The young chief of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band, Parfait champions his people and efforts to slow erosion along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast
MOST 12-YEAR-OLDS have no idea what they’re going to be when they grow up, but at that age, Devon Parfait already knew his destiny. He was going to be chief of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, an Indigenous Tribe living along the Louisiana Gulf Coast.
“Typically, you’re chosen when you’re older,” says Parfait (above), now 27, who was selected by his predecessor and mother’s cousin, Shirell Parfait-Dardar. “[Parfait-Dardar] recognized that I cared, and by teaching me young, she helped to empower me to better understand my community.”
In 2005, Parfait lost his family home in Dulac, Louisiana, to Hurricane Rita, and his family moved multiple times in the ensuing years. This story is common in communities facing the brunt of climate change, and it led Parfait to develop an interest in geosciences. While studying at Williams College in Massachusetts, Parfait looked at current and historical satellite images of Tribal communities to track land loss. Through his research, he determined that his Tribe is losing land to coastal erosion at twice the average rate in Louisiana.
Parfait officially took over as chief in 2022 and since then also has worked full time as a coastal resilience analyst for the Environmental Defense Fund. As both a scientist and a chief, he strives to advocate for his people and to find solutions to environmental challenges. Currently he’s advocating for federal recognition for his Tribe, as well as working to restore the coast by bridging the gap between Indigenous knowledge and modern techniques.
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