing and work experience will shape his policies, as well as traditional Native American beliefs.

Our beliefs are “time tested and have lasted thousands of years, but we were dealt a heavy hand by the dominant society for the last hundred years or so on our way of life,” said Pitt. “Dams and those things are a part of it.”