A Navajo social worker and an immigrant from Argentina - inspired by President John F. Kennedy's vision of America – took the oath of office on Jan. 3 to formally become San Juan County commissioners, governing a little less than 15,000 residents of a vast and spectacular swath of desert snowscape, canyons and towering pinnacles that is southeastern Utah's Colorado Plateau. (Above: One focus of Greater Bears Ears Partnership (formerly Friends of Cedar Mesa), based in Bluff, Utah, is a field program "to reimagine cultural preservation as an opportunity to reconnect Indigenous communities to cultural sites within the Bears Ears region." (Greater Bears Ears Partnership) Both have been community leaders for much of their adult lives: Jamie Harvey through administration of the Aneth Chapter of the Navajo Nation and the Utah Navajo Health System; and Silvia Stubbs through her longtime work at Utah State University Blanding. They are not single-agenda-driven
It's as if a train were rumbling through spectacular wildlands, destroying everything in its path – a dark vision embraced through time by indigenous spiritual leaders. Aboard the train are rich and influential newcomers who ravage an ancient way of life and the ecosystem every living thing depends on. They not only enjoy the ride, they stoke the engine for profit and tell us it’s a good thing. They call it "progress."