Our Work Environmental Justice
Supporting tribes’ efforts to protect their land, water, air, sacred sites, and public health.
When Indigenous communities bear the brunt of pollution, it is not fair treatment. It is environmental racism.
Here on the Colorado Plateau, extractive industries have left behind toxic legacies that disproportionately impact Native peoples and tribal lands, from abandoned uranium mines and radioactive tailings piles to poisoned wells and depleted aquifers.
We stand with Native communities in their tireless efforts to seek environmental justice and build just futures that prioritize people and health over profits.
Environmental injustice
The radioactive dump next to Bears Ears National Monument
Communities across America have fought to remove radioactive waste from their backyards. Now the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Bears Ears National Monument are forced to reckon with it in theirs.
Find out how the White Mesa uranium mill in southern Utah became America’s cheapest radioactive waste dump
Ask decision-makers to protect Bears Ears from radioactive waste
Environmental injustice
A flooding uranium mine near the Grand Canyon
A uranium mine less than 10 miles from the South Rim threatens precious groundwater in the Grand Canyon region. The Havasupai Tribe is concerned about the mine contaminating the Redwall-Muav aquifer, the tribe’s sole source of drinking water.
Environmental injustice
Abandoned uranium mines
Between the 1940s and 1960s, uranium mining peaked throughout the Colorado Plateau to support the U.S. nuclear energy program. Estimates suggest there have been over 1,000 mines on the Navajo Nation alone. Today, more than 500 of those mines have been abandoned and remain in need of cleanup.
We invest in the next generation of environmental leaders
We support budding activists working to create more just and sustainable futures for the Colorado Plateau.
Environmental justice blog
Grand Canyon Conservation Support the Trust and protect the Grand Canyon
Your donation funds on-the-ground conservation efforts and advocacy work.