First Voices - Kelkiyana Yazzie

Behind the Scenery

In the modern history of the National Park Service, there’s but a handful of fourth-generation National Park employees. Kelkiyana Yazzie is such a ranger. What was it like growing up on the Navajo Nation in Arizona? What does it mean to work today, as the Tribal Program Coordinator for Grand Canyon National Park? And how do you calm a mortally-wounded, panicky and stressed-out bison on the North Rim? Join us for an insightful conversation with a unique Grand Canyon Ranger.

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TRANSCRIPT:

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Kelkiyana Something my colleague likes to say is that “we're not a resource to be managed.” And seeing the Grand Canyon, that's a part of us as native people. It's not like a different thing than us. I always hear that when I work with tribal members and even in my own culture is that this place is a living landscape and we're interconnected with it. We have a reciprocal relationship with it.

Doug Hello folks, and welcome. My name is Ranger Doug from the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. We have a very special guest today, who will join us for an interesting look at Grand Canyon, sharing her insights and thoughts, from the perspective of an Indigenous National Park employee. This conversation is part of our First Voices series of Behind the Scenery Grand Canyon National Park podcasts.

In the modern history of the whole National Park Service, there’s but a handful of fourth-generation National Park employees. And today you are going to meet one of these rare individuals.

What was it like growing up on the Navajo Nation in Arizona? How did this park ranger become the fourth generation in her family to wear a National Park Service ranger uniform? What does it mean to work today, as the Tribal Program Coordinator for Grand Canyon National Park? And how do you calm a mortally-wounded, panicky and stressed-out bison on the North Rim?

We’ll answer these and many more questions. Join us for a fascinating and insightful conversation with special Grand Canyon ranger, Kelkiyana Yazzie. I will let her introduce herself to you.

Kelkiyana Yeah. Hi. Hello. Ya'at'eeh. Good morning. My name is Kelkiyana Yazzie. I am the tribal program coordinator for Grand Canyon National Park. That means that I work with the parks 11 Associated Tribes to have them feel represented and included in park management and projects here at Grand Canyon. And to introduce myself in Navajo language, I'm a Navajo tribal member, Bit’ahnii nishli, Lok'aa’ Dine’e bashishchiin, Bilagaana dashicheii, Tabaaha’ dashinali. That's how we usually introduce ourselves to other Navajo people to establish a sense of kinship with them. Those were our clans. So my first clan is Bit’ahnii, which means folded arm people. I always hope that means a good thing. And then my second clan is Lok'aa’ Dine’e, which means reed people and that actually has Hopi origins. So somewhere down the line I have Hopi, Hopi ancestors. Even though I identify as Navajo today. But yeah, clans are still strong and in existence in the Navajo culture. You can ask the little 5-year-old Navajo kid and they'll be able to introduce themselves in Navajo just like the way I did. So that just shows how important that is to our culture and heritage today.

Doug Now the Navajo reservation, the Navajo Nation, shares a boundary with Grand Canyon National Park. Our eastern boundary, and your western boundary is shared. So can you share with the listeners a little bit about the Navajo Nation?

Kelkiyana Yeah. So the Navajo Nation is considered the largest Native American reservation in the United States. I believe it's let at least 265,000 square miles and it has a population of about 165,000 people who live on the reservation today. If you ever get a chance to drive through the rez, you'll see how spaced apart our communities are and you'll see, like random houses here and there along the highway. So it may seem like it's a desolate place, but in reality it's just full of families full of culture and heritage that's still strong today. Growing up on the Navajo Nation, there's a lot of difficulties and challenges, such as not having running water and electricity, and that's a common thing for the Navajo Nation, is that a lot of households still don't have running water. And with my own family, we didn’t even have running water until I was about fourth grade. Before that, we would use an outhouse and then like a camp shower, like a solar shower, my dad built like pallets and put up curtains, and then we just leave the shower bag out in the sun all day, and that's what we would use. So yeah, wasn't till I was in 4th grade and a lot of families out there still don't have running water. But the Navajo Nation is a special place. We call it Diné Bikéyah (The Land). And it's considered to be within the four sacred mountains, one being San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, AZ. Another being Mount Blanca, Mount Taylor in New Mexico and Hesperus up in Colorado. So those, within those four mountains is considered our ancestral and modern-day homeland.

Doug So you grew up in the Shonto area. Tell us a little bit about that, growing up on the rez.

