#MyGrandCanyonStory | Rebecca Chavez-Houck

HECHO spoke with Advisory Board member Rebecca Chavez-Houck of Salt Lake City, Utah to learn about her personal connection to the Grand Canyon, her favorite memories there, and why she believes the Grand Canyon should be protected from uranium mining.  

HECHO: What is your personal connection to the Grand Canyon?

Rebecca Chavez-Houck (RCH): So, in reflecting on my experiences and my personal connection to the Grand Canyon, I looked at it through some of the different phases of my life. My first recollection of having visited the Grand Canyon was when my husband and I took our daughter on a trip there. I believe that I was expecting our second child and it was during the off season. It is kind of interesting how, when we think about our experiences in the outdoors and we think about going to different, amazing places, incredible places like the Grand Canyon, the experiences kind of fall together. You are trying to remember -- did we go see this or experience this, do this on this trip or this other trip? That is part of what the challenge is in trying to recall when I experienced these different things, but I do know that it was off season because there was still snow in the Grand Canyon. If you ever get a chance to go visit the Grand Canyon during the off season, I highly recommend it. Not as many crowds, you get to experience the solitude and the beauty of the place. Without a lot of people around, the sense of what the canyon is like during the winter season and during the off season, when there's snow on it, is just incredible in a different way than one might experience during the summer, spring or fall. There is a sense of quiet. The snow on the canyon highlights it in a different way. You see different things. The clouds that are coming in when a snowstorm is coming across the canyon are, again, very distinctive, very peaceful, very contemplative. Those are the things I remember about that visit; it was just so quiet and we were able to really hear the wind going through the canyon. Hear the animals, the birds without a lot of people around chattering and talking and all of that extra noise that you get when you're experiencing it with a lot of other people. We actually stayed in these little cabins that were along the rim that you could rent and they were older. So, it was very rustic and it took you back to what it might have been like for somebody living in decades past, having visited the canyon and staying in those cabins. That was a fun experience too. I encourage people if they can stay there, if those cabins still exist, it is a fun experience. I remember just the solitude and enjoying that with my daughter and my husband. I'll fast forward a bit, because I think about my personal connection with the canyon at different phases of my life, to 2001. The children would have been older, my son would have been six. We went with some friends, so two families. We got to experience it with another family and another group of children, which was good for my children, so that they could hike together and be with a buddy to enjoy the canyon and we can enjoy it with another couple of adults. If you get a chance to go to the canyon, to go with family, to go with a larger group of friends, it's also fun because everybody observes things differently and points out things differently. The older girls got to go horseback riding and they absolutely loved it. They were at that age, pre-teen, where you get that love of ponies and you want to be with the horses and they really had a great time. They went on a horseback ride and we took a small hike with the children and they really enjoyed that hike. Experiencing the canyon with kids, that sense of discovery, that sense of awe when they see the great expanse. This huge canyon, it's big for those of us that are adults, I can't imagine what that feels like to a child. So, there was that experience and all of the other activities, looking at the Kivas and other elements of original human interaction with the canyon and our children got to learn more about that. Visiting those sites, it was very interesting for them to contemplate that people lived in these places and this is how they lived. This canyon was not just something to look at. This was home for those individuals and their families, and they experienced their life there and lived there and grew to love the canyon like we love it, but love it in a different way because it was their home. Now I'll fast forward a few more years to a trip that my husband and I took just a few years ago as empty nesters. Our children have both graduated and gone and are not living here at home with us. At that time, we had recently bought a motorhome, an RV, and we took the RV down to the North Rim. This was the first time that we had visited the North Rim and again, a very distinctive experience, one that I highly recommend. A lot of people are more familiar with the South Rim and the South Rim Visitor Center and it's usually much more crowded. So, I would strongly encourage people to visit North Rim which is also very beautiful, a very different way of looking and observing and experiencing the canyon. The visitor center is a gorgeous visitor center at the North Rim. You can learn about the history of the people that built that particular lodge and the visitor center. So those are my personal experiences. They follow different facets in different phases of my life. That's one thing that I would love to share, is that the canyon is there for people to experience, no matter what phase of life you are in. Whether you're a child, you get to explore the wonder through the child's eyes. Whether you're a young person or a person with a young family, so many wonderful things you can do with your family. When you're an older person, there are still so many things to experience hikes that you can take very easily. It is navigable. There is great interpretation by the Rangers and there are others there that can tell you about the history and about the geology and what the canyon is all about.

HECHO: Why do you believe that the Grand Canyon should be protected?

RCH: There are so many places in our world that have been around for millennia, for millions and millions of years. The beauty of the place transcends human contact, human impact, and the necessity for humans in general. To be honest, I think that we, as humans, are here to live in communion with our surroundings and the other creatures that inhabit this world. We have been given this sensibility and this ability to think. Unfortunately, it has worked for us and it has worked against us. I really feel strongly about us, as person-kind, to understand and appreciate the value that our ability to think through how we interact with our world takes place. We have to be thoughtful. We have to understand that we are not the end all, be all on our planet. When you look at a place like the Grand Canyon, in its expanse, and what it represents, in terms of the eons and eons of time that it has existed, we need to be mindful that we don't abuse the privilege that we have. I think that being present in places like the Grand Canyon is a privilege. It is a privilege. With anything that comes with privilege, is the responsibility to care for it. We need to realize that it is a gift to us and that in utilizing its resources or being there. When I think about utilizing resources, I mean just being able to walk in there and observe it and learn from it, not to take it in terms of the resources. It's so important to recognize that it's a gift, the Grand Canyon and all of our well places are gifts to us as humans and we need to treasure them and we need to steward them with responsibility and with care.

