Community partner profile: A conversation with Jen Pelz and Michellsey Benally of the Grand Canyon Trust

Faith Kearns

August 27, 2025

The Grand Canyon attracts visitors from around the world, but many people also call northern Arizona and the Colorado Plateau home. In this arid landscape, water isn’t abstract, its presence or absence shapes livelihoods, traditions and ecosystems.

The Grand Canyon Trust was established in 1985 and works to safeguard the landscapes, air, water and wildlife of the Grand Canyon and Colorado Plateau while supporting the rights of Native Peoples.

Faith Kearns, director of research communication with the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, spoke with the Trusts’ Jen Pelz, water advocacy director, and Michellsey Benally, water advocacy manager. Pelz and Benally are key members of a resource strategy group developed by Impact Water - Arizona to support the Rural Groundwater Resilience Workshops.

Pelz brings legal expertise and a lifelong passion for rivers and ecosystems. Benally draws deeply from her upbringing in Shonto, Arizona, working to elevate community and Tribal voices in water and groundwater conversations. Together, they’re shaping how water is protected and shared in one of the most iconic landscapes in the world.

Faith Kearns (FK): Can you each tell me about your background and what led you to your water work with the Grand Canyon Trust?

Jen Pelz (JP): Water was always part of my family story. My dad was both an engineer and a lawyer, so dinner table conversations often revolved around water. We had a rain barrel system at home to collect water for the garden. Growing up in New Mexico, where water is scarce, that just seemed normal to me even though I later learned it wasn’t for everyone.

With my background, I started college as a biology major because I loved ecosystems and critters, but I realized I didn’t just want to study the natural world, I wanted to advocate for it. That’s why I became a lawyer, to think about species, systems and water together and to use that perspective to shape policy.

I’ll be honest though, working as a water lawyer was soul-crushing at times. Eventually, I shifted into advocacy, which is where I’ve thrived. It feels like such a privilege to wake up every day and work on something I love.

Michellsey Benally (MB): I grew up in Shonto, which means “Sunshine Springs” in Diné bizaad, or Navajo language. Water was never something we could take for granted. I’m the youngest of seven kids, so growing up in a community setting meant a lot of compromise and I remember hearing a lot of things like “don’t use up all the hot water, save some for the rest of your family!”

My dad still hauls water for our family cornfield, even in his eighties he likes to be with the land. He used to work as a hydrologist in the Black Mesa coal mines, so conversations about water were always part of our family life, much like Jen’s upbringing.

As a kid, I played in the springs and streams in Shonto Canyon, but today those streams are drier and often choked with invasive Russian olive. That change stuck with me.

I didn’t follow a traditional academic water path. I was more of an outdoor educator and restoration worker. But throughout my career, whether in Alaska, Washington State, southern Utah, or Arizona, that connection to land and water was always there. It’s what eventually brought me to the Arizona Department of Water Resources and then to the Grand Canyon Trust.

FK: Let’s talk about the Grand Canyon Trust. How has its water work evolved?

JP: When I joined, the Trust had worked on water, but the efforts were scattered across programs. For me, it was almost fate. Years ago, someone asked where else I’d want to work, and I said, “If the Grand Canyon Trust had a program dedicated to water, that’s where I’d go.” And here I am.

Initially, the Trust focused more on defending landscapes from threats like uranium mining or pumped hydro storage proposals on the Little Colorado River. But those fights showed us that we needed a proactive strategy. People think of the Grand Canyon as one of the most protected places in the U.S., but in reality, many surrounding landscapes and the waters that flow through them are pretty vulnerable.

MB: For me, the Trust was appealing because it makes space for community voices, especially those often left out of statewide policy conversations. In Arizona, groundwater is one of the least understood and least protected resources, even though it’s the lifeblood of many communities.

In some Tribal lifeways, water is even honored as a living being. That perspective resonated with me, and I saw the Trust leaning in that direction, treating water as more than a resource and really as a partner in community life.

Scenes of vivid orange and red rock formations with the Colorado River running through. — Scenes from the Grand Canyon region. Photos by Jen Pelz.

FK: You’ve both branched into specific areas within the work of the Trust, Jen with the Colorado River, Michellsey with groundwater. How do those connect?

JP: When I was hired, we knew groundwater would be a focus because there was a huge gap in northern Arizona. At the same time, we had to figure out how to add value in the very crowded Colorado River policy space. Our approach was to focus specifically on flows through the Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon Dam.

Most groups work on the river as a whole, but few are looking at how policies affect specific flows that sustain ecosystems and tribal communities in the canyon itself. And that’s where groundwater comes in. Groundwater supplies nearly 10 percent of the flow into the Colorado River within the canyon. If groundwater is over-pumped upstream, river flows and ecosystems downstream suffer.

MB: Exactly. Groundwater policy and surface water policy are often treated separately, but communities and certainly ecosystems know they’re connected. My work is about bringing those community voices into the room, from farmers, elders, rural and Tribal communities, people who live the reality of hauling water or watching wells run dry.

Sometimes the issues are as basic as a broken water-hauling truck that leaves elders scrambling for access. Those stories need to inform policy just as much as statewide numbers or models do.

FK: What does success look like for you in this work?

MB: For me, it comes back to partnerships. Strengthening community, building coalitions bringing local governments and Tribes into shared problem-solving. I think that’s where real solutions emerge.

In northern Arizona, we have a chance to be proactive rather than reactive. That means creating collaborative spaces where communities lead the way and solutions can grow from shared challenges. If I can help move the needle even a little bit in that direction, that feels like success.

JP: I think a lot about who gets to sit in the room where decisions are made. A hundred years ago, when Colorado River policy was born, the room was exclusive. We know Tribes weren’t at the table, women weren’t at the table and environmental considerations weren’t at the table.

Our lofty but attainable goal is to change that, to make decision-making spaces inclusive from the start. That means combining environmental, community and Tribal priorities, not tacking them on at the end.

We need to change our mindset. In New Mexico, where I grew up, communities asked, “How do we share shortages?” In the Colorado River Basin, the mindset has been, “Who takes the cuts?” Those are very different questions. True resilience comes from sharing, not dividing, water.

FK: Last question. Doing this work with the Colorado River operating agreement expiring in 2026 feels extra challenging. How are you thinking about the coming years?

JP: It is hard, no doubt. A lot of eyes are on the seven states in the basin, but those states don’t represent the full diversity of interests. Whether it’s groundwater or the Colorado River, the conversation is still too narrow.

But if we can inspire more people, especially from underrepresented communities, to enter those rooms and bring their values, I think we can shift the momentum.

MB: I agree. And I’d add that while so much water work is defensive because we’re fighting scarcity, fighting policy gaps, we also can’t forget to celebrate water. My dad hauling water for the cornfield and prayers at dawn are reminders that water is more than a challenge. It’s a gift. Keeping that perspective helps me stay grounded in this work.

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