Kelkiyana Yeah. I grew up in a really small community called Shonto. We had a population about 500 people, so everyone knew each other and what's very common on the rez is that we live next to our families. So I have my house that I grew up in with my parents and my siblings, and then just like maybe 500 yards away with my Nelly, my grandma on my dad's side, she lived there and I just maybe like one or two miles away was my great grandma and she would always walk over to our house at all hours of the day or night. Even in the middle of the night, she would like, have no flashlight and she's just walking through the trees and she'll end up at our house. Well, But I grew up in a traditional household. We had sheep. We still have sheep and horses. Livestock. Cattle. And so we would do things like butchering for special occasions or just for family gatherings where we would butcher the sheep. Uh, we still do that today in our family. It's a great way to get together and we use all parts of the sheep, whether to eat or you use the wool for weaving. I always remember going to my great grandma's hogan growing up, my dad would drop us off there on the weekends. I know back then I used to really hate it, but thinking back on it, I'm really glad I got to experience that, but she would be using like a like a spindle and she would have a loom and she would like really care-take for her own wool. She would make it all from getting it from the sheep to where it ends up in a rug. She was a weaver. So that was really cool to see that process and I even got to weave a small rug with my great grandma that I still have today coming from the wool from her, her own sheep herd, from her own sheep corral. But yeah, I'm just really fortunate to have grown up in a traditional small community. Our closest neighbors, again, are our family, and then I would have the school is kind of faraway where we would wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get on the bus and we wouldn't come back until 5:30 in the evening. That just shows how harsh and long the commute to school was growing up in that community.

Doug And then where did you go to high school?

Kelkiyana I went to high school in a small town called Kayenta, Arizona. It's near Monument Valley tribal park. Some people may have heard of that. It's where those famous buttes are that are showcased in old Western films, such as the John Wayne movies. And yeah, it's called Monument Valley High School. And again, it would take like 2 hours to commute from Shonto to Kayenta on the bus because a lot of us lived on rural dirt roads. So the bus would have to travel through and pick us up and then take us to Kayenta. But yeah, it was a really good high school experience. A common thing that was taught to us is Navajo language, so that's something that's really strong on the reservation, not just at the high school I went to, but all the schools across the Navajo Nation, even in all the way from preschool age to college level, the Navajo language and crafts such as basket making and rug weaving are taught in our schools on the rez.

Doug And what was your post high school path like?

Kelkiyana Yeah. So after high school, I ended up going to Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, that was primarily because they offered free tuition to Native American students, and it was still close enough to home. It was about a four-hour commute one way. I'm really close with my family growing up, so I knew I was going to get homesick if I went elsewhere. But I was really glad with my choice because Fort Lewis and Durango is just like a really small mountain town with this strong sense of community. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. It also had a large Native American population. I believe 20% of the students were from tribes from all over the country, from Alaska to Hawaii, to South Dakota and even the East Coast. So I got involved with the Native American Center, the Environmental Center, and an organization called Engineers Without Borders, where I was able to spend summers in Central America, in Nicaragua, building latrines and water systems for rural remote villages there. So yeah, I got a lot of that experience. I built up my leadership skills while I was in college. I was always a shy, introverted person growing up and I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. So my college experience at Fort Lewis really shaped me to be where I'm at today. I give a lot of credit to that institution for making me the person I am today and for helping me in the current position that I'm serving in the Park Service.

Doug And there's a small National Monument established in 1909 near your hometown of Shonto area. It's called Navajo National Monument. Talk about your family’s connection to this small National Monument.

Kelkiyana Yeah. So I grew up about 5 minutes down the road from the small NPS unit called Navajo National Monument. It's right off of Hwy. 160. Not many people know about. Every time, visitors would show up, they'd be like, “oh, we just saw the sign on the road and came up with this way.” But it's a small park. It's fee free, has free camping, and in it the most important thing is that it protects ancestral sites such as 3 cliff dwellings, Betatakin, Keet Seel and Inscription House. Betatakin and Keet Seel are Navajo words for the sites, when in reality these ancestral sites have connections to more of the Pueblo groups, such as the Hopi and Zuni, as well as the San Juan Southern Paiute. We had four associated tribes with that park, including the Navajo, but yeah. So I am a 4th Generation Park Ranger at that park. My great grandpa Hubert Laughter was one of the first Navajo Park Rangers there in the 1950s, which says a lot because the park was established in 1909. Yet they didn't have local indigenous community members as employees until the 1950s, even though this small monument is located right in the middle of the Navajo Nation. So yeah, it was my great grandpa. Then it was my grandpa Albert. He used to give Ranger programs that were surrounded around traditional food, so he would do like fried bread, making classes with visitors. And he was even featured in National Geographic one year. And I found out that. Uh, my dad, as of I think he said he was five years old, is actually in that issue of the magazine too. There's a picture of him with my great grandma and that same issue. So I haven't had a chance to see it myself, but hopefully I get to find it, I think believe it was in the 70s or 80s when this was published. And then after that was my aunts Shannon and Althea. They were working there and I remember when my Aunt Shannon was working there, she would always come home in her Ranger uniform and I was just like, Oh my gosh, that's like, the coolest thing I've ever seen. Like, that's so neat. Where I would even wear it as a Halloween costume. I know we’re not supposed to wear the uniform like that, but I was just like mind blown and really inspired just even just seeing the uniform growing up. And just learning about what she did as well, I got to interview her supervisor for a school project and he talked about all these things on how they protect the ancestral sites and how they educate visitors on the heritage, the management of the park and so on. And I was just so inspired and knew that was something that I kind of wanted to look into back then. That was when I was back in middle school. Yeah, then now me. So four generations of Park Rangers.

