Aug. 8 (UPI) — President Joe Biden will sign a proclamation on Tuesday establishing a new monument at Arizona’s Grand Canyon, protecting nearly 1 million acres of public land that some Native American tribes consider sacred grounds.
Biden is expected to sign the proclamation at 2 p.m. EDT to establish the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kkveni — Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona, marking the fifth new national monument established by Biden.
The monument “honors tribal nations and Indigenous peoples by protecting sacred ancestral places and their historically and scientifically important features, while conserving our public lands, protecting wildlife habitat and clean water and supporting local economies,” the White House said in a statement.
The move will also prohibit new uranium mining claims. Some local Mohave County leaders support protecting the land but opposed the ban on mining, citing the $29 billion worth of uranium deposits it holds.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve in the Cabinet, said the decision to create the monument honors the work of Havasupai leaders to preserve their ancestral homelands after they were driven out by the federal government in 1919 to create Grand Canyon National Park.
“These special places are not a pass-through on the way to the Grand Canyon. They are sacred and significant unto their own right,” she told reporters in a Monday video call. “We are in a new era, one in which we honor tribally led conservation, advance co-stewardship and care about the well-being of Native American people.”
Some Utah ranchers, who use the land for grazing, have also voiced opposition to the designation.
The lands protected by the designation span plateaus, canyons and creeks that flow into the Colorado River, providing water to millions throughout the Southwest and include thousands of cultural sites considered sacred to more than a dozen tribal nations in the Southwest, including the Gray Mountain, which is featured in Navajo ceremonial songs, stories and rituals.
The area also boasts biodiversity ranging from sagebrush to savanna that hosts a range of species such as bighorn sheep, mule deer, bison, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, owls and songbirds.
The site’s name is derived from the phrase “Baaj Nwaavjo,” which means “where Indigenous people roam” in the Havasuapi language, while “i’tah kukveni” means “our ancestral footprints” in the Hopi language, honoring a pair of the tribes native to the area.
Biden will also announce $44 million to strengthen climate resilience across the country’s national parks system, including 43 projects across 39 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
