February 13, 2025

Dear Members of Our Tribes,

With a heavy heart, I am announcing my resignation from the Business Council of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes as your tribal leader and Treasurer, effective February 11th, 2025. Serving on the Fort Hall Business Council has been one of the greatest honors of my life, and I am grateful for the trust and support you have extended to me during my tenure. From the moment I took on this role, my mission was clear: to serve our tribes with dedication, defend our traditions, and culture through protecting and upholding our treaty rights and sovereignty, and work tirelessly to ensure a prosperous future for our community, families, and each one of you.

I believe we need to support lower to middle income families living on the reservation educated in both Shoshone-Bannock teachings, languages and lifeways, and public schooling and higher education to perpetuate our unique knowledge into the future. Because of this belief we achieved significant milestones, and I am proud of the progress we have made in areas such as: insuring safety moving closer to establishing the Tribal Law and Order Act to fight fentanyl, and high crimes; the Fire Station is under construction; supporting the Blackfoot Animal shelter; instituting a safety board; rebuilding our IT network after a malicious cyberattack; continually moving a tribal version of PERSI for our emergency services, law enforcement, and teachers; education K-12 and higher education; healthcare policies and potential expansion; initiating reorganization of our government and funding a Natural Resources Building; extending our treaty rights in Wyoming and US v Oregon; obligating ARPA funding to rebuilding our lodges; investing in economic development and small businesses; getting the Casino back to pre-Covid revenues; and much more the council has completed and will continue to move forward.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to my family, the council members, and members of our tribes who have supported me throughout my leadership. As I transition out of this role, please know that my dedication to our tribes remains. I will continue to support our community and will always hold our traditions, treaty rights, sovereignty, ceremonies, and future close to my heart.

Thank you once again for the opportunity to serve as your leader.

With respect and gratitude,

Sammy Matsaw Jr.

Former Treasurer of the Fort Hall Business Council

February 12th, 2025

*** The Fort Hall Business Council will select a new Treasurer and Bannock Creek District representative in the next few days.