There's a New Monument Near the Grand Canyon Honoring Tribal Nations

10.08.2023 - 20:11 / travelandleisure.com / Joe Biden

President Joe Biden has designated a new national monument near the Grand Canyon, recognizing tribal nations and indigenous peoples and protecting their sacred ancestral land. 

The new monument, called the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, is located in Arizona and will actively conserve nearly 1 million acres of public land around the Grand Canyon National Park, according to the White House. The new monument will protect thousands of cultural and sacred sites important to many area tribes, including the Havasupai Tribe and the Hopi Tribe.

“Our nation’s history is etched in our people and in our lands,” Biden tweeted. “Today’s action will protect and preserve that history in the Grand Canyon region, including the high plateaus and deep canyons fundamental to Tribal Nations' way of life and their most sacred ceremonies.”

The new monument is made up of three different areas to the north and south of Grand Canyon National Park, according to the Department of the Interior. In total, the monument encompasses about 917,618 acres.

Sec. of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a statement the designation “makes clear that Native American history is American history.”

“This land is sacred to the many Tribal Nations who have long advocated for its protection, and establishing a national monument demonstrates the importance of recognizing the original stewards of our public lands,” Haaland added.

The name of the new monument is significant with Baaj Nwaavjo meaning «where Indigenous peoples roam» in Havasupai and I'tah Kukveni meaning «our ancestral footprints» in Hopi, according to the Grand Canyon Trust. It will also prevent any new mining operations for uranium in the area, USA Today reported.

“Many Havasupai tribal leaders have carried this battle on their shoulders over the decades," Thomas Siyuja Sr., the chairman for the Havasupai Tribe, said in a statement. «We are the fortunate ones to experience this unprecedented time in which our historic lands, water, sacred objects, and sites now hold the power and protection, which they rightfully deserve, under the supreme law of the land by the stroke of President Biden’s pen.»

This isn’t the first national monument the Biden administration has created this summer. Last month, the White House established a new national monument to honor Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, in Chicago and Mississippi.