#MyGrandCanyonStory | Steve Peru
HECHO spoke with Steve Peru of Flagstaff, Arizona to learn about his personal connection to the Grand Canyon, his favorite memories there, and why he believes the Grand Canyon should be protected from uranium mining.
HECHO: What is your personal connection to the Grand Canyon?
Steve Peru (SP): My personal connection to the Grand Canyon started, and I don't know when it was that our parents took us to the Grand Canyon, but I was probably older than grade school, middle school years. It's probably more exciting to the parent, at the time, than it is to the child. At the same time, given the fact that our parents didn't always have a lot of resources to make that investment of time and money to take the family to the Grand Canyon, it must have been very special to our parents. At that age, we don't realize that, but we do have the memories. So, the memory of going to the canyon and getting through the gates and getting to the edge and seeing it for the first time. Probably hearing our parents do more "ooh and awe". As kids we're looking at it like, okay, what are we going to do now? I think that now, Beth and I, as parents and as grandparents, we look at the experiences that we provided to our children. So, being an hour and a half away from the Grand Canyon now, and having lived in Flagstaff since the early seventies...what we realize now is that, yes, we took our kids to the Grand Canyon, but did we take them often enough?
Beth and I were talking about how people come from around the world to come to the Grand Canyon and the sacrifices they make to come to the Grand Canyon are great. Here we are, an hour and a half from the Grand Canyon, and we should be up there every other weekend. It's not that we regret not doing more, but I think as parents, we now want our grandchildren, who live in Phoenix, to experience that. So, it kind of gets back to our parents. Something within their vision, within their concept of raising their kids, felt that seeing the Grand Canyon is very important. As a family, we wanted to do a lot of outdoor things and that's the way our family is. I did a story a couple of years ago with HECHO profiling our family's camping trips in the outdoors. It really kind of gets back to our parents wanting us to experience all that they could. They took us to Disneyland and whatnot, but being able to provide the opportunity for us to experience the Grand Canyon and then to use that and have that experience to guide our priorities as parents and grandparents was important too. Going back to your original question -- my connection to the Grand Canyon was that, our parents took us there for the first time, who knows how old I was, but I probably was not as impressed with it at that time, but it obviously left a lasting mark in me and Beth wanting to provide and create that experience for our kids.
HECHO: Why do you believe that the Grand Canyon should be protected?
SP: Well, it is one of the wonders of the world, I don't know what number it is. It certainly is something that, when we look at it for the next 50, 100, 200 years, needs to be as pristine of an experience as it was being formed. The context of time is great, in terms of how long it took to be formed. We look at some of the threats to it, uranium mining in some parts of it. Even if you're looking at the impact of just visitation and the strategies that the park service is attempting to make to mitigate what those might be. As an example, traffic in the canyon has gotten so great. Within the last few years, the park service has set up a fairly effective shuttle bus system, but it's a choice. At some point in time, it may be the only way you're going to see it, is if you get on it on a shuttle. Luckily, we're not there yet. When we look at what protections need to take place, it can be as simple as recycling within the park facilities to also preventing uranium mining from occurring. When you look at other things that have occurred, one of the big things was the smog from the Navajo Generating Station and all the power plants. The power plant is no longer there. That's created a big impact, a negative impact, in terms of the economy of Page and the cultural Navajo nation and Hopi people. Actually, when Beth and I were driving up here to Capitol Reef, driving into Page, you didn't see the generating station producing smoke from the power plant. Having that visual impact for folks that go to the Canyon when you're able to see, on a very clear day, from one rim to the other. That's an important part. The other part is dark skies. You can experience the canyon in a lot of different ways, but now you can experience it at night. To look at the dark sky and to see the constellations in the Milky Way and know that you're kind of seeing both extremes of our world. What's down deep in the canyon, as well as what's up in the galaxies and in the celestial world is kind of amazing.
HECHO: Why do you advocate for the Grand Canyon?
SP: It gets back to making sure that it's an experience that we all can expect and can enjoy. At the same time, we're looking at the ability for all families to look and to experience that. So, you're looking at access and affordability also. Going into the canyon and there is a fee at the gate, things are probably a little more expensive than they usually are. At some point in time, families are going to say, we can't afford to go to the canyon or to a National Park. That's a tough one, because the National Parks are everyone's National Parks and they should not belong to only those who have the financial resources. So, getting back to why we need to protect it is important, but at the same time, we need to make sure that it is an experience that everyone has the ability to have at some point in their lifetime. So that they can, as parents, provide that first experience for their children. Such that, at some point in time that child, as they grow up, will see a priority in making sure that their family is able to experience that as well.
HECHO: What are your plans for your next visit?
SP: We were planning on being up there a couple of times this spring for events that the Grand Canyon Conservancy was putting on. We're members of the Grand Canyon Conservancy, they used to be called the Grand Canyon Association, and they are the nonprofit that staff the visitor centers and the stores that are in the canyon. As a result of COVID and what's happened, the events that we were going to attend were canceled. We probably should be looking at that from the standpoint of, if it's in our backyard, we should be there a little bit more often than when there's an event. It comes to mind that we should be there sooner than later.
HECHO: What tips would you share for people visiting?
SP: For the first time visiting -- looking at the experiences and definitely being able to take advantage of the interpretive presentations that are made, while visitors are at the park. There are a lot of different topics that are covered, the history of the canyon, the history of the wildlife and vegetation of the canyon, you name it, all those things are up there. For the individuals that do visit the canyon, definitely being able to say, let's listen to the interpretive, let's go to the evening program, because at the same time, while you're learning more about the canyon itself, you're learning more about the cultures. We were up there a couple of years ago and we went to an event and they discussed the Native American connections to the Grand Canyon from the various tribal nations, Hopi, Havasupai, and Navajo. All of these individual tribes have different experiences yet, they're all tied to the canyon in a very spiritual way. In terms of our culture, understanding it and making sure that we as individuals know and appreciate our own culture. We also need to make an effort to understand other cultures and their relationships to those wonders of the world, i.e. the canyon.
HECHO: What are your thoughts about the administration’s policy aiming to open up the Grand Canyon watershed for uranium mining?
SP: Totally opposed to it. Number one, the impact of mining, period, is great. Then also, when you look at the impact of mining uranium, it's like a double whammy. When you look at the legislation and laws, such as the Antiquities Act, those were created for a reason. Once they're in law, they're in law and we should not be looking at ways to overturn or undermine whatever has been put in place. Today, we're up at the Grand Staircase-Escalante, doing this interview. Even here, there has been a move by the administration to reduce the size, to open up areas of it for industry. Well those are conflicting uses. Whether we're here and at Capitol Reef or the Grand Canyon, within each administration, we should be building upon the protection. We need to be building upon the sustainability. We should not be going backwards. At some point, we ask, what's the use of the Antiquities Act if we're going to keep finding loopholes around it?
HECHO: Could you complete the following sentence: Protecting the Grand Canyon watershed from uranium mining is personal to me because...
SP: Protecting the Grand Canyon watershed from uranium mining is personal to me because, once we open up the door to one conflicting use, what's to say we don't keep up with opening up to more and more conflicting uses. When you start whittling away at the protection, then I think as a society, we begin to question, what's the use? If it's convenient, why not do it in the name of industry or whatnot? I think that really takes us backwards as a society, as a nation, as a group of individuals that really want to protect things that are special to us. If it is for convenience then there was really no reason to protect it in the first place and going backwards and that's not the direction we want to go.