Tanka Fund is thrilled to announce that Dr. Trudy Ecoffey has been brought on as our new Executive Director.

Dr. Trudy Ecoffey has over 20 years of experience working on research, management, and ecology of bison.  Dr. Ecoffey started working with bison and bison related issues when she wrote a curriculum for tribal colleges for her MS degree in Range Ecology and Wildlife from the University of Nebraska.   She then completed her PhD from South Dakota State in Biology with a dissertation that investigated tribal bison herds which focused on culture, ecology, management and financing.  She later assisted on writing a management guide to help tribal bison managers. Her focus was on disease and health issues for the InterTribal Buffalo Council.

Dr. Ecoffey worked as an instructor and later a department chair at Oglala Lakota College in the Agriculture and Natural Resources Department. She then worked for over 8 years at the Oglala Sioux Parks and Recreation Authority as Senior Biologist.  Her focus while senior biologist was on research on range ecology, wildlife, and bison management of the tribal herds.  For the last 5 years, Dr. Ecoffey has been working with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service as Tribal Liaison for the Pine Ridge Reservation where she has been working with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and tribal producers on land management projects.  She resides with three children and Hunka’ granddaughter on the Pine Ridge Reservation where she spends her leisure time working with horses, hiking and attending her children and granddaughter’s sporting events.

“I am Very grateful to be working with Tanka Fund and to be working with the Buffalo Nation and Tribal members wanting to enhance the economy and ecology on the tribal lands while bringing the buffalo back in a cultural manner that both benefits the land and the people.   I have dedicated my entire academic and professional career to this endeavor and believe we can bring bison back in more numbers and assist tribal members in reaching economic stability while doing this.  Bison were the economy of the tribal nations of the Great Plains at one time and can be once again in a new and exciting way.  I am thankful for the opportunity to be part of the Tanka Fund and the work being accomplished.”

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Trudy Ecoffey!