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President Joe Biden is considering using his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate more than 1 million acres adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park as the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument on Tuesday while he is in Arizona. A national monument designation would safeguard underground aquifers and critical drinking water supplies for nearby communities from the threat of uranium mining, while also protecting the natural, recreational, and scientific resources of the region.
The monument is being proposed by a large group of Tribes called the Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition, which includes members of the Havasupai, Hopi, and Hualapai Tribes, as well as the Kaibab Paiute Tribe, the Las Vegas Band of Paiute, the Moapa Band of Paiutes, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Navajo Nation, the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, the Yavapai-Apache Nation, the Pueblo of Zuni, and the Colorado River Indian Tribes. Listen to the latest episode of The Landscape podcast to hear the Center for Western Priorities' conversation with Carletta Tilousi, a former tribal councilwoman who has helped lead the effort to establish the monument, and Stuart Chavez, a former tribal councilman who serves on the Havasupai Anti-Uranium Subcommittee, as they talk about their involvement in the fight for the monument and how it would help protect their homeland.
Support for President Joe Biden designating a new national monument around Grand Canyon National Park is high among Arizona voters according to a recent poll touted by Arizona Representative Raúl Grijalva. 75 percent of those surveyed support designating existing public lands immediately outside the Grand Canyon as a national monument, with 48 percent responding they strongly support the idea. Similarly, in a soon-to-be-released poll from the Center for Western Priorities’ Winning the West campaign, 79 percent of Arizonans surveyed support the proposal to create the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.
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We know this place intimately. We simply cannot live without these clean waters.”
