HECHO Supports the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument

The Grand Canyon is an invaluable and irreplaceable landscape that must be protected for current and future generations. Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors (HECHO) is proud to support the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument, a proposal created by over 10 Tribes that have a profound spiritual and cultural connection to the Grand Canyon region and have been the original stewards of this land since time immemorial. 

“There are so many reasons why protecting the Grand Canyon region is urgent and essential. The Tribes’ proposed designation of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument provides that protection, reflecting their wisdom of, deep knowledge of, and continuing connections to their ancestral land. Tribal communities who live in the canyon depend on its clean and reliable watershed. This is a landscape like no other in the world with unparalleled cultural, historical, ecological, recreational, and economic value,” says Camilla Simon, executive director of Hispanic Enjoying, Camping, Hunting and the Outdoors (HECHO). 

Since 2008, Tribes, local communities, and a diverse group of organizations have advocated for permanently protecting public lands near Grand Canyon National Park threatened by uranium mining. There is a temporary mining ban that expires in 2032.  

Past uranium-mining activities have had a serious toll across the Colorado Plateau, especially on Native American lands. In 2008, several U.S. and tribal government agencies identified 29 water sources with uranium levels that exceeded safe drinking water standards in the Navajo Nation.   

 “Water is an exceptionally precious resource in the Southwest. The Colorado River runs 277 miles through Grand Canyon National Park, and uranium mining unnecessarily risks this critical water source for millions of people,” says Simon.  

HECHO supports the Tribes’ Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument proposal and urges President Biden to give this designation through his authority granted by the Antiquities Act.