Doug Which is rarely really rare. My boss is a second-generation park employee. I have known the name of a couple of three generations, but I can't think of a single person in the whole National Park Service who has that lineage as a 4th generation national park employee. So very well done. So when you started working there I'm, I've visited a couple of times, Keet Seel is about an 8 mile trail into the back country and it's the largest cliff dwelling in the state of Arizona. There's a small National Park Ranger quarters, a hogan there. Talk. Talk about living out there in that remote area as a park ranger and leading tours to Keet Seel.

Kelkiyana Yeah. So I worked at Navajo National Monument for about 5 years as a seasonal interpretive park ranger. I did this right after I graduated from college at Fort Lewis. And I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into because I always thought, like, “why are people coming to this park? Like there's just a bunch of old houses in the Canyon. What are they learning? What are they seeing?” So when I got my first experience going down to do cliff dwelling tours to Betatakin and Keet Seel I totally understood and I was able to reconnect to my own heritage and my own culture in so many different ways that I never would have if I didn't have this job, and if I wasn't educating and visiting these sites. But yeah, Keet Seel is a remote location. We consider it a backpacking route. Visitors would have to get permits through us, and we give them an orientation and they would have the option to hike out there on their own and meet a Ranger out there at the Ranger hogan that's been out there for a really long time, and even my family, who's worked for the Park Service were the ones who built it that helped build it. So it was really special connecting to them in that way, staying out in the Ranger hogan. Of course, we added stuff like a Tempur-Pedic mattress, a ceiling fan, a TV. We hiked all these things out there just to give that sense of comfort, because it is a very, very remote location. There's no cell service we would sort of kind of get the local Navajo Nation radio station KTNN, but it wasn't very good signal still. So that just kind of tells how remote this area was. Yeah, I would give tours to people from all over the world. And Keet Seel was a special place because people really wanted to be there. It was a 17-mile round trip hike for people to get out there. You would have to commit at least two days to do something like this. Even if you were just day hiking it. And yeah, I got to meet so many different people, and my tours ranged from an hour up to four hours. I remember spending it with the group who were actually on a tour I did with them at Betatakin. So they did the Betatakin and Keet Seel tour with me. They're a really nice family from Utah. And yeah, if once you see Keet Seel, it's 170 room cliff dwelling. A majority of it is what's original. It dates back to the 1300s. A lot of what's inside you can actually see like handprints and fingerprints in the mortar. And then you can also see lots of pictographs and petroglyphs inside the alcove as well, where the Cliff dwelling, the rooms are. The area was black above it, and it shows that's where people would build fires to keep warm. But yeah, it's just a lot of history, and once you really learn more about the site, you just realize these people were just like us. They were living day-to-day. They had social groups, they had families. And they were interacting with others out there. They were doing a lot of trading out at Keet Seel. It said that they found macaw feathers there. Seashells. So it shows that people were moving and migrating and trading with various people from different regions. But yeah, it was a really special place. I really missed that. I feel like that's the favorite, most favorite part of my job working there is because you just get this whole level of peace and serenity being at a space like that and we like to refer to this place as a living, spiritual place. Because it's not ruins or abandoned, it's still spiritually occupied by the ancestors who physically lived in Keet Seel for hundreds of years ago, and it still has a living connection to the Hopi and many other tribes who still do pilgrimage pilgrimages out to the site to leave prayers and offerings to honor where we come from.

Doug So after a few backpackers hiked out there and you spent some time giving them a tour, campers went back to the campground. You went back to the hogan, what would you think about at night?

Kelkiyana Yeah, actually I was really scared of the dark. Honestly, that's my honest answer, but in reality there were days out there where no hikers would come out, so I would have like the whole day to myself and those were days that I really thought about the history of the Canyon. I was just there alone and I would look out, I would see Turkey Cave in the distance. I would see these other alcoves where other villages were as well. It's not just Keet Seel in that area and I would just imagine what life was like back then. And there's this flat area where they would farm corn, beans, squash and other agricultural items. And I was just seeing all this erosion happening. All this arroyo cutting and how thinking about things like climate change and how that's impacted these areas that people have been sustaining and managing for hundreds of years. Yet within just a short time span you can see these dramatic changes, such as the arroyo cutting and the erosion happening in the Canyon. So yeah, those were just things I would think about. And of course, my own family history and my own cultural connections to these sites. I also got to see a lot of eagles and hawks in that area. Those are seen as really good omens and that just made me feel like I was in the right place at the right time. I was where I was meant to be.

Doug I know some Navajo folks purposely shy away from visiting the ancestral Pueblo home sites and villages. So what's your feeling about that?

