Don Wharton

Donald R. Wharton

Senior Attorney
Is a senior attorney in the Boulder, Colorado office of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), a non‑profit law firm serving American Indian tribes and people. He joined NARF in 1988. He works primarily in the areas of federal-Indian environmental and natural resource law; working with tribes in the development of environmental regulation. Mr. Wharton has held positions as:

* Assistant Attorney General for Natural Resources and Special Projects, Navajo Nation’s Department of Justice (`83‑88);

* Founding Director of Oregon Legal Services Native American Program (`79‑83);

* Attorney-Advisor, Indian Affairs Division, Office of the Solicitor, Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. (`77‑79);

* Special Counsel to the American Indian Policy Review Commission (a joint congressional commission on federal‑Indian policy) (`75‑77) and served as a Specialist on the Jurisdiction Task Force; and

* VISTA Volunteer, Attorney for the Organization of the Forgotten American – an organization of the Klamath Indian people– and served as General Counsel to the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon (`73‑75).

In addition, Mr. Wharton was appointed the J. Skelly Wright Fellow and Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School for the Spring Term of 1995, and has been a Lecturer for the National Indian Justice Center; and served as President (1980‑83) of the National Association of Indian Legal Services. He has also been a regular presenter to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (Regions 5 and 8) concerning the history of federal Indian Law. Don is a 1973 graduate of the University of Colorado School of Law.