Charles “Chuck” Hudson Jr. is a citizen of the MHA Nation of North Dakota. He retired in 2020 from the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission where he served 22 years as Intergovernmental Affairs Director. Chuck jumped into an active retirement by creating the Marilyn Hudson “Brave Conversations” project at Humanities North Dakota, a program entering its 5th year of statewide civic engagement in North Dakota. 

Local and investigative journalism is one of Chuck’s several passions. He is active in volunteer and philanthropic roles including developing journalism capacity in non-profit newsrooms in Oregon and Southern Arizona with an emphasis on Indian Country coverage and developing Native journalists. In 2024, he focused his energies on the global movement to help win clemency for Leonard Peltier, a dream realized on January 20, 2025. More recently he is helping to create Indigenous literature programming within the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona.

Chuck has three sons, Kent, Cray and Stone, who are active in Native American work and causes in Oregon and North Dakota. Chuck is married to Sarah Chisholm and they split time between their Tucson and Portland homes. He enjoys hiking, travel, gardening, live music, and occasional writing projects. 

When reflecting on why he wanted to get involved with Willamette Falls Trust, he said, “The goals of the Trust are so fundamentally good and true...reconnecting people with one of America’s great waterfalls. Much of my career was spent in pursuit of tribal and public cooperation. The Trust walks that talk. There is a “Wow” moment waiting. I’m excited to be on board and push toward that moment.”