FLAGSTAFF, AZ — From now until April 14, 2025, the Grand Canyon Regional Intertribal Intergenerational Stewardship Expedition (RIISE) is accepting applications from young people ages 16-20 who identify as members of one of the associated Native American tribes of the Grand Canyon for its fourth annual free nine-day Colorado River rafting trip through the Grand Canyon July 20-28, 2025.
The intertribal, intergenerational river trip is hosted by the Grand Canyon Trust and Grand Canyon Youth and supported by Arizona Raft Adventures and Grand Canyon Expeditions. The goal of the trip is to connect Indigenous young people with their ancestral homelands in the Grand Canyon region. Interested applicants should be comfortable camping outside along the Colorado River for nine days, hiking, and spending long periods of time outdoors, and must apply at grandcanyontrust.org/riise by Monday, April 14, 2025 at 5 p.m. MST.
RIISE will select up to 18 young leaders for this immersive cultural journey to experience the Grand Canyon in the company of Indigenous knowledge holders, river guides, and environmental advocates. All transportation to and from the river, all meals, rafting equipment, and necessary camping gear will be provided. RIISE requires all accepted applicants to participate in six weeks of pre-trip online education to prepare for the expedition while also learning about environmental justice issues in the Grand Canyon region and along the Colorado River. Understanding the canyon’s past and present is key to young people developing their own visions and dreams for the future. Bennett Wakayuta, a Hualapai tribal member who serves as a knowledge holder accompanying the trip, shared, “I watch youth embrace a spiritual side that they may have not known. I witness many of them begin to take this growth home and utilize these things in participation with other trips, a more clear line of what they want to do in life, a connection with home.”
“RIISE brings young Native leaders back to their ancestral lands to learn from their elder tribal relatives the histories and stories of the Grand Canyon,” said Amber Benally, Diné, who cofounded RIISE and now serves as the Grand Canyon Trust’s just transition manager. “Our people were forced from their homelands to make room for Grand Canyon National Park, and too often I hear our young people say, ‘there’s nothing there for me’ or ‘I don’t belong here.’ But we do belong here. We are still here. And sharing knowledge and connecting with the canyon and with each other is an important way to remember who we are as Indigenous people.”
A major goal of the trip is to invite Native youth to define their leadership role in shaping the future of Grand Canyon. Elena Klopfenstein, Diné, who began as a participant on the 2023 RIISE expedition and was invited to return as a leader in training on the 2024 trip, says: “RIISE is a chance to be within my home. It reminds me that the Grand Canyon and other cultural sites, no matter how much red tape is put across them, will always be my home and are worth protecting.”
Making meaningful connections with the canyon and the cohort is at the center of this experience.
“I always carry RIISE with me in my back pocket. It’s so beautiful and such a wonderful gift to witness,” said 2024 RIISE participant Alexiana Mitchell, Diné.” I always think about the little moments I share with some old and new friends. I have learned so much.”
In places like the Grand Canyon, Native peoples have been left out of land management decisions and economic opportunities. RIISE aims to help change this by supporting the next generation of Native American conservation leaders. Grand Canyon Youth alumna and Diné river guide Shonri Begay shared, “The RIISE trip helps me imagine a future on the Colorado River in which Indigenous voices are not just on the margins. I hope to see more Indigenous voices on the river or in fields that work to understand and defend the land; I think the youth seeing Indigenous guides on these trips is a small but important piece of the process of seeing themselves as leaders in unexpected fields.”
Applications for RIISE 2025 are open until Monday, April 14, 2025. More information and a link to the application may be found at grandcanyontrust.org/riise. Accepted applicants commit to six weeks of pre-trip online learning as well as the full river trip July 20-28, 2025. Questions can be directed to risingleaders@grandcanyontrust.org.
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A photo gallery for this story is viewable here
Images may be used royalty-free by members of the media for reporting on the RIISE river trip with proper credit to the photographer.
Request an interview
Contact: Danya Gorel, Rising Leaders Manager, (713) 530-7853
