ST. GEORGE — As the golden sun slowly sunk behind the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and the Centurion Cessna 210 dipped to the right, a female passenger softly exclaimed, “There’s my home!”

Melinda Yaiva gazed at the Havasupai Falls glistening below as the plane flew adjacent to the national park. Four other passengers, including a St. George News reporter, joined her for an aerial view of the proposed land for a new monument, Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.

Yaiva, a member of the Havasupai and Hopi tribes, joined Southern Utah Native American leaders and ranchers who trekked to Flagstaff, Arizona, to share their views on the proposed monument during a hearing Tuesday. Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service were on hand to listen.

Over 200 people attended the public meeting, and many expressed concern over protecting the land from uranium mining and outside developers. The Havasupai Tribe, whose members live in the canyon, takes the position that mining near the Grand Canyon threatens wildlife and drinking water for themselves and residents in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Tribal leaders request President Joe Biden use the Antiquities Act to create the monument. A proposal for the new monument was introduced by Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva on April 12.

“From birth, as Native people, we are taught to respect, protect and manage the land. This includes its waters and natural resources,” said Hope Silvas of the Southern Utah-based Shivwits Band of Paiutes.

Silvas explained that Southern Paiute Native Americans have a preservation philosophy regarding the existing waters, minerals, animals, plants and artifacts. These natural resources are perceived as having their own life force.

“If the resources are not used in an appropriate manner, they become disappointed and withhold food, health and power,” Silvas said.

The Grand Canyon is the traditional homeland of the Paiute people. Silvas said her people harvested food from the land and still conduct ceremonies there today.

“So you see why it’s important for us to protect and preserve this area as it is our history, our people. It is us,” Silvas said.

The proposal would designate approximately 1.1 million acres of ancestral land for a new Grand Canyon National Monument. The land would be north and south of Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona. Twelve indigenous tribes connected with the canyon would assist in overseeing the land with the Bureau of Land Management.

“For Hopi and many tribal nations, there’s an intimate connection that we have with this,” Timothy Nuvangyaoma, Hopi Tribe chairman, said. “For Hopi, it’s our place of emergence, a place where we still hold pilgrimages and offerings. It’s what we consider the heartbeat. Much like a human being, the waterways are arteries and veins carrying that lifeblood, not only to Arizona but the entire world. It keeps life going. And if we poison that blood, life dies.”

Supporting the legislation is the Canyon Tribal Coalition, which includes the tribes of Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Kaibab Paiute, Las Vegas Band of Paiute, Moapa Band of Paiutes, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Navajo Nation, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Pueblo of Zuni and the Colorado River Indian tribes.

The monument’s name, “Baaj Nwaavjo,” means “where the tribes roam,” while “I’tah Kukveni” translates to “our footprints.”

“The mountains need to be protected because they are our operators for our prayers. They are our antennas so that our prayers can reach out into the cosmos and onto the heavens,” said Carletta Tilousi, Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition coordinator and member of the Havasupai Tribe.

The Havasupai Tribe is troubled by the Canyon uranium mine (renamed Pinyon Plain Mine), which lies within the monument proposal and threatens waters inside the Grand Canyon and Red Butte. While Canyon Mine would be unaffected by a monument designation, the monument would prevent any new mining claims and the development of nearly 600 existing, but undeveloped, mining claims found within the proposed national monument, according to the Grand Canyon Trust website.

According to EnivronmentalAmerica.org, uranium mining can spread radioactive dust through the air and leak radioactivity and toxic chemicals into the environment. It is among the world’s riskiest industrial activities.

“Every uranium mine ever operated in the United States has required some degree of toxic waste cleanup, and the worst have sickened generations of people, contaminated miles of rivers and streams, and required the cleanup of hundreds of acres of land,” the website states.

Uranium is a metal that fuels nuclear power plants and is involved in producing medical, industrial and military products.

The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah Chairwoman Corrina Bow called the Grand Canyon the place where her people came from. “When the Creator calls us, it is where we will go home.”

“This land must be preserved and our sacred areas protected,” Bow said. “I want to believe that you hear and listen to the voices of your Indigenous people and you will help us preserve and protect the lands that need to be protected.”

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the proposed monument would permanently ban new mines. Uranium mining on claims predating 2012, like the Pinyon Plains mine near Grand Canyon’s south rim, would be exempt. The organization’s website states that the mine threatens the region’s aquifers, springs and cultural heritage. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, 15 springs and five wells near Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park contain uranium concentrations above the safe limit for drinking water

Also attending were representatives of the Navajo Nation, who stated that uranium mining during the Cold War poisoned soil, water and rocks on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation and disastrously affected their land and its people.

During the event, Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning said all who were gathered shared a love of public lands.

“Everyone in this room wants to take care of them,” Stone-Manning said. “The rub of that is the ‘how.’ There are always, always, always lots of opinions as to how.”

Opposition is strong from the Utah-Arizona border town of Kanab. The City Council passed a unanimous resolution May 9 against the proposed monument. Kanab Mayor Colten Johnson told St. George News that people outside the area need help to understand what is at stake for his local community.

“People ask these infantile, childlike, naive questions that show their lack of knowledge about public lands, but then they are the same ones that often have an opinion on how these lands should be managed,” said Johnson, also noting the mining helps their economy, and the City Council is not against uranium mining as long as it is regulated.

“There’s already a protection, a 20-year moratorium right now on mining,” Johnson said. “They could create another moratorium. There are already protections where if somebody wants to come in and mine uranium, they have to go through all sorts of processes.”

Johnson said he doesn’t like uranium mining being a reason to create a monument. He thinks there are already enough protections in place against uranium mining.

“To me, it’s really about grazing, going after grazing. That’s the common thread I see across all these national monuments that we have,” Johnson said. “And that’s a huge threat to our culture and our heritage. ”

Kanab Rancher and Council Member Chris Heaton told St. George News that a monument designation would limit public access and management flexibility and prohibit land use, including grazing, logging and mineral extraction and recreational activities like hunting and fishing.

“We have seen the negative impacts on our community and surrounding communities due to the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. We know that this will impact us,” Heaton said. “Take a look at the town of Escalante, Utah, and look over the last 20 years at the school numbers; look at how many people were forced to leave the area as they no longer could provide for themselves or their families.”

Joining Kanab in the stance against the monument are the Utah-Arizona border towns of Hildale and Colorado City. Hildale Councilman Lawrence Barlow said in a June 7 meeting that the area holds a notable historical economic trade route that comes through the Arizona Strip area.

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