Bidtah Becker

Fort Defiance, AZ

Bidtah Becker is an associate attorney for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority and the immediate past director of the Navajo Nation Division of Natural Resources from 2015 to January 2019.  For more than a decade prior, she served as an attorney for the Navajo Nation, focusing on water rights and natural resources.  Passionate about water issues, she serves on the leadership team for the Water and Tribes Initiative in the Colorado River Basin where she co-chairs the Universal Access to Clean Water effort, on the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, and on the Navajo Nation Water Rights Commission.

Becker is equally passionate about the arts and artists, with an emphasis on supporting Indigenous artists. In 2012, President Obama appointed Becker to serve as a trustee for the Institute of American Indian Arts and Culture (IAIA).  She and her husband are sustainers of gallupARTS, a 501c3 nonprofit arts council serving Northwest New Mexico and 2021 recipient of the Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts.  She has also served two separate terms on the board for the Southwestern Association of Indian Arts, including one year as board chair.  She is a member of the Navajo Nation and lives on the Navajo Nation in Sacramento with her husband, Paul Spruhan, and two school-age children.