Photos provided by Lucero Cabrera.
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Photo by Getty provided by NWF.
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Photos by Daniela Zavala.
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Photo provided by Dr. Karletta Chief.
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Photo by Daniela Zavala.
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Photos provided by Joshua Fabela.
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HECHO spoke with Victor Silva of Tempe, Arizona to learn about his personal connection to the Grand Canyon, his favorite memories there, and why he believes the Grand Canyon should be protected from uranium mining.
HECHO: What is your personal connection to the Grand Canyon?
Victor Silva (VS): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon is... it's served as sort of a window to the idea of national parks in general, and what they entail, what they represent, what their potential is -- in terms of enrichment….
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HECHO spoke with Coconino County Treasurer, Sarah Benatar, 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?
Sarah Benatar (SB): My personal connection to Grand Canyon is, it's in my backyard, so to speak. Living in Coconino County, we have the Grand Canyon here, and it’s one of the most amazing things.
I personally think the best parts in the Canyon are the North rim and the South rim. The Grand Canyon is something I find a lot of pride and joy in, especially in that it’s a part of our County. We really get to enjoy it whenever we want….
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HECHO spoke with Representative Raquel Terán of Arizona 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?
Representative Raquel Terán (RT): I had never been to the Grand Canyon growing up. I finally went to visit in my early thirties. It was so easy to just get in the car and go visit the Canyon. It was amazing, and the colors were striking. It was so peaceful, and I remember thinking to myself, how is it possible that we had never driven here before? This wonder is in our backyard and it was just so gorgeous. The Grand Canyon holds the colours of Arizona….
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HECHO spoke with Dennis Chavez of Flagstaff, Arizona to learn about his personal connection to the Grand Canyon, his favorite memories there, and why he believes the Grand Canyon should be protected from uranium mining.
HECHO: What is your personal connection to the Grand Canyon?
Dennis Chavez (DC): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon is I was born and raised here in Flagstaff. I was born 65 years ago and I've lived here ever since, never left. My connection to the Grand Canyon started back in the1960s. My uncle worked on the Glen Canyon Dam. That was our first exposure to the Grand Canyon was when the dam was just being built. So, we saw a glimpse of the Grand Canyon before it was dammed up. It started there.
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HECHO spoke with Theresa Huereña of Phoenix, Arizona 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?
Theresa Huereña (TH): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon is that it is in my backyard. I've experienced it through visiting with school groups or work, and it's just a beautiful place to visit…
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HECHO spoke with Isabel Chavez of Phoenix, Arizona 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?
Isabel Chavez (IC): As an Arizona native, my connection to the Grand Canyon is exactly that. It's one of the wonders of the world and it's here in my home state. I think a common thread that I used to share with a lot of native Arizonans is that they had never been there. It wasn't a preferred destination, maybe because of the social economics of my neighborhood, that wasn't an option. When I finally went to the Grand Canyon, I was already older…..
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HECHO spoke with Morgan Moore of Phoenix, Arizona 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?
Morgan Moore (MM): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon is rooted both in its place, as well as the people that connect me to it. I grew up in Arizona. I was born and raised here, so I have been to the Grand Canyon plenty of times, mostly with family. I have gone there since I was a toddler. My parents took me, even though my dad was afraid of falling from it…….
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HECHO spoke with Juliana Huereña of Phoenix, Arizona 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?
Juliana Huereña (JH): So, what is my connection to the Grand Canyon? It is that it was in my backyard and so I was able to take advantage of the wilderness and the opportunities that the Grand Canyon has offered. The beauty of it, the Majestics of it, all of it….
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HECHO spoke with Advisory Board member Mark Cardenas of Arizona to learn about his personal connection to the Grand Canyon, his favorite memories there, and why he believes the Grand Canyon should be protected from uranium mining.
HECHO: What is your personal connection to the Grand Canyon?
Mark Cardenas (MC): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon -- that was where, you know, growing up you would always go on the weekends, to the parks and to go hiking in the mountains, because that was what we could afford. I remember one of the biggest trips that we got to go on was a road trip to the Grand Canyon. I was probably like six or seven years old. was really little, and it was just so amazing that one, we got out of the city and two, there's this huge place that, you know, when you go into the parking lot there's license plates from all around the country…
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HECHO spoke with Steve Peru of Flagstaff, Arizona to learn about his personal connection to the Grand Canyon, his favorite memories there, and why he believes the Grand Canyon should be protected from uranium mining.
HECHO: What is your personal connection to the Grand Canyon?
Steve Peru (SP): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon started, and I don't know when it was that our parents took us to the Grand Canyon, but I was probably older than grade school, middle school years. It's probably more exciting to the parent, at the time, than it is to the child. At the same time, given the fact that our parents didn't always have a lot of resources to make that investment of time and money to take the family to the Grand Canyon, it must have been very special to our parents….
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HECHO spoke with Mesa City Councilmember David Luna to learn about his personal connection to the Grand Canyon, his favorite memories there, and why he believes the Grand Canyon should be protected from uranium mining.
HECHO: What is your personal connection to the Grand Canyon?
David Luna (DL): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon begins with the fact that I'm a native of Arizona, which gives me that personal connection to one of the seven wonders of the world. I’ve had the opportunity to take visitors, relatives, and my grandkids to the Grand Canyon so they could see its majesty, its wonder, its uniqueness, the way one should experience it – in person. The Grand Canyon is something that we truly celebrate here in Arizona.
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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….
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HECHO spoke with Michael Lerner of New York, New York to learn about his personal connection to the Grand Canyon, his favorite memories there, and why he believes the Grand Canyon should be protected from uranium mining.
HECHO: What is your personal connection to the Grand Canyon?
Michel Lerner (ML): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon is that I've had the privilege and the honor to be there three times as an adult. Once as a kid, but I was honestly too young to really appreciate it. As an adult, I went on a visit to some family friends in Arizona. I'm from New York City so it's not, by any means, nearby but they suggested going there and I wasn't really aware that you could just drive up and get into the best of it without privileges or paying a lot of expensive fares or permits. So, this family friend suggested staying over at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon…..
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HECHO spoke with Feliz Baca of Albuquerque, New Mexico 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?
Feliz Baca (FB): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon is that I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but split my time between Arizona and New Mexico growing up. Half my life consisted of living in Northern Arizona, in Flagstaff, taking trips to the Grand Canyon with my family. I didn't start exploring the canyon as much until I got a little bit older and went away from the state because, when you're from Arizona, you don't take as much time to truly enjoy the beauty and everything that it has to offer…..
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