The Morris K. Udall Foundation is a Tucson, Arizona-based independent Federal agency within the Executive Branch of the United States Government, dedicated to increasing awareness of the importance of America’s natural resources, promoting the principles and practices of environmental conflict resolution, and educating Native Americans and Alaska natives in the fields of health care and public policy, and helping facilitate Native Nations in their pursuit of successful nation building. The Foundation provides scholarships, fellowships, and internships, seeking future leaders across a wide spectrum of environmental fields, including business, education, engineering, health, justice, and urban planning and renewal. It also supports the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management and Policy (NNI) at the University of Arizona, which provides tribal decision makers with professional training to assist them in building economically and socially sustainable sovereign governments. In addition, the Foundation operates the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, an independent Federal program that helps parties find workable solutions to environmental disputes.

The Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation was established by Congress on March 19, 1992, to honor Udall’s service in the U.S. House of Representatives, where from 1961 through 1991 a great amount of his work focused on natural resources and the environment, governmental reforms, and Native American issues. The bill that created the Foundation, which was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, came about because of efforts of two of Udall’s Arizona colleagues, Democratic Senator Dennis DeConcini, and Republican Senator John McCain. In 1988, Congress amended the Udall Foundation legislation with the Environmental Policy and Conflict Resolution Act, which created the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution as a new part of the Foundation, and in 2001 the Udall Foundation and the University of Arizona co-founded the Native Nations Institute. In January 2006 the foundation’s education team was looking for a way to commemorate the previous decade of its programs and decided to put on a year-long “Celebration of Public Service” that would showcase some of their work, and culminate in a cross-country public service-focused biodiesel bus trip, to highlight the legacy of Morris Udall. It became the Udall Legacy Bus Tour, traveling 8,606 miles, for fifty-four days, to twenty-six cities, six national parks, and six Native American communities, sharing solutions to America’s pressing environmental and Native American issues.

• Grant undergraduate scholarships (80 in 2008) on the basis of merit for students committed to a career related to the environment, or Native Americans and Alaskan Natives committed to a career in tribal public policy or Native American health care.
• Award two yearly one-year dissertation fellowships, to cover both academic and living expenses, to doctoral candidates who are entering their final year of writing a dissertation on a topic that concerns U.S. environmental public policy and/or environmental conflict resolution.
• Administer a Native American Congressional Internship Program which each summer provides ten weeks in Washington D.C. for twelve Native Americans and Alaskan Natives. The university juniors, seniors, or law students who apply are chosen on merit, and must have demonstrated an interest in fields related to tribal public policy, natural resource protection, or Native American education, health, justice, or economic development. Those selected are placed in Senate and House offices, committees, Cabinet departments, and the White House, to be able to observe the government decision-making process first-hand.
• Support the Native Nations Institute, which provides executive leadership training and policy analysis assistance for American Indian Tribes. The institute is part of the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona, and based on work of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. The Native Nations Institute also conducts a Native American Youth Entrepreneur Camp on the University of Arizona campus, where instructors teach the basics of getting into business, and students meet and are able to seek advice from Native American business professionals. Then near the end of the camp, at a Youth Marketplace, they get to experience running their own businesses, based on what they’ve learned in the program.
• Put on, through the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, conferences and discussions of contemporary environmental or Native American issues.
• Present the Parks in Focus program, which gives selected young people, often under-served Boys and Girls Club members in different cities across the country, a camera and field guide, and escorts them to scenic local sites they might never explore otherwise, to instill in them a sustainable appreciation for the environment through the art of photography.