Grand Canyon Trust

Former Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah Receives Grand Canyon Trust Lifetime Achievement Award

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the presser — Flagstaff, AZ – On Tuesday, January 11, 2022, at 3:00 pm MST, former Navajo Nation Chairman and first President of the Navajo Nation, Peterson Zah, will receive the 2021 Grand Canyon Trust Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes exceptional individuals who have accomplished significant conservation for the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau.
Zah will be honored for his life’s work, including significant contributions to conservation of the environment and advancing tribal sovereignty.
During his long career, Zah led national tribal efforts in Congress to strengthen many federal environmental laws. In his time as president and chairman, Zah renegotiated mineral, coal, oil, and gas leases with major energy companies to better benefit the Navajo people, and created permanent trust funds, now valued at several billion dollars, dedicated to culture, language, education, health, governance, infrastructure, and land restoration.
The award will be presented during a small private ceremony. Members of the public can attend the ceremony virtually at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83197071336 or by phone at 1 (602) 753-0140 using webinar ID: 831 9707 1336.
“Peterson Zah’s extraordinary leadership made clear that within the ambiguity of modernism and tradition, righteousness and tremendous influence could come from homegrown legitimacy and purpose,” said Grand Canyon Trust Board Chair Jim Enote.
“Peterson has truly been a giant in this region, and well beyond. We are so honored to recognize Peterson, his achievements, and his profoundly positive impacts on this world,” said Grand Canyon Trust Executive Director Ethan Aumack.
Past recipients of the Grand Canyon Trust Lifetime Achievement Award include former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt (2003), former Arizona Congressman and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall (2004), and the writer Terry Tempest Williams (2010). The award, established in 2003, has been given only six other times; Zah will be the seventh recipient.

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Founded in 1985, the Grand Canyon Trust is a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to safeguarding the wonders of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau, while supporting the rights of its Native peoples.

Environmental Groups Challenge Navajo Generating Station Approvals, Too

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the petition in National Parks Conservation v. EPA (CA9):

Envtl Groups Petition

Hopi’s petition is here.

ICT: Indians v. Enviros at Hopi/Navajo

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From ICT:

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. – The battle waged against a major coal company by Hopi and Navajo activists and against large environmental groups by tribal officials has, at least temporarily, intensified the conflict playing out in northern Arizona over the control, preservation and use of cultural and natural resources.

“I never thought I would see the day when being ‘Hopi’ meant being anti-environment, pro-big corporate energy, and actually promoting pollution and global warming in favor of ‘the almighty dollar,’” Alph Secakuku said.

In addition to being Sipaulovi Village representative on the tribal council, he is president of Hopi Organizational Political Initiative, a grassroots group believed to be among those ousted from Hopi tribal land for being perceived allies of the Sierra Club and other large groups that have opposed Peabody Western Coal Company’s role in expanded strip mining.

On Sept. 28 the Hopi tribal council – its legitimacy challenged in political infighting – said the Sierra Club,National Resources Defense Council, National Parks Conservation Association, Grand Canyon Trust, and “on-reservation organizations sponsored by or affiliated with the groups, are no longer welcome on the reservation.” Continue reading →