Pelah Hoyt

Board Member

Pelah grew up on the Flathead Reservation, where she learned about caring for the land and people from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Her work focuses on improving our relationships with each other and the natural world.

As the Compact Implementation Program Manager for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Pelah works with tribes, federal agencies and stakeholders across the state on water resources. She previously directed Five Valleys Land Trust’s land conservation program, leading a team that created new trailheads, improved access to nature for people of all abilities and protected 37,000 acres of priority lands and streams corridors.

Montana’s Governor Steve Bullock twice appointed Pelah to the Flathead Reservation Fish and Wildlife Board. Dedicated to public service, Pelah also serves on the Council of the Montana Museum of Art and Culture and has volunteered with conservation and community development organizations. She earned a Master’s in Resource Conservation from the University of Montana and worked with communities in Ecuador on cloud forest conservation as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Pelah is based in Missoula with her husband and twin teenage sons.