Utah Officials Reject Biden’s Grand Canyon Monument Proposal

Utah’s political leaders didn’t wait long to voice their disapproval with President Joe Biden’s declaration of a new national monument within the Grand Canyon.

During a tour of the Western US that included Utah on Thursday, Biden announced the creation of the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument on Tuesday. 

It covers roughly 1 million acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park and is the seventh national monument to be established under the Biden administration.

Environmentalists and Native American Tribes have fought to protect the surroundings around Grand Canyon National Park for many years. Conservatives have supported local mining interests in the meantime.

Republicans who object to the new monument include Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee, and others. They see it as a worrying trend, disheartening, and a mistake.

Their protest is akin to a conflict that took place around the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments. Utah Republicans have claimed that Biden exceeded his power under the Antiquities Act of 1906 by establishing all three monuments.

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Navajo Nation President Supports New Monument

News of this monument designation is upsetting, particularly for Utahns who live along the Arizona Strip. Massive, landscape-scale monuments like this are a mistake, as I’ve said numerous times before. 

These designations attract more tourists without adding any new law enforcement or infrastructure to safeguard sensitive regions.

The reaction from Utah Republicans was in stark contrast to the support for the monument shown by Native American tribes, including many Utah tribes, and Arizona leaders. 

The words from two Indigenous languages are even used in the name Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni. In the Havasupai language, Baaj Nwaavjo means where tribes roam, and I’tah Kukveni means our footprints in the Hopi language.

Buu Nygren, the president of the Navajo Nation, who was there for Biden’s announcement, praised the new monument.

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Source: www.ksl.com