On the evening of March 26, 2026, community gathered at The Sagrado in South Phoenix for a conversation that has been unfolding along the Salt River for thousands of years, and that feels more urgent than ever. The Land and Health Community Panel brought together voices rooted in the land to explore a question at the heart of this work: what does it mean to be healthy, and how is that inseparable from the health of the earth beneath our feet?
The evening opened with a blessing and bird song offered by Bobby Stone, a lifelong farmer and seed keeper from the Gila River Indian Community, in his first language, the language of the Akimel O'otham. It was a grounding reminder that the knowledge systems we need to face today's ecological and public health challenges are ancient, relational, and alive.
Aldo Gonzalez, lead organizer with Protectors of the Salt River, set the stage for the panel that followed.
"We can't have healthy people without healthy land. Healing the river means we're actually fighting for our community's health, our air, our water, our stability."Aldo Gonzalez · Protectors of the Salt River
Over three years, Protectors volunteers have pulled thousands of bags of invasive species and trash from behind the Audubon Center, not just clearing debris, but restoring relationship with the river itself. That distinction, between cleanup and restoration, runs through everything the Protectors do.
Protectors of the Salt River volunteers at the Rio Salado · South Phoenix
Moderator Daryl Jay, from the Gila River Indian Community and raised along both the Salt and Gila Rivers, guided a conversation between Bobby Stone and Christopher Casillas, founder of Regenerating Sonora, a nonprofit rooted in Superior, Arizona.
Bobby Stone · Gila River Indian Community
Elder, farmer, seed keeper, and artist. Bobby has tended traditional Akimel O'otham crops and songs across more than six decades, carrying knowledge of seeds, water, and land that sustained his people for millennia.
Chris Casillas · Regenerating Sonora
Founder of Regenerating Sonora, working for nearly seven years to rebuild ecological and social health in Superior's Copper Corridor through food sovereignty, community organizing, and land-based learning.
Traditional farming on O'otham lands · Gila River
"It Has to Be Holistic"
Bobby Stone grew up in the Gila River Indian Community in an era before I-10 cut through the desert. He described a childhood organized around planting, irrigating, harvesting, and sharing, not as a romantic past, but as a living model of health. "Everything with our land and our water and our well-being is holistic," he said. "It needs to be, and we can't break away from that."
For Bobby, staying connected looks like growing traditional seeds, including aboriginal Pima cotton that the Akimel O'otham have cultivated for thousands of years. He described his 60-day corn, drought tolerant and adapted to Arizona's conditions over generations, outperforming commercial varieties side by side. He still grows it, still saves the seeds, still teaches others how.
He spoke plainly about the stakes: "We've already hit the hundreds here. What are we going to do if we don't have the health of our people, the health of our land?"
"The Land Was Taking Care of Me"
Chris Casillas came to his work through a reckoning. Successful in his career, he found himself unable to ignore the question of what he was contributing to. He returned to Superior, started listening to elders, and began to understand that ecological destruction and societal dysfunction share a common root: a severing from place.
"My mother showed me a spot along Queen Creek where I could go when I was sad. I felt like the land was taking care of me, like this place was giving me a hug."Chris Casillas · Regenerating Sonora
Now he takes his own son there. He spoke about Oak Flat, a sacred Apache site facing the threat of a proposed copper mine, as an example of what it means to be in a place that is "awake." He connected protection of such places directly to health: when we justify extraction, we begin "othering" the land, treating it as a resource rather than a relative.
Oak Flat · Sacred Apache site near Superior, AZ · Under threat from proposed copper mine
Save Oak Flat.
"When we start to justify extraction and exploitation of our land, it brings us into an 'othering' of a place, seeing it as resources to take from. Think about that in relation to our mothers. That's not a functional relationship to be in." — Chris Casillas
What Gets in the Way
Both panelists were candid about what disconnects communities from the land and from each other. Bobby named the water crisis as among the most urgent challenges, describing the Gila River's shift from a year-round river nearly a mile wide to a dry bed, and the ongoing fight to reclaim water rights and restore even small stretches of riparian habitat.
"The river's still there in spirit, and it's wanting us to speak up for it."Bobby Stone · Gila River Indian Community
The Rivers This Work Protects
The Salt River runs through the heart of South Phoenix, connecting to the Gila, Verde, and Colorado River systems that have sustained O'otham and neighboring communities for thousands of years.
Both the Salt and Gila Rivers now run dry for most of the year, their flows diverted decades ago. The rivers remain alive underground, and in the work of communities like the Protectors.
He described small wetland restoration efforts along the Gila: "You can imagine what that does, all the trees, the shrubs, and plants and animals that come back in a little short period of time. It's just automatic." His vision: build homes under the mountain ranges, preserve fertile soil along rivers, and grow food for community.
Chris named busyness, even busyness in service of good work, as its own kind of disconnection. "I need to carve out time just to be more human. Part of being human is being able to listen to the land."
Seeds, Policy, and the Long Game
Bobby emphasized the importance of protecting traditional seeds from intellectual property appropriation. "The community owns those seeds. There's no patent on Native American traditional seeds, and they need to stay that way." He serves as vice chairman of Native Seed Search in Tucson, and brought materials to share with attendees.
"Fate is what happens when you go on autopilot. Destiny is when you step into the role you're called to play. There is some medicine that only you can carry, because you're uniquely you."Chris Casillas · Regenerating Sonora
The Work Along the Rio
The conversation in the room that evening was inseparable from work already underway at the river. Protectors volunteers have logged thousands of hours removing invasive species, planting native trees, and clearing the corridors where the Salt River corridor runs through South Phoenix. What they are building is not a park, it is a governance demonstration, a living argument that this land belongs to the people who have stewarded it for generations.
Protectors of the Salt River · Resident-led tree planting at the Rio Salado · South Phoenix
Connection Before Strategy
Bobby and Chris spoke about what makes collaboration real rather than transactional. Bobby shared how he met Chris at last year's Prickly Pear Festival, not knowing what would come of it. Months later, they're sharing equipment and working on joint projects. "Collaboration is a beautiful surprise," he said.
Chris offered the principle he returns to most: connection before strategy. "Just start being together. Through being together, shared vision starts to emerge."
The evening ended with an invitation from moderator Daryl Jay: find your place of connection, tend it, share it with someone younger, and show up, joyfully and persistently, for the work of protecting what sustains us.
Bobby Stone, who once was too shy to speak in public, closed simply: "Being in the trenches with great people helps a lot. May we be good ancestors."
Traditional saguaro harvest · O'otham foodways passed to the next generation