Kelkiyana Yeah. So traditionally, I was always told growing up to not go near these sites from my great grandma and my dad. And even as far as pottery sherds, there's a lot of these around these sites, especially out at Keet Seel. The Navajo word for Keet Seel translates to broken pottery scattered around, so that was everywhere out there. So that was something I would never do is pick up pottery or mess with it because they say if you do you're disturbing the spirit of the person who made that, and you're also disturbing the intent and purpose of why someone left it there. And there's actually stories in Hopi where people would intentionally smash their pottery at areas they were leaving as a way to leave their footprints there and their connection to that space. And then there is always that intent to return to these locations as well. But anyway, as far as the visiting ancestral sites, my dad just kind of told me “as long as you're visiting these with positive intent that you're praying for yourself, you're praying for the site. you're praying for the visitors that you're bringing in with you like you should be OK.” And I would always have my tádídíín, my corn pollen, so I would always do my own offerings at these sites. And actually when I was reading some literature, I came across like this little interview, I guess, that my great grandpa did back in the day, for a book that was written about the park. And in there that, he said, does that exact same thing, “as long as you're visiting this place with positive intent, a positive mindset, an open mindset, and you when you leave, you don't bring any of that negative energy with you, then it should be OK on visiting these ancestral sites.” So that really meant a lot to me to see my great grandfather's advice written there and then just hearing what my dad told me, and I intended to pass that on to anybody else who would want to listen and learn about the Navajo connection to ancestral sites like this.

Doug Do you recall your first visit to the Grand Canyon? Tell us about that.

Kelkiyana Yeah. So my first, I grew up about two hours from the Grand Canyon and so we would come here either as a family on a couple of occasions as well as for field trips. And the earliest memory I can think of is my 4th grade field trip coming here to the South rim and we went to the historic village. We went to Desert View, got to walk the trails and even got to talk with the park ranger. And I just remember, as young as I was in elementary school, thinking, like, where are we at? Like, we were the only native people in this space at the Grand Canyon. I would go inside the museum area, like the Bright Angel lodge. And there was nothing but stories about Euro-American pioneers and explorers. And I remember seeing this mannequin of a Harvey girl dressed up in a velveteen blouse and a squash blossom and a Concho belt which is considered our traditional regalia and Navajo. And I'm like, why is she wearing that, like, what's going on? And that mannequins are actually still up at the bright Angel Lodge today. But that's just something I really remember. Visiting as a young Navajo child to the Grand Canyon is like where is where is us at? Where is our story to this space?

Doug So what was your motivation for coming and working at the Grand Canyon?

Kelkiyana Yeah, so working on my old park Navajo National Monument, that place is my heart and soul. I still consider it to be. It's my home and I have very rich history and tie to it as not just a Navajo person, but and my own family as well. So I did end up leaving the park because I kind of reached my developmental opportunities there. I was kind of stuck as a seasonal park ranger in that park, and I knew I really wanted to get into management. My career goal is actually to be Superintendent at Navajo National Monument. And I was just like, oh, that's hard as it's going to be, I have to go somewhere else to get this leadership and get these management skills so I can come back and help this park that I love so much. So I ended up going back to school for my Master’s degree. I got a Parks and Recreation management master's degree from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. And at the same time, I was enrolled in the National Park Service Pathways program, which means once you have a degree, you can transition into a permanent career with the Park Service instead of me just staying as a seasonal park ranger, I could actually be a permanent ranger. So Grand Canyon was the one that offered the opportunity to me. And they also told me that they're really trying to improve their indigenous representation and education here at the park, and they thought I was the perfect fit to join the team in the village. So that's how I was able to get hired on at the park and finish up my degree. I was going to school full time and working full time and yeah, just a little over two years ago, I became a permanent park ranger.

Doug And what was your job at the Grand Canyon?

Kelkiyana I was also an interpretive park Ranger on the South rim in the village area, so I would give park programs to visitors who are coming from all over the world. And I remember it was just such a big change from where I was coming from at Navajo National Monument, like over there, we were getting 5 visitors during the day. In the wintertime and then coming here, we would get hundreds of people. And what I really missed was those intimate conversations that I would have with visitors. Like I would be on 4 hour tours back where I was coming from. Here, which is kind of a hi-and-bye like, where's Mather Point? Where's the bathroom? So I kind of learned that, oh, maybe interpretation, I mean, it is my passion, but there's something deeper that I'm really connected to and why I like doing what I do. And I found out that what I like doing is educating people on indigenous knowledge and indigenous history, as well as not just talking about it, but also being a part of that work in the park. So that's how I transitioned out of the interpretive role.

Doug And when you sit on the bench and you look at the Grand Canyon, do you see the Grand Canyon primarily as a natural resources National Park, or, as a cultural resources National Park and why?

