#MyGrandCanyonStory | Coconino County Supervisor, Elizabeth Archuleta
HECHO founding member and Coconino County Supervisor, Elizabeth Archuleta sat down with us to talk about why advocating for the Grand Canyon is important for her.
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HECHO spoke with Nikki Julien, Outreach Director for the Arizona Wildlife Federation to learn about her favorite memory at the Grand Canyon, and why she believes uranium mining poses a dangerous threat to the National Park.
HECHO: What is your personal connection to the grand Canyon?
Nikki Julien (NJ): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon started the first time I visited, I was probably about five, six years old. My family had moved to Arizona and my parents, of course, put my brother in boy scouts. They had a boy scout trip to go down to Havasupai Village and we all hiked all the way down and back up again. While I was there, I actually learned to swim in that beautiful blue, green water. I learned how to swim in Mooney Falls. I was just a kid at the time, so I didn’t think much about it until after I realized how major it actually was. In the education field and nature writing field, and nature advocacy field, one of the first questions that is asked at almost any conference, is about your connection to the land. When that is asked, I get to say that I learned to swim at Mooney Falls at Havasupai Village which is an amazing, amazing experience. Not many six year olds can make that trip down and back out again. In 2014, I was able to helicopter down into the village and that was remarkable.
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HECHO spoke with Viviana Reyes of Flagstaff, 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 the Grand Canyon
Viviana Reyes (VR): As far as my personal connection to the Grand Canyon, I was born and raised in Arizona. I grew up in Phoenix, and, as a child, the Grand Canyon was one of the only places that we were really able to visit. For one, it’s in our home state and it was really close. And, also, it’s kind of an affordable place to visit in the sense that we would just kind of get together as a family and drive. One of the first times I got to visit was with an uncle and it was super breathtaking and beautiful. I remember thinking that it wasn’t real, that it just looked like a picture, like a postcard almost.
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HECHO sat down with Lynn Cordova of Arizona to learn about her connection to the Grand Canyon, and why she believes the Grand Canyon should be protected from uranium mining.
HECHO: Why do you think it’s important to advocate for national parks against the threat of uranium mining?
Lynn Cordova (LC): I think national parks are important, and we, as a society, need to have places to visit and unwind. As you probably know and read my story about growing up, and growing up low income, I didn't have a ton of exposure to public lands. I lived in Colorado, and it's a beautiful state. There are tons of mountains and hiking trails, but I rarely got to experience that because, often times, it was a matter of my mother not having enough money to even get us to the mountains. If we did, it was the closest foothills we could get to and that was our version of a picnic or camping.
Now that I'm older, and since I have yet to visit the Grand Canyon, it’s on my bucket list— especially since I now live in Arizona. I want to ensure that it's going to be available for me to visit. But if uranium mining occurs, I’m worried about the potential of water contamination in the area, and who knows what other repercussions could happen from that. It’s important to ensure that it doesn't happen so that everyone can visit the Grand Canyon.
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My family has a long history in the Pojoaque Valley of New Mexico. Both my mother and father’s side of the family has been a part of this county for generations, dating back to the early pre-Hispanic settlers in the area. Growing up in New Mexico, I was immersed in the traditional farming community and grew up with the ranchero lifestyle.
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I’m proud to be an 8th generation Arizonan. My family has traced our long history in Arizona back to the 1740s. Both my maternal and paternal grandparents were farmworkers, tending the fields. My father was a farmworker as well.
My family settled in Pima County after an uncle bought a plot of land and invited his brothers to join.
Arizona is what I know best. I was brought up in South Phoenix, and moved after gentrification pushed us out. Afterwards, my family moved to Golden Gate Barrio. I find comfort in familiarity and today, my children go to the same elementary school I did.
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My story begins similarly to others who have history in Arizona. My parents started work on the border of Arizona and later moved to Bisbee, a city with a rich mining history as well as my birthplace. Eventually, my family and I settled in Tucson. Arizona as a whole has so much to offer and so much that I love. At the top of the list is the biodiversity the state is home to. You can be in one place, surrounded by desert and red rock, and then drive a few hours north and be engulfed by forest. I especially appreciate the variance during the winter, where I can still enjoy the outdoors without having to compromise my desire for warmth.
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Dedicated former mayor of the Village of Questa, New Mexico, Esther García was a strong advocate for the Hispanic community, defending traditional Hispano cultural practices on our lands and waters. Former Mayor García passed away on January 5, 2020 after living her days as a fierce supporter of land access and cultural preservation.
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As a native Arizonan raised in Douglas, I have always admired the desert. While many might think of a desert landscape as arid, and perhaps even uninhabitable, I find the desert to be one of the most life-sustaining biomes, teeming with species who have adapted and thrive in our dry climate.
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I’m 25 and I live in Phoenix, Arizona. Growing up one thing my mom would refuse to have in our house was cable. She didn’t want us to be sitting in front of the TV and not enjoying playing outside. We could afford the cable, but she said no. Every time I look back on that, I’m grateful because it made me love the outdoors. I used to live right by a park and I remember always going there growing up. As soon as we hit the park there was a hill. The first thing I would do is run up that hill and every single time I felt a complete sense of freedom.
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My family has been hunting for generations in New Mexico. It has been a tradition that we have participated in year after year, and one that has bonded each of my family members.
