Former Navajo president receives lifetime achievement award

By FELICIA FONSECA
Associated Press

TWIN ARROWS, Ariz. (AP) — Peterson Zah, a former Navajo chairman and president, has received a lifetime achievement award from a Flagstaff-based environmental group. The award given Tuesday by the Grand Canyon Trust recognized Zah’s role in promoting Navajo language and culture, inspiring youth, strengthening tribal sovereignty and protecting the land. Zah says it’s work he couldn’t have done alone and credited a team effort that included his wife, Rosalind Zah. Navajo voters chose Zah as their first president in the early 1990s after the tribe restructured the government under three branches. Zah has been praised for his visionary leadership and love for the Navajo people.