Kelkiyana Yeah, that's a really great question. I really struggle with the whole resource management stuff, end of things, because historically and even today, tribal affairs and anything that has to do with tribes is usually sectioned underneath the cultural resource management division of national parks. A lot of parks today don't have a tribal liaison, and it usually falls on the archaeologists or anthropologists as a collateral duty for them to be the ones who interact with tribes, if they even do at all. So, something my colleagues likes to say is that “we're not a resource to be managed.” And seeing the Grand Canyon, that's a part of us as native people. It's not like a different thing than us. I always hear that when I work with tribal members and even in my own culture is that this place is a living landscape and we're interconnected with it. We have a reciprocal relationship with it. So yeah, I do see it as natural and cultural, but I really struggle with the whole resource word just because of the history and even current way that some parks out there include indigenous knowledge and voices. It's always under the cultural resource umbrella.

Doug What are some of your favorite people stories about the Grand Canyon?

Kelkiyana Yeah, so that was would be my favorite thing being an interpretive ranger at Grand Canyon National Park is all the people you get to meet and interact with. But always my favorite would be running into other native people who are just visiting the park because it was just so rare to see, and I would … oh my heart would just always feel happy. And yeah, I would just really love meeting all these different native families from different tribes. One that really stands out to me is a Comanche family who visited the park and were actually sat down on the bench, they said. And then all of a sudden I appeared and started giving a program. So they stayed to listen to me and and watch and afterward they came up to me. It was a mom, dad, their young son and their young daughter. And they're just like, “wow, we are so blown away by like, we've been to these different national parks, even coming from Oklahoma, we don't really hear our stories told in spaces like this. And that's really great that you're doing that for the tribes here.” And I just got to talk with them and get to know them and they told me they were actually going to the Navajo Nation for a dance, the gourd dance, because their son is a Gourd dancer. And participates in many powwows and they said, “yeah, when we went through the gate. Ah, we told them, like, hey, we're just visiting. We're on our way to Window Rock for a social dance on the Navajo Nation.” And the fee person responded to us. “Oh, you're going to go party with the Navajos? OK, come on in.” So I really thought that was cool. I love that story and just meeting that family who I'm still in contact with today. Uh, I also got to meet an Elder from the Ojibway tribe up in Canada in the Okanogan tribe, and he was telling me his own stories about what he thinks the Grand Canyon is, even though he's from a tribe way up north, they even have like a tie to the Grand Canyon. So I would say those are some of my favorite people stories interacting with the tribal people who were visiting the park.

Doug Modern archaeology is the science, study dedicated to learning about past human peoples and their behavior and their cultures. But to science, a modern, to do science, modern archaeological resource research often requires excavation and disturbance of the archaeological remains. Now, how do you think we should balance the desire to gain scientific information versus some people's thoughts that we should just leave the artifacts alone and undisturbed?

Kelkiyana Yeah, that's also a really great question. So when I first started with the Park Service a way to learn information about the ancestral sites that I was interpreting I was given archaeological manuals and research about the sites. So that was the way I was introduced to the park and the way to learn about these Native American sites from non-indigenous archaeologists, anthropologists, etc. So that was all the scientific evidence, which is really fascinating to hear, like how old sites are to learn about, like just different ways that they are able to piece the story together without even talking to native people. I know some archaeologists do, but a lot of that information gets, I don't know a better term for this, but whitewashed essentially. And um. So yeah, that was the way a lot of people get introduced to the Park Service, especially when you're working in a park that protects cultural resources. You get that knowledge from archaeological research, which there's nothing wrong with that. But there is another story to it. And that comes from the tribes themselves. So that's something I really learned working here at Grand Canyon is just talking to the tribes that you even have their own published booklets and research that comes from their own cultural preservation offices about these sites. And some of it will correlate with what archaeologists are seeing and some of it won't. And I think that's really important to listen to what tribes connections are because we're the ones who understand these landscapes and ways that Euro-American and non-native people do not understand this landscape because they weren't here couple 100 years ago. But our ancestors were and our knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation on how we need to treat and talk about and visit these sites. Just to give a quick example, we have this trail on the South Rim called the Trail of Time and we got to walk that with some tribal members a couple of months ago back in April. And they're like, “where did these rocks come from?” And the geologists, were like “Oh, they came from the Canyon.” And they're like, “oh, why did you move these rocks from the Canyon? Like they're not supposed to be disturbed by humans. Like, these rocks have spirits. They have meaning.” And it just brought up this really interesting discussion about science and tribal beliefs because, yeah, we're we believe that things need to move naturally. They're not disturbed by us without some type of purpose or intent. So yeah, that that was just a really interesting thing I saw on how science and tribal views conflicted.

Doug Now here at the north rim of Grand Canyon National Park, we have a free-roaming, unfenced wild herd of bison, and I understand you were out here recently helping us on our live capture operation. We're trying to keep the herd at about 200 and it was maybe 3 to 400 the summer of 2024. So talk about your involvement with the live capture and donation project here at the North Rim regarding our bison herd.

