Marley-Maben Native and Indigenous Peoples Leadership Award

Verna Billedeaux

The recipient of the Marley-Maben Native and Indigenous Peoples Leadership Award is Verna Billedeaux, MSU Extension agent on the Blackfeet Reservation. This award recognizes significant outreach and engagement activities benefiting Native people and lands, along with demonstrated collaboration, research and educational efforts. It carries a $3,000 honorarium.

Billedeaux helped to develop the Blackfeet Natural Resources Conservation District, which supports tribal agriculture and conservation from water rights and weed management to grazing. She also worked to establish a USDA Farm Service Agency and Natural Resource Conservation Service satellite office in Cut Bank. 

“We have accomplished many firsts in Indian Country due to Verna’s leadership,” wrote Dan Barcus, chairman of the Blackfeet Natural Resources Conservation District, in a letter nominating Billedeaux for the recognition. “Her guidance is the basis for the development of many of our young tribal producers.”

Billedeaux also helped to found the Blackfeet 4-H program in Browning and, according to nominators, works to ensure that MSU Extension resources and information are available across the large areas of Glacier County and the Blackfeet Reservation.

“Verna Billedeaux is a great example of an Indigenous community member who identifies needs, organizes problem solving and effects change,” wrote Suzy Wright Michael, a rancher in Glacier County, in a nomination letter. “We believe that Verna has built a 4-H program in Browning that rivals any in the state and creates space for something entirely new.”