{{Short description|American politician (born 1955)}} {{BLP sources|date=November 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | title = Navajo Nation Council Delegate | name = Mark Maryboy | image = Mr. maryboy.JPG | caption = Mark Maryboy speaking at a community gathering in Utah | state = Aneth/Red Mesa/Mexican Water | term_start = January 1, 1991 | term_end = January 1, 2007 | predecessor = | successor = Davis Filfred Jr. | state4 = Utah | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1955|12|10}} | birth_place = Bluff, Utah, United States | spouse = Roselyn Maryboy | party = Democratic | footnotes = | education = University of Utah (BA) | alt = Mark Maryboy, a Navajo leader, wearing a cap and denim jacket, addresses a crowd during a public event while holding a folder. }}
'''Mark Maryboy''' (born December 10, 1955) is a retired American politician. He represented San Juan County, Utah as a County Commissioner, serving three terms, and formerly served on the Navajo Nation Council Delegate for the Utah Navajo Section.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Salt Lake Tribune – Utah News, Sports, Religion & Entertainment |url=https://www.sltrib.com/ |access-date=February 23, 2025 |website=The Salt Lake Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref> He is a member of the Navajo tribe Nation and the brother of Kenneth Maryboy, who currently serves on the Navajo Nation Council Delegate.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gray |first=Haley |date=October 29, 2018 |title=Meet the man fighting to preserve rural Utah lands |url=https://roadsandkingdoms.com/2018/meet-man-fighting-preserve-rural-utah-lands/ |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=Roads & Kingdoms |language=en-US}}</ref>
Maryboy was first elected as the San Juan County, Utah, Commissioner for District Three in 1986, becoming the first Native American to be elected County Commissioner in Utah's history.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 19, 2016 |title=The special session Bears Ears debate concludes |url=https://universe.byu.edu/2016/05/19/the-special-session-bears-ears-debate-concludes/ |access-date=February 23, 2025 |website=BYU Daily Universe |language=en}}</ref>
In 2013, Maryboy, in collaboration with Rebecca M. Benally and a group of protesters from the Aneth Chapter, organized a three-day blockade of the main ExxonMobil corporate office in Aneth, Utah.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 15, 2013 |title=Protesters block Exxon Mobil |url=http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=3102 |access-date=July 14, 2022 |website=HCN Article}}{{dead link|date=November 2023}}</ref>
== Biography == Mark Maryboy was born on December 10, 1955, at St. Christopher's Mission near Bluff, Utah.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smart |first=Christopher |title=Bridging two worlds |url=http://www.rlnn.com/ArtMar06/BridgingTwoWorlds.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060327022626/http://www.rlnn.com/ArtMar06/BridgingTwoWorlds.html |archive-date=March 27, 2006}}</ref> He was the fifth of eight children and grew up on a Navajo Nation reservation living in a traditional Navajo Hogan.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Political Mark Maryboy |url=http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/archives/maryboy.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928030554/http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/archives/maryboy.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |access-date=October 29, 2024}}</ref> Maryboy attended BIA boarding schools in both Kayenta and Aneth.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Sydnee |date=November 13, 2022 |title='It never went away': Utah tribal elders share boarding school experiences |url=https://www.ksl.com/article/50516310/it-never-went-away-utah-tribal-elders-share-boarding-school-experiences |access-date=November 28, 2022 |website=www.ksl.com |language=en}}</ref>
After Maryboy graduated from San Juan High School in Blanding, Utah, He attended the University of Utah, where he majored in history and minored in business. He graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts.<ref name=":0" />thumb|240x240px|Mark Maryboy at a campaign rally
After graduation, Maryboy returned to the Navajo Nation and served as the director of education for the Utah Navajo Development Council, supervising Head Start, adult education, and vocational education programs.<ref name=":0" /> In 1986, Maryboy ran for San Juan County Commissioner.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bear |first=Carson |date=May 24, 2017 |title="The Spirits Are Still There": A Personal Reflection on Bears Ears National Monument |url=https://savingplaces.org/stories/mark-maryboy-personal-reflection-bears-ears-national-monument |website=National Trust for Historic Preservation}}</ref> He often clashed with former commissioner Calvin Black, a Republican, member, during commission meetings.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Map of Utah highlighting San Juan County.svg|thumb|San Juan County, which includes the Utah section of the Navajo Nation near its southern state line with Arizona.]]In November 1990, Maryboy was elected to the Navajo Nation Council as a delegate from the Aneth area. He served on the advisory board of the College of Social & Behavioral Science at the University of Utah. He also served as{{Update inline|date=October 2024}} the chairman of the Navajo Nation Council Budget & Finance Committee.
