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2025 MILITARY MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARDS

Announcement Dec. 2, 2024

Purpose: The SAIGE Military Meritorious Service Award honors Active Duty, National Guard, Reserve Service members and military veterans in government service, who during the award period thru their service made significant contributions in the following areas:
• supports their organization’s government to government interaction with AI/AN tribes,
• whose personal actions both on and off duty contributes to promoting greater understanding of the AI/AN culture,
• promotes a positive image of Native Americans/Alaskan Natives in government service,
• reflects attributes best epitomizing the qualities and core values of their respective military service or government agency.
SAIGE Point of Contact: Mr. Ed Blauvelt, SAIGE Warrior Society Director, edward.blauvelt@saige.org

2025 Application: 2025 SAIGE Military_Veterans Meritorious Service Award

2025 Transmittal: AWARD NOMINATION TRANSMITTAL FORM

For more information on the Warrior Society see: https://saige.org/warriors-society/

Luke Jones

Luke is a Senior Analyst in EPA’s American Indian Environmental Office (AIEO) and has helped lead EPA’s tribal program for more than 20 years. As a lineal descendant of the Chickahominy and Pamunkey Indians of Virginia, Luke has worked to improve federal Indian program administration more than 30-years and is an active member of the Native American community. Luke leads EPA’s Direct Implementation Work Group, coordinating EPA program implementation activities for Indian country, and Chairs the EPA American Indian and Alaska Native Special Emphasis Program Advisory Council. Prior to his current roles, Luke provided senior administrative and project management support for EPA’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (GAP) – the largest tribal environmental financial assistance program at EPA – for more than fifteen years.

Luke also served as Director of the EPA Region 5 Indian Environmental Office (2006-2010) after holding a number of EPA tribal program positions in Washington, DC. Before joining EPA in 1999, Luke worked for the U.S. Department of Defense Native American Lands Environmental Mitigation Program (1997-1999), the National Tribal Environmental Council (1996-1997), and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management tribal programs (1991-1995). Luke received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Rutgers University (1991), a Master of Public Administration degree from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs (1996) and is a frequent speaker and presenter on topics relating to federal Indian policy and tribal environmental program administration.

My goal in serving on the SAIGE board is to maximize federal employment opportunities for our Native American community through expanded inter-agency collaboration. Specifically, I hope to help establish lasting institutional infrastructure for federal agencies interested in hosting paid Native American interns and offering internship experiences that qualify for academic credits. I also hope to promote strategic federal workforce planning to improve federal agency capacity to identify Indian country employment opportunities under their unique programs.