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Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe of Southampton County Chief Walt “Red Hawk” Brown has been appointed by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to serve on two state-level boards, and Brown also serves on a committee for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).

Youngkin recently announced that he was reappointing Brown to the Virginia Indian Advisory Board.

Brown finished approximately two years on the board in August and will now serve until Aug. 23, 2026.

Last year, Youngkin also appointed him to serve on the DCR’s Board of Conservation and Recreation.

Brown shared what it means to him to have the opportunity to serve the governor and the state of Virginia in multiple capacities.

“First of all, it’s a great honor that our illustrious governor has found favor in me and actually appointed me to those two separate boards,” Brown said. “He’s a great person when it comes to identifying character, and I think he’s one of those leaders that knows that what you want to do in life and leadership (is) you always assign individuals with you that are going to have great initiative, that have the expertise and are willing to serve and not miss any (board meetings), because a lot of people come on board and half the time, they can’t even make the board meetings.

“Matter of fact, if I can quote him,” Brown continued, “when we had the reappointment up in Richmond when everybody else was being sworn in, one of the comments he made was, ‘Please make sure you make the board meetings.’ So he’s looking for people that are going to be committed.

“But it’s a great honor for me not only as the chief of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe, but it’s a great honor with me being an indigenous person here in Virginia to serve on those boards,” Brown said.

As noted on the commonwealth of Virginia website, the eight-member Virginia Indian Advisory Board came about in 2016 when the General Assembly passed HB 814 directing the Secretary of the Commonwealth to establish the board “to assist the secretary in reviewing applications seeking recognition as a Virginia Indian tribe and to make recommendations to the secretary, the governor and the General Assembly on such applications and other matters relating to recognition.”

Summarizing the board’s responsibilities in his own words, Brown said, “That board handles paperwork for those entities in Virginia that are coming forward and saying that they would like to be state-recognized. So we have to look at all the paperwork, all the genealogy, all the history associated with that particular entity. Then the recommendation, should there be one, is made to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.”

The secretary is currently Kelly Gee.

Brown added that board members also have the responsibility to entertain and address policy issues pertaining to indigenous nations in Virginia.

Now with two years of experience on the board, Brown conveyed what he hopes to accomplish in his second term.

“I want to make sure that indigenous tribes that come forward with a petition for state recognition are treated fairly,” he said, “and that the wholistic aspect of their history is addressed before they receive paperwork or a letter that’s saying, ‘Well, I’m sorry, you’re denied.’ Because the key is to look at the overall history germane to that particular tribe and to make sure that their genealogy and stuff is intact and also that they were actually an indigenous tribe in the state of Virginia — not North Carolina, not Oklahoma, not Pennsylvania.”

The DCR website highlights the following powers and duties belonging to the 12-member Board of Conservation and Recreation as granted by the Code of Virginia:

• Advise DCR’s director on state park master plans and substantial amendments;
• Review requests for grants or loans pertaining to outdoor recreation and trail development;
• Conduct fundraising activities for the State Parks Projects Fund and advise DCR’s director on expending those funds; 
• Review designations proposed for scenic rivers, scenic highways and Virginia byways; 
• Advise the governor and director regarding protection of the Virginia Scenic River System; and • Help DCR as requested in duties and responsibilities pertaining to the DCR’s programs.

“It’s a great honor to serve on these two boards, and I’m just happy that (Gov. Youngkin) looked at my experience, looked at my history and looked at my knowledge of ethnohistory of all indigenous tribes here in Virginia,” Brown said. “So I’m hoping I’m going to be able to make a difference.”

Brown also noted that he serves on the DCR’s Machicomoco State Park 10-Year Development Committee.

“I was deeply involved in the overall design of Machicomoco State Park, which is designed to display indigenous history in Virginia, because originally they were only looking at the Powhatan Confederation, nothing about the other two linguistic groups, Siouan and Iroquois,” Brown said. “Originally it was just Algonquin. So I got a chance to work with developers, sent some timelines and some history associated with it, and they included the history of the other two linguistic groups.”