(Brian Maffly | Tribune file photo) In this 2017 file photo, San Juan County Commissioner Rebecca Benally, center, joined Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, in blue shirt, on a tour of Zion National Park. Benally is flanked by Utah congressmen Rob Bishop, left, and Chris Stewart. San Juan County was sued by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance in 2017 under Utah's open meetings law after Zinke and Benally met behind closed doors with the two other San Juan County commissioners. The case is currently before the Utah Supreme Court.
Zak is the southeast Utah reporter for The Tribune. He has been writing from Bluff, Utah, since 2015 and is the author of Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political On Rivers of the New West. His second book, which will cover the decline of Lake Powell, is forthcoming from Torrey House Press in 2024.