I first met Diné elder Lupita McClanahan on the morning of her talk at the Crystal Theatre last week, when I picked her up at the Bustang stop in West Glenwood. Until then, we were strangers. I felt instantly self-conscious, realizing how woefully undereducated I was about Diné culture, knowing little more than a few brief mentions in my art history textbooks or the stereotypes we see in the media.
Her speaking tour through Colorado was organized to raise awareness of her cultural teaching program on what many still call “the Navajo Reservation,” though Diné people prefer “Diné lands.” We spent the next few hours together and she answered every question, many she had surely heard countless times, with patience and generosity. What became clear almost immediately is that Lupita is not someone in need of rescue. She is a culture keeper doing essential work to preserve knowledge that is at real risk of disappearing.
Lupita educates on her ancestral lands at Canyon de Chelly, where she leads immersion and sheep camp experiences and offers cultural teachings that help young Diné reconnect with their traditions and give visitors a chance to learn respectfully. This is physically demanding work, done outdoors, often over long distances and in rough terrain. As Lupita ages, it is becoming increasingly difficult for her to leave Diné lands to do speaking tours like the one that brought her to Carbondale. If she is to continue sharing traditional knowledge — knowledge passed down through generations — people must increasingly come to her. That requires multi-seasonal spaces where she can host people looking to learn.
Understanding her current needs also means acknowledging the broader realities of life on Diné lands. According to a 2023 U.S. Department of the Interior report, about 21% of households still lack electricity. Multiple assessments show that around 30% of families have no running water — that’s roughly the population of all of Garfield County. Sourcing water takes up the better part of a day, hauling it long distances over dirt roads. Imagine driving over Cottonwood Pass to Gypsum a couple times a week to fill up the tank of water in the back of your pickup truck, not just for yourself but for your neighbors too. These conditions shape daily life not because people lack motivation or skill, but because infrastructure has never been equitably extended across the region.
Lupita’s needs reflect this context. There are two structures on her land that require support. The first is her primary home, which will also serve as a gathering space for community members, students and for recording oral histories. The second is restoring the ruins of a log cabin nearby into interim housing for visitors, so learners can stay close by, an increasingly necessary option as travel becomes harder for her.
Both structures need finishing so they can function as year-round teaching spaces. The log cabin will remain intentionally rustic with no plumbing, limited electricity from a generator until solar can be added and simple furnishings. Its purpose is not luxury but access: a warm, safe place for visitors and students to be near her. The home beside it will allow Lupita to live sustainably while continuing to host teachings, gatherings and culturally-rooted community work.
Finally, support is needed to help her finish payments on her pickup truck — a vehicle she uses to haul firewood for other community members, to transport water where wells are unsafe and to carry supplies for the cultural programs that sustain her livelihood and her role as a teacher. Paying off the truck is not about ownership in the Western sense; it is about ensuring she can continue serving her community without being pulled into a debt cycle.
If you feel moved to help — whether through labor, materials, financial support or simply by spreading the word — you can sign up to volunteer, donate or join a cultural tour at www.footpathjourneys.com
For larger donations of materials, help with infrastructure projects or organizing teams of volunteers, contact Russell Evans at russell@transition-lab.com
For those who would like to participate directly on the land, there will be a community building week beginning March 15, 2026.
Supporting Lupita is not charity, and it’s not “just a tour.” It is a reciprocal relationship, a way of gifting to one another. Your support is an investment in cultural preservation, community strength and the continuation of teachings that are irreplaceable once lost.