I started hunting at 8 years old by tagging along with my father and uncles, and eventually began to hunt small game like squirrels and rabbits. I look back on these memories fondly, remembering how I first learned to walk quietly, use my senses of sight and smell, reading tracks, and learning the ways of my prey. Later I learned to safely carry and fire my hunting rifle, my grandfather’s old Remington Rollingblock.
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I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. Colorado is such an outdoorsy place, but I grew up with limited means. We lived in a housing project and often relied on government assistance. My mother was a single mom who worked as a janitor. Even though the mountains were only 20 minutes away, we rarely went because when you’re poor, even buying the gas to get there is an extreme effort.
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Many of us here carry a sense that we are connected to the land. Even many of those who live in town have family connections with land nearby. Many people spend time out of town “at the ranch”.
Las Vegas is situated at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range. They are the very last of the Rockies if you follow them down from north to south. We have many acres of National Forest including Carson, Santa Fe, and Pecos. Growing up I’d go backpacking or camping with girlfriends, or we’d go out in the winter with our snowboards and enjoy the snow. I had this feeling that this wild land of the communal forest was my own. A lot of people have those types of strong connections to the land here.
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The favorite activity that my father and I shared was fishing. Fishing taught us patience and respect, not easy lessons for my rambunctious siblings and myself. When we would catch something too small to eat we would always throw it back. I’ll never forget the first fish my baby brother finally caught. It was a tiny Bluegill no bigger than the length of my index finger and certainly nothing that was going to feed anyone. Beaming with pride from this seminal experience he threw it in the freezer instead of throwing it back into the lake. My dad lit into my wide-eyed little brother. With the frankness signature of a Marine-Corps drill sergeant he informed us that we don’t waste. If we kill we eat and when we eat, we use as much of the animal as possible.
That lesson struck a nerve with me much deeper than just my love of fishing or nature. Spending time with my father in the outdoors was a masterclass in respect. I’ve carried that respect with me from the lush forests of Northern Michigan to my arid home in Southern Colorado. I’ve tried to embody it everyday as an adult, as a mom, as a teacher and now as a State Legislator.
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I was born and raised in Pecos, New Mexico, where my family has been for several generations. I grew up eating deer meat and trout. Nature is what sustained me growing up. My father was a hunter and a fisherman, and we depended on that for our food source. We’d gather berries and pick piñon in the fall. Food gathering has always been really important to my family.
I still share the tradition of picking berries and making jelly with my family. My daughter asks me why we’re doing it since we still have leftover jelly from last year, but I tell her it’s about remembering grandma and her recipes and continuing the tradition. I want to teach my kids and grandkids about the foods that are edible in this area and how to identify them. That’s something that’s been part of my upbringing and something that’s always been important to me.
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Once you get up there the treeline stops – you can see Sedona, all of Flagstaff, and the view from the back of the mountain is unreal. Breathtaking.
On the way down, a storm rolled in so for the last hour or two I was walking in the rain. People say, “oh man,” but honestly it was the most peace I’ve ever had. I totally got drenched it was so peaceful. The clouds rolled in and that’s all you hear is just the rain. That was one of the better hikes I’ve had in a long time. The last mile or two it really started coming down so I picked up the pace. But the rain actually ended the hike really well.
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I always went fishing with my grandfather and my uncles, Bernave Arellano and Virgil Lopez, who taught me how to catch trout. Both of my uncles were very respectful of the land and understood that it was important to leave it better than you found it.
Growing up in Salt Lake City, I always enjoyed the outdoors. The air felt so good to breathe and it seemed like the opportunities were endless. We were rather poor. My mother raised four kids by herself. We didn’t have a car for much of the time. When we got on the train to visit relatives, I always looked out the window at the open range where you could run fast and feel free.
Back then, my family hunted deer and elk. It’s important to realize that hunting and fishing are fun, but the best reason is to hunt to put food on the table. This is true for most Latinos. My family made jerky from the meat of the animals they killed. They would smoke the fish that we caught. Today, my relatives living in small towns in the Southwest still hunt for subsistence. A lot of these towns are food deserts and don’t have access to the best grocery stores. But through fishing and hunting you can still feed your family with good nutrition.
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The land has always been our life. Our dedication is to the land. We’ve always depended on the land to survive. My family were farmers and ranchers. I spent most of my summers with my grandfather, and I continue his traditions. We own pieces of land, but I don’t feel like they’re ours, only ours to take care of while were here.
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As a 26 year-old living in Phoenix, I hear all the time from the Latino community that camping and hiking is not part of our culture. That’s not true. This is part of who we are. It is part of our identity to enjoy the earth and what it provides for us, and also to have our role in protecting it. People are disengaged from their history and their roots. But if you can’t directly experience public lands, it’s harder to advocate on their behalf, or speak to elected officials about why they should care.
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Sylvia Lovato Huereña loves nothing more than to watch a child fish for the first time. She had this experience with her own children, her 10 grandchildren, and countless others. “When a child goes out to the lake and catches their first fish, at first they’re terrified to grab it when it’s jumping all over,” she said. “But then the amount of joy in their eyes is one of the most profound moments.” In addition to teaching them how to hold a fishing pole and pull the hook out of the fish’s mouth, she and her husband Lupe also let them know that whatever they kill they have to eat; and that they should leave the lake in better condition than they found it.
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