What America’s leaders say

NVF thanks the following leaders who share our vision: General Norman Schwarzkopf, who was instrumental in Telluride’s breakthroughs, reminding everyone that "Native Americans were our first ecologists." (See letter on “Reconciliation Press.”) He was adopted by the Osage Tribe while searching for his Native heritage in Oklahoma, as so many are proudly doing. One in four or five Americans have Native blood. (NVF would like to do a poll of what Olympians might have Native heritage.) NVF was also encouraged by letters from President Clinton, who has Cherokee heritage, and Secretary of State Colin Powell (who started a NFL-NBA Program at reservations with Nick Landry and Robert Redford - Malcolm X married a Cherokee), and Michael Barry, President of the National Ski Area Operators of America (NSAA), who inaugurated a “Sustainable Slopes” program, called Telluride "a role model for American Ski Areas." NVF’s first supporter was Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Cheyenne Judo Olympian, who said, “Sports turned around my life. Your programs are the best way I seen to solve our ecological challenges at this critical time.” Rolex was NVF’s first sponsor, because “it's about time," said Swiss CEO Roland Puton. 

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