Carved over thousands of years by the creator — with wind, sand, sun, rain and water — the Grand Canyon is beautiful.
For my tribal nation, Havsuw ‘Baaja, the Havasupai Tribe, it’s also our sacred home.
Our headquarters are in Supai Village, which lies at the bottom of the Havasu Canyon — a tributary on the south side of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon.
We are often forgotten deep in the canyon.
But we are here, and we’re here to fight against harm — both past and likely to come — facing Natives and others in the region.
A few weeks ago, my tribal nation joined the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation to intervene against a group of elected Arizona officials and others who sued to challenge President Biden’s establishment of the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.
The lawsuits advance wealthy mining interests and challenge the long-recognized authority of U.S. presidents to protect places of historic and scientific significance by creating national monuments.
We fight because if these lawsuits prevail, the now protected lands will be dotted with uranium mines, and the contamination will eliminate my people and our sacred lands.
The threats are not theoretical.
I grew up with uranium mines and encroachment of corporate development around our reservation. Mining interests were scattered throughout our sacred lands.
One such mine remains active today and threatens our lives daily. The excavation of radioactive material endangers the health of our water and bodies, and our plant, soil and animal relatives.
Radiation from this mine threatens Grand Canyon visitors, Arizonans and our Havasupai people.
The monument President Biden created last year protect lands along the Grand Canyon National Park and Kaibab National Forest. Polls estimate that 75% of Arizonans celebrate this overdue monument designation.
It includes a ban on new uranium mining and gives the Havasupai and other coalition tribes a say in the management and protection of their traditional homelands and waters.
The monument designation came at a pivotal moment. There were thousands of uranium mining claims around the Grand Canyon just waiting to tear up the earth.
Grand Canyon monument:Continues a legacy
They had been restricted by a mining moratorium set to expire in less than 10 years, but now under the new monument these claims no longer pose a threat.
The lawsuits challenging the monument put all that in doubt.
And we cannot stand idly by.
Each year, the Grand Canyon attracts 5 million visitors, many of whom stop by our village as they seek out the nearby waterfalls and waters after which our people are named — Havasupai or People of the Blue Green Water.
Our traditional homelands extend far beyond our current reservation.
For thousands of years, we held ceremonies, hunted, fished and gathered medicines and food on lands in and around the Grand Canyon.
After the United States took this land, my ancestors negotiated for decades to establish our reservation.
But the federal government still holds much of our traditional territory. The monument designation provides us a critical voice in the care and management of the land.
Our land.
As a young woman, I learned from my elders that Havasupai people are the Guardians of the Grand Canyon. These places are and always will be sacred.
We mustn’t reopen the Grand Canyon’s doors to more uranium mining and contamination.
The costs are too great.
Bernadine Jones is chairwoman of the Havasupai Tribe, one of the tribal nations tasked with care and management of Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni - Ancestral Footprints National Monument. Reach her at afink@hmapr.com.
Uranium mining still threatens my tribe's sacred home
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05.06.2024
Carved over thousands of years by the creator — with wind, sand, sun, rain and water — the Grand Canyon is beautiful.
For my tribal nation, Havsuw ‘Baaja, the Havasupai Tribe, it’s also our sacred home.
Our headquarters are in Supai Village, which lies at the bottom of the Havasu Canyon — a tributary on the south side of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon.
We are often forgotten deep in the canyon.
But we are here, and we’re here to fight against harm — both past and likely to come — facing Natives and others in the region.
A few weeks ago, my tribal nation joined the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation to intervene against a group of elected Arizona officials and others who sued to challenge President Biden’s establishment of the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.
The lawsuits advance wealthy mining interests and challenge the long-recognized authority of........
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