Kelkiyana Yes. So if listeners didn't know the North Rim does have a bison herd, the South Rim does not. So it's only on the north rim over here. And I got to participate in the Bison live capture and transfer last week. This was my first-time taking part in it, and I really, really feel privileged and honored to have done so. Because this is a program that's been going on for a couple of years now. We work with the Intertribal Buffalo Council to process and then transfer bison to tribal lands in the Midwest area. So I got to spend the whole last week and I've never seen bison up close that that way before. So that was really special. And then just being able to be there as a native person considering our long, long history with bison, and it's a complicated history. As far as when Euro American settlers were coming to this country, the bison were almost hunted to extinction and it was a way as quote-un-quote, to get rid of the Indian problem. If you get rid of the bison, you get rid of the indigenous people. And that's a really harsh truth that existed back then. And it was just really sad to know about that long history of our people. And but I really. Like last week, I was just really thinking about and honoring that relationship. We as native people have had with bison for generations, and we're very lucky and fortunate to still have that living connection with them today. And I got to be a part of that process to get these bison to tribal lands, to continue that long legacy and that relationship that people have had for decades, for centuries since time immemorial with the bison.

Doug I understand you had a personal encounter with the wounded bison. Can you talk about that?

Kelkiyana Yes. So on the first day, there was a bison that was wounded. And I was able to give it an offering. And I remember going up to the corral with one of the wildlife team members. And we got up to the corral and it was running back and forth. It was so stressed out. And I had this big gashing wound on the back, like by its hindquarters. And it was just really stressed out and I had my tádídíín, my corn pollen. I was going to give it an offering. And to help with its with its healing. And yeah, it was just running back and forth. And once we got up there, I just started to pray to myself and I said some words in the Navajo language. And all of a sudden it calmed down and then it walked right up to me and the person I was with, and I was able to sprinkle the corn pollen directly on its head. And we got to stare at each other for a very, very long time, and it was just a really powerful spiritual, even that healing moment for myself to experience something like that. And the person I was with was just so blown away that that happened because, yeah, it was just a really special moment to have had. I was also able to give some blessings to the bison once we loaded them up onto the, was like cattle trailers. These big trailers. We loaded up 100 bison into two. And so I did another offering and blessing for the bison before they did their 18-hour journey to South Dakota to the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe.

Doug And shortly after we saw pictures of them off roaming in their new home. So thank you for sending them off in, in a good way. For you, the three best things about being a Grand Canyon National Park ranger are:

Kelkiyana Yeah. So something I distinctly remember is talking to one of the past Navajo National Monument superintendents. That's when I was really getting into the Park Service - before I started working for the Park Service. It's like, “hey, I want to do this. I was like, what's? Your advice for me?” And he started talking to me about his job. And one of the things I distinctly remember is that “it's something new every day.” And that's so true. And that's one of my favorite things about being a National Park Ranger is that it's something new every single day. So that's something I really enjoy. And then now that I'm in my new role as the Tribal Program Coordinator, I would say it's being able to connect and strengthen to my own heritage and my own culture. And then even though that tribes are different than to each other, we still have these similarities. And these strong ties to honoring our ancestors, honoring our heritage. So I really like to connect to the tribal communities in that way. I feel so comfortable in that home. We go out and we visit these different reservations out to Hopi, out to Peach Springs and Hualapai. Down to Yavapai Apache and Camp Verde. And every time when once I'm surrounded by tribal members, I always just feel at home. And I always see these similarities compared to growing up on the Navajo Nation. And it just really gives me the sense of pride and happiness that I am in the right place and I'm doing what I'm meant to do. So those would be some of my favorite things being a park ranger. And I also get to live at the Grand Canyon, so you cannot beat that!

Doug Same question, but what are some of the challenges and struggles that you face as a Grand Canyon Ranger?

Kelkiyana Yeah. So I would say just being an indigenous person. There is a really harsh history with the National Park Service and native people. Just about every National Park out there was created by forcibly removing native people from their ancestral homelands, and that story has also happened here, unfortunately at Grand Canyon National Park, when the Havasupai people were forcibly removed in the 1920s from a place called - what is now called Havasupai Gardens. So that's something really tough to be working for the federal government that also has done numerous things that are even considered unforgivable to our indigenous populations across the country. So it's been really conflicting to work for a federal agency as well as for a National Park Service with that history like that. But and so that's brought forward challenges and barriers that have overcome over the years. I've been working for the NPS for the past eight years. And it's come with a lot of struggle. It's come with a lot of tears. My family knows this like, I would just come home sobbing and being upset that I just felt powerless on different things that were affecting our native people or just having no like mention of us at all in in places that are so sacred to us. And I just felt like as a little seasonal park ranger, as an interpretive park ranger, I'm like, yeah, I can talk about it, but but how can I help? What can I do about it? So that was really a struggle coming up and that's why I really pushed myself to get a Parks and Recreation management degree from NAU. And yeah, I'm working my way up to hopefully becoming in that management role to help make this path easier for not just myself, but for my people as well as the incoming rangers who are coming in. That's something I've seen in my job is that there's a lot of indigenous youth out there who want to work in the park after seeing all of these great things we've been doing at Grand Canyon to include native voices. So those are some challenges and barriers I really want to get across. I know a big thing is working for a federal agency, we always say we're indigenous first before we're a National Park Service ranger. So we're staying true to who we are as native people. It doesn't just end at 5:00 for us, this job is not just a job to us, it's our livelihood. And it's a way for us to strengthen and keep our culture and heritage alive.

