Who We Are

In Perpetuity is led by a Board of Directors with deep roots in Yakama Nation governance, forestry, and conservation. Each brings a different strength to the table, and a nickname that says something true about them.

Ralph Sampson Jr. “The Heart”

Executive Board Member

A rare combination of on-the-ground forestry expertise and the highest level of tribal governance experience. A former Chairman of the Yakama Nation Tribal Council, Ralph shaped tribal policy at a scale few have held responsibility for, stewarding a nation whose 1855 treaty reserved 1.4 million acres of reservation land while protecting the Yakama people's rights across 12 million acres of ceded territory. His career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in forestry gave him a technical foundation rooted in the land itself: its soils, its watersheds, its timber, and the people whose identity those resources carry.

Arnold Eyle “The Journey”

Executive Board Member

A Yakama knowledge keeper and member of the Yakama Nation Tribal Council whose relationship to the land, its waters, and its first foods spans a lifetime. A seasoned wildland firefighter, Arnold built his forestry and fisheries expertise on the ground, working alongside tribal families and firefighters throughout the West. He carries forward a living knowledge of traditional ecological practices, having harvested lamprey at Willamette Falls as his father did before him, and has brought jobs and opportunity to tribal youth throughout the region. He believes a broader consideration of tribal voices is essential to conservation, and that the work is stronger when Indigenous communities come together as genuine partners.

Caseymac Wallahee “The MC”

Executive Board Member

A member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation who has devoted his life to the intersection of cultural stewardship, land repatriation, and Indigenous governance. During his tenure on the Yakama Nation Tribal Council, where he chaired the Culture Committee, thousands of acres of ancestral lands were returned to the Yakama people, including the repatriation of Frog's Home and the Springwood Ranch co-management agreement with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. He continues to serve the Nation beyond his former role on Tribal Council. Caseymac is a lead drummer with Wild Rose, a drum group recognized nationally among tribal communities. “We are not owners of this land,” he says. “We are its caretakers for the generations that follow.”

Tobias Levey “The Unbreakable”

Executive Board Member

A conservation, real estate, and timber technologies professional who has partnered with the Yakama Nation on federal grant initiatives connecting ancestral lands, cultural stewardship, and advanced forest management, and built a reputation as a key strategist in bringing mass timber technologies to the United States. No stranger to adversity, Tobias has shown throughout his career that dedication, honesty, and resilience are the true currencies of equity work, and that learning from the past, rather than retreating from it, is what builds a better future. He guides In Perpetuity because giving people a respectful and leading role in the landscapes that have always sustained them is not just the right thing to do. It is the only way forward.

Noah Oliver “The Spark”

Founder and Executive Director

For more than 20 years, Noah has been an archaeologist, geographer, geoarchaeologist, and tribal relations advisor, a career built not on a single credential but on a willingness to show up, dig in, and learn from every place and every person along the way. Embedded with the Yakama Nation, he helped generate considerable conservation funding, supported the repatriation and protection of thousands of acres of ancestral lands, and built partnerships between Indigenous communities and institutions that had never meaningfully worked together before. He founded In Perpetuity on a simple conviction: you do not need to be the smartest person in the room to make a difference. You just have to care an awful lot about something good. If you never stop trying to do something important, you will never fail.