Lance Foster received a B.A. in anthropology and Native American studies from the University of Montana as well as an M.A. in anthropology and an M.L.A. in landscape architecture from Iowa State University; he is an alumnus of the Institute of American Indian Arts. He has been director in the Native Rights, Land and Culture division for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; a historical landscape architect for the National Park Service; and an archaeologist for the U.S. Forest Service. A member of the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, he currently teaches at the University of Montana–Helena College of Technology.