Doug So where do you see yourself in five years? You know, what are some of your dreams and ambitions?

Kelkiyana Yeah. So I do have a very deep tie to Grand Canyon and I really don't see myself leaving here anytime soon as well as leaving my role as the tribal program coordinator. I plan to stick it out for a while, especially since one of our former team members, Mike Lindon, he's been working with tribes in this area for over 20 years and something I really admired and respected about him is his relationship with the people we interacted with and he has that relationship because he's been here for so long and that's something is that relationships take time. So I really want to build and strengthen these connections to these various tribal communities who interact and work with the park. So that's something I do plan. I do think I'll be here in five years still. We do get opportunities to have details, which means you get to go to a different park or a different position to kind of get experience. And something like that. So I do see maybe one or two of those in my near future. I want to try out like working in a park in Alaska or Hawaii and working with their native communities there or even just anywhere else like Glacier. Glacier is my dream park. I just think that place is so gorgeous, it’s such a rich history and cultural connection to the tribes up there, so maybe I get to do like a summer up there? Or maybe I don't know, maybe they'll steal me. So we'll see.

Doug OK, I'm going to wave my magic wand and you are Park Superintendent at Grand Canyon National Park for the day. What are three changes that you're going to make?

Kelkiyana Wow. That's a really, really good question and I have a lot of respect for our current park Superintendent Ed Keable because he has made indigenous affairs his number one priority as Superintendent. So that's something I'm definitely wouldn't change because I believe Indigenous voices and perspectives need to be a part of every conversation. A part of every division out there, whether that's law enforcement, science and resource management, interpretation and education, even maintenance and compliance, and all of that. So I think that's something I would, I don't know if enforces the right word, but just kind of make known, that hey, this is the priority and this is what we're going to do to include native voices in these spaces. And, I feel like going out to tribal communities would be one of my primary things as Superintendent. And I feel like a big change is shifting the narrative from, like John Wesley Powell, Mary Colter and all these other Euro-American pioneers and explorers, and have, like every single park ranger program talking about native voices, I think that's if I got to be Superintendent for a day like it's just all focused on indigenous heritage and connections to the Canyon, every little thing in the park that we do. So I know that that can't happen one day. But like we said, it's a magic wand, yeah.

Doug OK. And now you kind of answered this, but what are some things that you definitely would not ever want to change at the Grand Canyon?

Kelkiyana Yeah, that's also a great question. I think the people who are here, especially on the north rim and I'm not just saying that because I'm on North Rim podcast, but every single person I met, they're just so passionate and they're just so dedicated and committed to what they're doing, especially being in a remote location, both on the North and South rim. Yes, the South Rim is remote. We're about a little over an hour drive from the nearest city, which is Flagstaff. And yeah, we choose to be here and we choose to push forward on the representation on the authenticity of what this place means, not just to native people, but also to people all over the world. Like we're here to educate. We're here to upkeep this special and sacred place. Not just for ourselves, but for the wildlife, for the land itself. So that's something I would definitely not change, is the community, the sense of community that exists here in the park, not just above the rim but also below the rim as well. I have a lot of respect for our search and rescue teams and the people who are down in the Canyon all the time because they're out there looking out, not just for their own safety but other safety as well. Unfortunately, the Grand Canyon is a harsh environment where we do lose people each year due to heat related illnesses and things like that. And we just have like the best team out there who are just ready to, like prevent things from like this from happening and then if unfortunately an accident does happen, they're there to do it in a safe manner to where they're not adding to the situation. So yeah, it's a really capable team here and that's something I wouldn't change is again the people who live and work here at the Canyon.

Doug OK well said, same question. I'm waving my magic wand and you are a National Park director for the day. What three things would you change? What, three things would you never change?