HECHO: Why do you advocate for the Grand Canyon?

RCH: I advocate for the Grand Canyon because of having experienced it and living in a place proximate to its location, living in the Southwest. I know so many people who come from points, far and wide, throughout the globe to come visit this place. I know, for example, that when I visit other places, globally or in the region or wherever, I really appreciate when the people that live in that vicinity of that particular location, a historical preservation site or a natural preserve, care about it and that it's part and parcel of who they are. I respect them as people when I see that they take care of their surroundings and those places of historical importance and natural importance. When I experienced that in other places, it makes it important to me to preserve it for people who come far and wide to visit the Grand Canyon and a lot of our national parks. I want them to say, yes, the people that live in this country care about this place because when I visited, it shows that they care about this place. Then obviously, for generations coming after us. I think we are in a time in our history right now, where we're thinking about things that have happened in the past that caused pain to communities and to people. We are thinking very deeply about decisions that we have made in the past with a sense of expediency or, perhaps, for economic benefit. Systems that are inequitable because of decisions that have been made because we thought that was in the best interest of the community, at large. I don't want generations in the future looking back at us and having those same thoughts and reservations about what our intentions were and why we did things the way that we did. We have an opportunity to reboot how we interact and how we leave things for future generations. I'm learning from these bad experiences of the past or these tragic experiences of the past. We can either repeat them because it's easier sometimes, and it protects certain special interests, or we can be willing to take that risk. Willing to leave a legacy to people that come after us, to look back and say, “Yeah, they took care of this for us. They made smart decisions so we could learn, so we can experience, and so we can enjoy.” That's why it's important for us to all advocate on behalf of the Grand Canyon.

HECHO: What are your plans for your next visit?

RCH: It might be some time, given what we're facing right now, for when we can visit the Grand Canyon again. I'm hoping to be taking my granddaughter there. My daughter is expecting and we're anxiously awaiting that wonderful experience. My husband in particular, he's so funny because every time we go places in our RV and we're camping, he is like, “we need little kids. I need somebody to go hiking with. I need somebody to go get the firewood at the front with the ranger station. I need somebody to go take the dog for a walk.” I mean, we enjoyed that with each other, of course. We are anxious to share that wonderful experience and to see another generation see something with wonder and awe and get excited about a chipmunk or get excited about a bird or get excited about a flower. That is what we're looking forward to, is when things are easier to navigate and the world is better and safer to take grandchildren and others to learn to experience it. So that's the thing I look forward to, and seeing how things change. I was trying to backtrack about all these experiences we've had at different phases in our life and seeing how, even just in our own temporal space, things do change and people interact and people learn more. We learn more about how to take care of the Grand Canyon. That's one thing I'm looking forward to is being able to share new discoveries with others.

HECHO: What tips would you share for people visiting?

RCH: We love to travel in the Southwest in the spring and fall, you will very rarely find us there in the summer. Spring and fall are the most amazing seasons. As I mentioned earlier, don't be afraid to go during the winter. Some areas may be closed off, you may not be able to access certain areas in the canyon, but there is this sense of solitude that is so peaceful and it just brings you solace and you get to really enjoy the canyon when you're not there with a lot of other folks. That would be the thing that I would always strongly encourage, I’d go during the times when it's off season or very early on in the spring and the fall. I'll be honest that I'm not familiar with how to navigate since we haven't been to South Rim for almost 20 years. There are so many great websites that you can learn what the visit looks like, if you need to make reservations for doing tours, etc. Just be mindful that there are a lot of people that are now visiting the Grand Canyon, so some of the experiences that I am reflecting on may be very, very different now. Just learn from others. That's one thing that's wonderful about traveling nowadays, everybody's doing a blog. Everybody can find ways of getting information so that you get the most up to date data and information that you need in order to plan a wonderful visit. I do, again, highly recommend that you try to avoid the busy seasons and experience the canyon when it's not so crazy. It's the best, also cooler.

HECHO: What are your thoughts about the administration’s policy aiming to open up the Grand Canyon watershed for uranium mining?

RCH: My thoughts about the administration opening the watershed for uranium mining pains me deeply. It goes back to what I had said about the role of stewardship and those of us, as humans, wanting people in the future to reflect back on decisions that we make as those that were thoughtful and in the best interest of society as a whole. I would say that moving in this direction is not bad at all. This decision is rooted in our sad and tragic history of exploitation and colonization, of seeing our natural resources solely used for extraction and capitalizing on that as best as we can. I think we have such a wonderful opportunity to move into a different direction. I don't think it's necessary. I think that it really is tragic that we are moving in this direction, yet again.

HECHO: Could you complete the following sentence: Protecting the Grand Canyon watershed from uranium mining is personal to me because...

RCH: Protecting the Grand Canyon watershed from uranium mining is personal to me because I want this canyon to remain as pristine, as amazing, as breathtaking, as safe and clean and as beautiful as it has been for me and my family and other generations before me have been able to experience it. I want it to be that way for my grandchildren and for generations that come after us and for the visitors who come to visit it, that's why it's important to me.

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