Jessica
Lambert

Jessica is our Native Lands Partnerships Specialist. In this role, she advocates for conservation initiatives that are led by and for Indigenous people. She works closely with Tribal partners to center Indigenous priorities in federal environmental policy, support community-driven solutions, and develop the next generation of Native youth leaders. She is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation, a first-generation descendant of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and a descendant of the Chickasaw Nation. Jessica started at The Wilderness Society in 2022 as a Policy Fellow, where her work focused on federal-level efforts to change racist and derogatory place names, advancing legislation to make access to public lands more equitable, and strengthening and defending the National Environmental Policy Act.

Before starting at The Wilderness Society, Jessica worked at the White House Council on Environmental Quality in the Office of the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer. She has also worked on Tribal environmental issues at the National Congress of American Indians, the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, and NOAA’s Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Her professional experiences have ranged from federal-level policy to community-based advocacy, all working to ensure that Native people and lands have a healthy, sustainable future.

Jessica studied environmental science, American Indian studies, and political anthropology at Princeton University. Her coursework and research centered on the extensive contamination of Tribal lands and its impacts on Indigenous public and environmental health. In college, she was also deeply involved in advocacy efforts to increase the University's support for Indigenous students and studies.