Kelkiyana Oh wow, yeah. Uh, yeah. Not to sound like egotistical or anything, but I have been told a couple of times by several of my colleagues, they're like “I could see you becoming director someday.” And so I was just like, “wow, that's a lot of belief and respect for someone to have for me to say something like that.” It really helps me thinking that, you know, that is an achievable goal someday. And I think about it a lot where I'm just not just like being like director, but just being in a management position. On what I would change is staff support. Like I just mentioned how the people are incredible, amazing. Especially people who volunteer in national parks like, WOW, they're they're just incredible. But anyway, just support for our staff because I've kind of seen it working in the Park Service, how this can be mentally tolling and emotionally tolling on people, this type of work. Whatever they decide to do in the park, there's some type of effect that comes with us that that latches on to us. So I really think, mental health or anything like that would be a good thing to focus on with our employees. As well as increasing diversity and inclusion. It's been really awesome to see all these different people from different backgrounds doing amazing things in their park. I have a former colleague, Connie, who is doing these great things out at Yosemite now, where she's bringing forward Chinese American history to light at Yosemite because they have a rich history in that area too. And then my friend Linda, she brought forward Juneteenth programs and so on. Like we're we all bring our own personal perspectives and things to the parks. And I just really want to see these different Park Rangers with different stories supported. To never feel like they're being attacked. To never feel like they're pushing against the boundaries rocking the boat, and so on. I just really would like to see the support for that increase. And as director someday, that's something I would really heavily focus on, is that support for all park rangers to feel like they're appreciated. They're valued for all of the hard and incredible work that they do. And then of course similar to my other answer is bringing forward indigenous perspectives and narratives to all national parks. And really emphasizing, like creating tribal liaison positions for all national parks. And making that a requirement rather than it just being a collateral duty for an archaeologist or anthropologist. But yeah, I really respect our current director. He's been out to Grand Canyon. I got to meet him. And I really appreciate what he does for not just tribal communities, but for the park service as a whole. And I actually got to ask him a question. I'm like, “what do you recommend for someone who's coming up the leadership ladder?” And he said the most important thing to him to get him where he is today was mentorship. And he said that's what he strongly advises is to have someone like a confidant, a mentor, to really support you through these things because, yeah, it's hard. It's really difficult to work in a space like this and you won't really know how to navigate it without talking to someone who's been through it all. Who wants the best for you and I feel like I do have that. So. Yeah, that's something else too.

Doug OK. Any final thoughts or special messages you want to leave folks as we wind down?

Kelkiyana Yeah. So thank you for listening to the podcast. You listened all the way through. It just really means a lot to have a platform to be able to share out our voices because for the last 100 years or so since the National Park Service was created, since Grand Canyon National Park became in existence, native voices have been excluded from these spaces, even though we've had a connection to this place since time immemorial. And, yes, it's really unfortunate to talk about the past and what's happened then. And people were like, “oh, it was the past.” Like we like, “let's move on.” But in reality, even though myself and other living tribal members, we didn't go through something traumatic like forced removal or anything like that, it still exists in us as living tribal members through generational trauma. And that something people really need to realize is that us as living indigenous people in this country, we still feel those effects of what's happened in the past. It's still our day-to-day, whether that's through the loss of our language, the loss of our culture, the loss of our heritage, the loss of land, poverty, long term health issues. You know the list goes on and. That's just something I really want to put to the forefront here at Grand Canyon National Park so that we can acknowledge it and then we can move forward in our healing process. And that's happening here at Grand Canyon in different ways. A really big one is the renaming of Indian Garden to Havasupai Gardens. Because that was done to acknowledge that harsh history and that living connection that the descendants of the people who are forcibly removed from that space still have to that area that is now serves as a campground for backpackers and people who hike into the Canyon. So that even though it's just like changing the name just like that, it made a huge impact on our tribal communities. And it really honors that space and that history and that connection that our tribal communities have to these spaces. So yeah, that's just the message I kind of wanted to end on is that it's possible, despite what's happened in the past, it's possible to move forward. It's possible to welcome ourselves back to our home. And we experienced that in many different ways. But yeah, ahéhee', thank you. And I hope to see you at the Grand Canyon and just always think about when you visit these landscapes, like the history that's tied to it, even where you're from there. I'm pretty sure when you think about it, there's indigenous people from that area who may or may not still have living connections to where you're at. So just really thinking about that and treating these spaces like your home or the home of a loved one because it's our home. Ahéhee', Thank you.

Doug Very well said and I have a couple of presents for you, but I was very moved by your story of how you were able to calm this panicking and mortally wounded bison. So I would like to present you for your refrigerator at home, this official certificate. Can you read what it says?

Kelkiyana Yeah. So it's to: Kelkiyana Yazzie, special designations as an official Grand Canyon National Park, Bison Whisperer.

Doug You are an official bison whisperer now in my mind. So thank you for helping out with our bison folks and you can call yourself on official bison whisperer.

Kelkiyana Oh my gosh, I love it so much. Yeah.

Doug Also, I made you a couple of these little guys, here. You want to explain what these are?

Kelkiyana Oh, thank you. Yeah. So Doug just gave me a couple of split twig figurines. So historically these are made from willow found down by the Colorado River and it's in the shape of like a either a deer or some type of large mammal and yeah, a lot of these are found down in the Canyon and these date back thousands of years and they're still made today by people to wear as jewelry and for other ceremonial and spiritual purposes. But yeah, and back then they would use these and hunting rituals as offerings to have a successful hunt. And yeah, it's just a really, really special thing to have. So thank you, Doug.

Doug OK. You're welcome. This podcast is brought to you by the interpretation team at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Thanks to ranger Alicia for expert podcast editing. We gratefully acknowledge the Native peoples on whose ancestral homelands we gather, as well as the diverse and vibrant Native communities who make their home here today. It’s their home too.