Andrew Gallegos

Southern Ute Indian Tribe Council Member, Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum

Southern Ute Indian Reservation, CO

October 21st, 2025

Councilman Andrew Gallegos was inaugurated to the Southern Ute Tribal Council in December of 2023. He serves as the youngest tribal council member currently and the second youngest in the council’s history. He ran on a platform of improving tribal member support, economic development and youth involvement. Gallegos was born and raised in the Southern Ute tribe and began working for the tribal council’s growth fund after high school, from there he worked his way up and learned all he needed to know to become a council member. He kindly met with Semester In The West at the beautiful Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum in Ignacio, Colorado, built by tribal members in 2011. During our time with him, councilman Gallegos shared with us the history of the southern Ute tribe which is one of ingenuity and perseverance. The Ute people have been the residents of the area since time immemorial, During the Reservation Era their traditional lands were significantly reduced and the people were fragmented into three tribes: the Uintah Duray, the Ute Mountain Ute and the Southern Ute. The southern Ute, in the face of dispossession have, however, been able to gain strong economic sovereignty through oil and gas extraction on reservation lands. Through their economic investments they have been able to fund projects like the cultural center where we met councilman Gallegos and pioneer environmental standards in the industry.

by Penelope Doulis