Over the course of the last year, we have embraced growth and change as an organization as we evolved from Friends of Cedar Mesa to becoming Bears Ears Partnership. As BEP continues to grow our programs and offerings, our staff and capacity has grown as well.
We are excited to announce that - in just the past few months - we’ve added four new team members to our growing staff. Please join us in welcoming Ricky Begaye, Volunteer Manager; Carleton Bowekaty, Policy Director; Denyce White, Partnership Manager; and Nicole Croft, Director of Operations.
Ricky Begaye, Volunteer Manager
Ricky Begaye is no stranger to the Bears Ears region - he grew up on the Navajo Nation Reservation, and has now lived in Monticello for five years.
Before joining the Bears Ears Partnership team, Ricky worked as a youth, adult member and crew leader for Canyon Country Youth Corps (CCYC) to improve the health and accessibility of landscapes in the Four Corners region. Most recently, Ricky was the Program Coordinator for CCYC. “I’ve spent most of my career with the conservation corps,” Ricky explains, “I’m excited to share with others our history and to help them understand what this land means to us.”
“The landscape and its history,” he elaborates, motivates him to protect the greater Bears Ears region. “I myself have heard the old stories - not just from the Diné, but from the surrounding Tribes. That’s what I want to keep alive, to make sure stories will be passed on and shared for the next generation, and that this region is protected for the next generation to come.”
In his free time, Ricky enjoys a wide variety of outdoor activities - including volunteering at Arches National Park - cooking, and creating art.
Carleton Bowekaty, Policy Director
Carleton Bowekaty was raised in Zuni, NM - his clans are Sun (maternal) and Child of Tobacco (paternal). After three deployments in Iraq, Carleton once again lives in Zuni with his wife and four children.
Carleton served the Zuni Tribe as Councilman, and as Lt. Governor for Governor Val Panteah, Sr. - “The Bears Ears Landscape,” Carleton explains,” was one of my initial introductions to the vast A:shiwi A:wan Ulohnanne, the Zuni cultural landscape that begins in the Grand Canyon and encompasses much of the southwestern United States down into Mexico.”
He also served multiple terms as Co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and for the Bears Ears Commission, carrying out the vision of collaborative management in the Monument planning process. Carleton says, “My participation in the creation of the Bear Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and the Bears Ears National Monument helped me grow not only as a tribal leader, but also begin a personal healing process from my time in Iraq.”
Carleton is excited to be a part of the BEP team, and to continue on his mission “to continue to support the, most recently articulated, ‘promise of Bears Ears,’ and the unprotected ‘Lands Between’ campaign.”
Nicole Croft, Director of Operations
It has been nearly 25 years since Nicole and her family took their first backpacking trips in Grand Gulch, and ever since, the greater Bears Ears region has been a special place for her.
For the last ten years, Nicole has been advocating for public lands in Utah, especially Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears. Nicole comes to the Bears Ears Partnership team after serving as Executive Director for Grand Staircase Escalante Partners from 2016-2019. She has a MACL in Community Leadership and most recently, received an MSL in Environmental Natural Resources and Energy Law - she focused her most recent education on understanding Indigenous Law and Public Lands Law.
Over the course of her career - particularly during the Monument reduction - Nicole worked closely with BEP (which was then Friends of Cedar Mesa) and continues to enthusiastically embrace the organization's commitment to partnership and collaboration as key factors in the resilience needed to protect public lands in the face of growing pressures. “Combined with my long experience in nonprofit leadership,” Nicole says, “I look forward to working hard to advance the mission of BEP.”
“The opportunity to work in support of Bears Ears National Monument is meaningful to me and my family, but is also blazing a trail in Indigenous co-leadership and the transformation of how we think of, manage, and behave in our public lands.”
Over the course of the last year, we have embraced growth and change as an organization as we evolved from Friends of Cedar Mesa to becoming Bears Ears Partnership. As BEP continues to grow our programs and offerings, our staff and capacity has grown as well.
We are excited to announce that - in just the past few months - we’ve added four new team members to our growing staff. Please join us in welcoming Ricky Begaye, Volunteer Manager; Carleton Bowekaty, Policy Director; Denyce White, Partnership Manager; and Nicole Croft, Director of Operations.
Denyce White, Partnerships Manager
“Yá'át'ééh - Máykh - Keshhi - Ha'u - Guuwáátsíí - Da'anen - Ya’ateh - S-ke:g taş - Imaynallan - Boozhoo - Apaa - O'-Si-Yo' | ᎣᏏᏲ - Kia ora - Wominjeka - Pialli - Xin chào - Tashi deleg - नमस्ते - Sannu - Hujambo - 안녕하세요 - 普通话 - こんにちは - Sumaṅgalaṃ - Bures! - Hyvää päivää! - Dia dhuit - Hola - There are so many beautiful ways to acknowledge another person’s presence and to say and act with care, ‘I see you and I know you are there,’ even if it is for a brief moment, in whatever condition.”
Denyce White grew up in the southern area of Comb Ridge in what is now known as Northeastern Arizona. She explains, “my blood, land, and spiritual ancestors are: Nát'oh dine'é Táchii'nii nishłį́ - Tobacco People that were adopted into the Red Running into the Water Clan, Nóóda'i dine'é bashishchiin - Whiteriver Northern Ute, Kinłichii'nii dashicheii - Red House Clan, Dibéłzhíní dashinalí - Black Sheep Clan.
This is how I identify and inter-be as a Diné women in this world (Ákót’éego diné asdzáán nishłį́). This is my connection to this landscape and to the communities, and why I am in love with this landscape. I have deep roots in this area and my clans are four of those roots through my matrilineage. One of my favorite quotes I heard a few years ago and often contemplate is by Laurie Weahkee (Cochiti|Diné|Zuni), 'I am like the desert shrubs out there. The wind may blow, it may change, but I have deep roots and I know where the water is.' It is such a simple and profound insight that gives a sense of knowing and belonging. Yes, beautiful, smart, loving, kind, caring, compassionate, strong Indigenous/Native Peoples, Youth, Elders, and all in between, you belong. These insights, among many others, influence and give me a sense of direction and motivation.”
Denyce is excited for this next chapter - to build connections, create more opportunities, be out on the landscape, be of service to communities, partnerships and most importantly to the landscapes, and to practice deep listening.
“I think we forget,” Denyce explains, “that without the landscape, without ni’himá nahasdzáán, our Mother Earth, the most compassionate warrior, we would all be out of the job–something I like to think about in terms of respecting our Mother Earth, our land ancestors, especially in this work. I feel this need to share, ‘Thank you ni’himá nahasdzáán for our livelihood, you deserve respect and appreciation’.
We’re honored to have these talented and respected leaders building our programs and partnerships.