Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument

Thank you President Biden for designating the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument a cultural heritage with incredible biodiversity, precious waters, and the vital economic engine of the Grand Canyon region.

At least 12 Tribes and Nations have cultural connections to the proposed monument (just under 1 million acres). This Indigenous-led proposal dates back decades to numerous efforts to permanently protect the Grand Canyon region from new uranium mining and other harmful development.

This monument will protect important cultural sites for Indigenous communities and habitat for endangered species like California condors, Mexican spotted owls, and the Fickeisen plains cactus. It would also protect hundreds of seeps and springs and habitat for endangered wildlife from the toxic impacts of uranium mining. These seeps and springs feed tributary streams that support flows in the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.

Please continue to honor the stories, legacies, and voices of local communities by designating and/or expanding national monuments such as the Site of the Springfield Race Massacre in Illinois, Historic Greenwood/ Black Wall Street in Oklahoma, Molok Luyuk in California, and Great Bend of the Gila in Arizona. Thank you for your commitment to celebrating and conserving connections to the nation’s incredible public lands and waters, and for continuing to permanently protect natural, cultural, and historic sites, lands of great scientific value, and ocean waters that contribute to the ongoing and often-untold stories and true history of the United States.