Tamara Billie is an alum of the CHRM program, having received her master's degree in 2022. She now serves as head of the Branch of Cultural Resources Management for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Her thesis is titled Ałhił nda’ jilnishgo, naa’nish ła eti’ (Working Together, Gets Work Done): A Navajo Approach to Cultural Resources and Heritage Management on the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Pipeline. Thesis Abstract: Since the mid-1800s, non-Navajo and Non-Indigenous archaeologists and researchers dictated the Navajo people's history a Western scientific lens. The Indigenous Archaeology movement of the 1970s and 1980s gave Indigenous people a voice not present before in modern archaeology. The campaign incorporated values important to Native people like oral traditions, landscapes, and sacred places. The revitalization effort has impelled the Navajo Nation's Heritage and Historic Preservation Department to reclaim its heritage. The Navajo THPO is unique in that it decides what is significant to Navajo history, archaeology, and culture. This Navajo approach to heritage is apparent in the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Pipeline project. As the waterline weaves a path through a culturally rich landscape, the Navajo THPO uses its tribal laws and Federal legislation to manage and protect its cultural resources.

Following below is an archived profile.

Ya’at’eeh - my name is Tamara Billie. I am an enrolled member of the Navajo Tribe. My clans are Tsenahabilnii (Sleeping Rock People), born for Kinyaa’aanii (Towering House People), my maternal grandparents are Ashiihi (Salt People), and my paternal grandparents are Taneeszahnii (Tangle People). I work with the Navajo Nation’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) in Window Rock, Arizona, for the last twenty-two years. The Navajo Nation is located in the Southwestern United States and encompasses the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

In my current position as a Senior Archaeologist, I oversee the Tribe’s Cultural Resource Compliance and Permitting Section. I perform cultural resources management activities at all levels on Navajo Nation lands in compliance with federal laws and tribal laws and policies. I also work closely with the Navajo Tribal Council and traditional leaders about various projects on our land. Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the THPO office consults closely with federal agencies on undertakings that may affect cultural resources on Navajo Nation lands.

My research areas include:

• Pre-Columbian Archaeology of the Southwestern U.S. – Anasazi Culture
• Historic Navajo Archaeology
• Navajo oral histories/ethnographies and cultural landscapes
• Cultural & Heritage Resource Management of the Navajo Nation
• Tribal historic preservation planning & management

I received my undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I am an apprentice under a Navajo traditional practitioner.