Light kisses the top cliffs in the Grand Canyon

Michellsey Benally

Water Advocacy Manager

“Who is speaking for the waters of the Earth?”

— Gregory Cajete

Yá’át’ééh, shí éí Michellsey Benally yinishyé. Tódích’íí’nii nishłį́ Kinłichíí’nii bashishchiin Bit’ahnii dashicheii Yé’ii dine’é Táchii’nii dashinalí. Kinłání kééhasht’į́, Shą́ą́ʼtóhí déé’ naashá.

Michellsey graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2009, then spent some years instructing a range of outdoor education courses in southeast Alaska, the Yukon Territory, and southern Utah. In 2014, her adventures took her down a river that reforged her relationship with water. This led her to supporting citizen science, running raft trips down the Middle Fork of the Salmon, and leading restoration efforts on the Chehalis River. Returning to Utah in 2017, Michellsey continued her restoration pursuits with the Escalante River Watershed Partnership, and then working with Conservation Legacy in New Mexico. After leaving the Arizona Department of Water Resources, where she managed the regulation of groundwater, Michellsey is thrilled to be of service to water and to Indigenous communities as the Grand Canyon Trust’s water advocacy manager.

Bookshelf staples

  • Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence by Gregory Cajete
  • Red Alert!: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge by Daniel R. Wildcat
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Plateau favorites

  • Shą́ą́ʼtóhí Canyon, Dinétah
  • Escalante River, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
  • Kanab Creek Wilderness, Kaibab National Forest
  • Buckskin Gulch to the Paria River, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument

Interests & hobbies

  • Maintaining relations with land and water
  • Running with the best four-legged companion, Chuska
  • Volunteering with Arizona Mountaineering Club

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