User:Ameliarosem/sandbox

Early Life and Education[ edit]
Nikki Cooley grew up on the Navajo Nation reservation in Shonto, Arizona, which is a small community with just over 500 residence (4). It is only two hours away from the larger city of Flagstaff, though it was far from developed to western standards. The home she lived in with her grandparents didn’t have electricity, and the nearest source of drinking water was 15 miles away (3). This, as well as her time spent outside herding sheep, playing squash, and planting corn on the reservation, sparked her love of the environment and value for natural resources (7). When she was in elementary school, she started writing letters to people in power, including senators and representatives (3). Her call to action to these members was just the start of her quest to protect the natural environment, fulfilling the role of an Earth Warrior that her grandfather always told her she was destined to be (3).

Attending college wasn’t an expectation for Nikki growing up. And although she was hesitant at first, she had a strong support system that encouraged her to give college a chance (2). Thus, she enrolled at Northern Arizona University (NAU), the first member of her immediate family to get higher education at a college or university (2). At NAU she earned her Bachelors and Masters of Forestry and continued to Michigan University for post-graduate studies in Fisheries and Wildlife (1).

Career[ edit]
Nikki works for the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP), which assists all federally-recognized tribes in sustainable resource management (1). She is a co-manager for ITEP’s Tribes and Climate Change Program, which involves providing science, tools, assistance, and training for tribes across the country who are looking for support (9). This could be in the form of webinars, in-person training, conferences, or providing a climate adaptation plan templates, depending on the individual needs of the tribes (6).

Public Engagement[ edit]
On top of her career as a co-manager for ITEPs Tribal Climate Change Program, Nikki also works as a river rafting guide in the Grand Canyon (3). She was the first Native American guide to be certified on this river, which is significant because the Grand Canyon is the original territory of 11 tribes and holds great importance for many native communities (4). However, there was previously a lack of education and cultural interpretation in the canyon for visitors regarding both its history and current significance to these groups of people (4). She felt that these tribes deserve to have their stories shared, so she decided to address this issue. In doing so, Nikki started a training program at Northern Arizona University in 2008 with the mission of getting more Native Americans into the industry as guides (4). At this point, the university had already been gifted a river permit by the president of Arizona Raft Adventures on the San Juan, and over fifty guides have been certified there since (4).

She was also an advocate for Save the Confluence, a Navajo organization whose goal was to protect the Grand Canyon from the Escalade (5). The Escalade was a gondola complex that would bring an influx of tourists, an estimated 5,000-10,000 people a day to the confluence, disrupting the serene area and causing environmental degradation (5). The confluence is an area that many Native Americans hold sacred and is central to many origin stories (5). Thanks to the work of Nikki and many others the Escalade is no longer a threat to the Grand Canyon (8).