Maryboy met former president Bill Clinton in 1992 at the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 3, 1993 |title=Navajos create oil and gas corporation |url=https://plateauportal.libraries.wsu.edu/system/files/atoms/file/YNR_V24N16.pdf |access-date=October 29, 2024 |pages=12 |volume=24}}</ref> He was appointed to serve on the Utah Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights in 1993.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 1993 |title=Utah Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights Fact-Finding Meeting |url=https://www.usccr.gov/files/historical/1993/I-007.pdf |website=U.S. Commission on Civil Rights |page=2}}</ref> In 1994, President Clinton appointed him to serve on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 2, 1994 |title=President Clinton Names 8 To The National Advisory Board On Indian Education |url=https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1994/08/1994-08-02-eight-named-national-advisors-on-indian-education.html |website=National Archives}}</ref>
In April 2006, Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan was charged with criminal battery after allegedly striking Council Delegate Mark Maryboy in the chest.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Kaye Johnson |first=Natasha |date=2006 |title=Push Comes to Shove |url=http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/apr/042206pshshv.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006164011/http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/apr/042206pshshv.html |archive-date=October 6, 2008}}</ref> The incident occurred after Maryboy complained that Morgan did not help him introduce legislation that had been skipped earlier that day.<ref name=":1"/> The item—formal condolences to the family of late Council Delegate ''Curley John'' of Aneth, whose family was in the gallery—was skipped because Maryboy was out of the Council Chambers speaking with constituents.<ref name=":1" /> Maryboy later attempted to re-add the item to the agenda but was ruled out of order.<ref name=":1" />
== Utah Navajo Commission == The Utah Navajo Commission manages revenues derived from mineral development on the Utah portion of the reservation for the Utah Navajos, whose population is nearing 10,000 enrolled members. Maryboy serves with this entity, overseeing the deployment of monetary funds and addressing Navajo energy issues in San Juan County.
=== Navajo water rights issue === In 2002,<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2020 |title=Mexican Land Use Plan Water Chapter |url=https://mexicanwater.navajochapters.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/58/2020/03/mexican-water-clup.pdf |journal=Mexican Water Chapter |page=11}}</ref> Maryboy and the Utah Navajo Commission urged the Navajo Nation to reassert Colorado River water claims the tribe waived in the late 1960s to help facilitate a power plant near Page, Arizona.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2020 |title=Mexican Land Use Plan Water Chapter |url=https://mexicanwater.navajochapters.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/58/2020/03/mexican-water-clup.pdf |journal=Mexican Water Chapter |page=11}}</ref> In 2020, the Senate unanimously passed the Utah Navajo Water Rights Settlement Act, which would recognize the Navajo's right to {{convert|81,500|acre.ft|m3|adj=off}} of water from the Colorado River.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Podmore |first=Zak |date=December 22, 2020 |title=Long-awaited bill to settle Navajo Nation water rights in San Juan County passed by Congress |url=https://www.uintahwater.org/home/news/long-awaited-bill-settle-navajo-nation-water-rights-san-juan-county-passed-congress |website=Uintah Water Conservancy District |publication-date=December 28, 2020 |via=Salt Lake Tribune}}</ref>
According to the Utah Navajo Commission, the tribe could claim between one and 2,000,000 acre-feet (2.5 km<sup>3</sup>) of Colorado River water.<ref name="naturalresources.utah.gov">{{Cite web |title=Navajo Nation and state of Utah reach another water rights milestone |url=https://naturalresources.utah.gov/dnr-newsfeed/navajo-nation-and-state-of-utah-reach-another-water-rights-milestone/ }}</ref> The council waived at least a portion of its rights in a 1968 agreement with the federal government and the Salt River Project, which planned to build a coal-fired power plant near Page.<ref name="naturalresources.utah.gov"/> The council agreed not to demand more than {{convert|50,000|acre.ft|m3}} of Colorado River water so that {{convert|34,100|acre.ft|m3}} could be diverted to the plant.<ref name="naturalresources.utah.gov"/>
== Utah Navajo oil == In 1997, residents began protesting Exxon-Mobil's policies affecting the Utah Navajo community. Protesters from the Aneth Chapter blocked the main office of ExxonMobil Corporation for 3 days at the McCalmon Oil Plant near Aneth, Utah.<ref name="Desruisseaux">{{Cite journal |last=Desruisseaux |first=Danielle |date=March 3, 1997 |title=Tepee blockade spurs talks |url=http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=3102 |url-status=dead |journal=High Country News |volume=29 |issue=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020831062257/http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=3102 |archive-date=August 31, 2002}}</ref> The protest was composed of local Navajo people.<ref name="Desruisseaux"/>
Former Navajo Nation president Albert Hale was also present in the northernmost corner of the Navajo Nation, where the protest was initiated.<ref name="Desruisseaux"/> Maryboy, along with members of the Aneth community, worked to create a new standard for Navajo workers in the Aneth area, as well as for the hiring process.<ref name="Desruisseaux"/>
== Life after politics == Heeding his father's wishes, He did not seek a fifth term on the council. In 1999, Maryboy established Utah Navajo Health Systems along with Donna Singer<ref name="sjrnews.com">{{Cite web |date=January 15, 2014 |title=New CEO at Utah Navajo Health Systems |url=https://www.sjrnews.com/new-ceo-utah-navajo-health-systems |access-date=April 7, 2025 |website=San Juan Record |language=en}}</ref> and supported tribal legislation that allows the agency to keep its profits rather than return them to Window Rock.<ref name="sjrnews.com"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071007125610/http://origin.sltrib.com/news/ci_6018025 Salt Lake Tribune]. "''Public Lands director's departure pleases environmentalists, some Navajos''".
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maryboy, Mark}} Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Members of the Navajo Nation Council Category:County commissioners in Utah Category:University of Utah alumni Category:American educational reformers Category:People from San Juan County, Utah Category:Utah Democrats Category:20th-century Native American politicians Category:21st-century Native American people Category:Native American people from Utah