Phyllis Hogan --herbalist, activist, and ethnobotanist-- shares her story and insights from participating in efforts to preserve sacred waters and lands, working with the native people and plants of Arizona, and serving her community as a village herbalist. One of her most inspiring stories is about a small group of tribal activists that were successful in stopping an aquifer from being destroyed at the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado River in Hopi sacred lands. This is the Hopi place of emergence, and Phyllis will share the creation story linked to this special place and the importance of Rivers to all life.

Phyllis Hogan is an acclaimed herbalist and ethnobotanist with over 40 years of experience practicing and teaching in the American Southwest. She has worked deeply for many years with the Navajo and Hopi, helping preserve sacred traditions and medicine ways. She resides in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she founded the Winter Sun Trading Company in 1976. Since its inception, Winter Sun has provided exceptional organic botanical products, with a special emphasis on traditional southwest herbs and tinctures. Working directly with indigenous artists, she also showcases Hopi and Navajo jewelry and fine art. Immersion in the rich cultural heritage of her bioregion inspired Phyllis to cofound the Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Foundation (AERA) in 1983. The AERA is a 501(c)(3) private non-profit foundation committed to the investigation, documentation, and preservation of the traditional plant uses in Arizona and the greater Southwest. 

Phyllis has been awarded the United Plant Savers Conservation Award and the Culture Bearers of the Colorado Plateau Footways Award, and in the 1990s was the first Practitioner Associate to be recognized by the Northern Arizona Anthropology department. She has taught ethnobotany in bilingual health and educational programs for the Pima, Hualapai, Havasupai, Hopi, and Navajo tribes. 

This is the fourth episode in a series of episodes centered around Rivers of Life.

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