Lynette St. Clair
Board Member
“It’s important to educate students about the history, significance, and our coexistence with Buffalo. We wouldn’t have lived. It was our main source for everything — clothing, food, and spirituality.”
Photo by Cheshire Li for Wyoming Truth
Lynette St. Clair grew up in Fort Washakie, Wyoming, on the Wind River Reservation. Recently retired from a career in education, she is an advocate for the preservation of the Shoshone language and history.
Lynette attended college at Montana State University-Billings, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations. She then attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University, where she graduated with a Master of Science Degree in Native American Leadership.
Lynette has always been passionate about preserving and sharing the Shoshone culture with the next generation — particularly language and connection with Buffalo. She grew up hearing Shoshone in her household, listening to her parents speaking it while making beadwork in the kitchen.
Her dream is to educate all people — native and non-native — about who the Shoshone people are and their strong connection to their homelands, dating back thousands of years. One of the ways she feels she can do that is by being part of initiatives that share traditional ways of living.
Photo by Lindsay Linton Buk for Women in Wyoming
“We are struggling to keep our language strong. We can’t have a ceremony if we don’t speak the language and we can’t carry on our stories, history, or ways of doing things if we don’t know our language.”
– Lynette St. Clair
In 2001, she and colleagues partnered with the Fort Washakie School District for an annual K-8 celebration called Bison Ecology Week. During the event, students would learn about language, history, and traditions — all tied to Buffalo.
The event evolved over the years to include parades, scavenger hunts, and harvests, with other tribes donating Buffalo (before the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative began). Lynette was involved since its inception, talking with students about respect for the animal and each other, as well as traditional ways of knowing.
“We got our kids thinking about their relationship with the Buffalo. And then they would say, ‘Cool, but where are they?’ So we kicked it into high gear.”
– Lynette St. Clair
Recently, Lynette collaborated with Fort Washakie high school students to develop the first mobile tour of the Wind River Reservation with the travel app, TravelStorys. She also worked as an Indigenous consultant for a network series to ensure cultural authenticity and provide Eastern Shoshone language coaching.
Lynette continues to contribute lesson plans for Wyoming classrooms and is a voice for Indigenous education through her involvement with statewide initiatives. Her goal is to get Buffalo on the classroom schedule for students every school year.
Photo by Lindsay Linton Buk for Women in Wyoming
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