More than a decade of advocacy by Native nations resulted in the creation of a new national monument

The Havasupai: A Tribal Coalition Organizing to End New Uranium Mining Claims in a National Monument Near the Grand Canyon

President Biden will create a national monument near the Grand Canyon on Tuesday. The move protects lands that are sacred to indigenous peoples and permanently bans new uranium mining claims in the area. It covers nearly 1 million acres.

There’s only one tribe who actually lives inside the the Grand Canyon, the Havasupai, and they’ve been among the most outspoken of the more than dozen tribes in the area who have cultural and historic ties to the canyon. They’ve been pushing for land protections for decades, and banded together formally after President Obama issued a 20-year hold on new uranium mines in 2012.

The Havasupai say uranium mining threatens their sole water source, Havasu Creek, and really their very existence, putting sacred and culturally important sites in danger.

All that we have left are our historical sites and sacred places. Everything else has been taken from us, our original homelands, our sacred places.” Carletta Tilousi is a former Council member and the liaison to the Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition.

The uranium industry has opposed restrictions on mining for years. They say that they can mine near the Grand Canyon with minimal impact on the land.

Laguna Pueblo, a Native American Nation’s First Indigenous Cabinet Member: Implications for the Grand Canyon as a National Treasure

The Biden administration is very open to the Native peoples’ concerns. The president appointed the nation’s first Indigenous Cabinet member, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is Laguna Pueblo. The current version of the proposal was put into the hands of the region’s tribes, which was very in line with what the coalition had been requesting.

A lot has changed over time, according to Moore. We know a lot more about how to conduct business in a way that’s ethical. We want to make sure the Grand Canyon is protected as a national treasure.

Moore believes it would be important to develop a domestic nuclear supply because Russia and former Soviet republics supply nearly half of all U.S. nuclear fuel now.

The White House believes the land inside the monument has less than 2% of the U.S.’s known reserves of the radioactive substance.

There are thousands of sacred and cultural sites located near the Grand Canyon that are important to more than a dozen tribes.

The new monument will encompass lands on both the north and south side of the Grand Canyon. North of the park it’s high-elevation ponderosa pine forest, at about 8,000 feet above sea level, and to the south its mixed vegetation with pinyon pine and junipers. There’s also a section of desert landscape along the Colorado River outside of the park that’ll be protected. It’s an extremely diverse area that has springs and seeps that feed the river.

The Biden Manifesto in Washington, D.C.: “The Challenges of the West,” he said on a U.S. Senator’s Western Swing

Biden is going to make a case for tackling the issues of climate and economic challenge facing Americans in the West during his upcoming trip to New Mexico and Utah.

A recent statewide poll showed broad support for the proposal, though local ranchers who have worked the land for generations have concerns. Senior administration officials told reporters that the national monument designation upholds private property rights; it also does not affect existing uranium mining claims.

“It will help protect lands that many tribes referred to as their eternal home, a place of healing and a source of spiritual sustenance,” she said. It will make sure that the indigenous peoples can continue to use these areas for their religious ceremonies, hunting and gathering of plants, medicines and other materials, such as some found nowhere else on earth. It will protect objects of historic and scientific importance for the benefit of tribes, the public and for future generations.”

The new national monument will be called Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument. The Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition says that the word “Baj Nwaavjo” means “where tribes roam”, and that the term “I’thakiu” means “our ancestral footprints” in Hopi.

But the politics of Biden’s Western swing are broader than preservation. It is about emphasizing what the administration has already done to invest in the economy and the climate — because many Americans just don’t know about it.

When asked whether the trip is about advertising accomplishments, the press secretary said they will continue to do their jobs and talk about it. And the hope is that we’ll get our message out.”

She stated that support for the president would build as legislation is implemented across the country. “We’ll see, I think, Americans start to feel and see what it is that we have been able to do in Washington, D.C.”