Grand Canyon Closed Until Further Notice


Written by: Emily Feltner

Thehill.com



           We all know that things have been pretty hectic with COVID-19 running amuck through the world. There have been many closures with uncertain reopen dates. With this being a global pandemic, it is affecting every single person on the planet, not excluding the Native American tribes and reserves across our great nation.
       
    With the US Department of the interior having jurisdiction over the National Parks, they decided to make the call on Wednesday April 1st to close the Grand Canyon until further notice. Tribe members of the Navajo supporting the decision.
“The Department of the Interior and the National Park Services will continue to follow the guidance of the state and local health officials in making determinations about our operations…”  claim made by the Interior secretary David Bernhardt. Bernhardt also stated, “As soon as we received the letter from the Health and Human Services director and chief recommending the closure of the Grand Canyon, we closed immediately”.
Navajo people are located on the east rim on the Grand Canyon. As of now the Navajo people have reported 214 positive COVID-19 cases. They had begged the US Department of Interior to close off the east rim if not the whole spread of the Grand Canyon way before they actually decided to
close the park.  People of the Navajo also “pleaded” with federal government to allow them to close off tourist access to the park to limit the contact between outsiders and the Navajo people. Jonathan Nez (Navajo Nation President) spoke with Government representatives prior to the 214 cases. At the time the Navajo had 174 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus and several deaths. After being dismissed the case number climbed another 40 people before they decided to finally listen.
 “The closure of the park took longer than it should’ve, but we’re glad it’s finally closed” (Nez 2020).

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/17/grand-canyon-uranium-mining-havasupai-tribe-water-source
Another tribe that lies outside the boundaries of the National Park (the Havasupai Tribe) closed its attractions way before the Grand Canyon closed. They closed off their reservation on March 16th with plans to stay closed until April 14th being the absolute earliest, they would plan on re-opening the reservation. Tribal Chairwoman Eva Kissoon stated, “The health can safety of the many tourist who visit as well as our tribal members, employees and consultants is very important  to us”(Kissoon 2020),  when asked why they closed off the reservation as early as they did when being compared to the National Park closure.
With the park being closed to outsiders, the park wants potential visitors to know that there are many other resources one can take to still see the Grand Canyon while still practicing the “Stay at Home Order”. One option is by taking a virtual tour through the canyon. Not to mention the use of webcams, photo galleries, videos shared by others, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and finally Twitter.
COVID-19 is pretty prominent in the state of Arizona, with the overall cases in the state at 1,598 confirmed, 22,709 total patients tested (both private and state), with a grand total of 32 deaths as of April 2, 2020. With there being other native tribes in Arizona other than the Navajo, I feel as though I should mention the others. Gila River Indian Community, as well as the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community with one case each. I assume there are other tribes that are more fortunate and having no cases, at least tested confirmed cases.
The Grand Canyon isn’t the only thing closed until further notice. As of April 1, 2020, the Yavapai Nation tribal council decided to extend its closure of its casino (We-Ko-Pa Casino) through
   https://www.wekoparesortandconferencecenter.com/
April 30, 2020. A positive note, the tribe has agreed to pay the workers benefits while being closed for operations.                                                                       
            With conditions from the CDC projecting things to get much worse before things get better and back to a sense of normalcy, I think it is important to touch base with people around the world to see how they are accommodating the novel virus, as well as what precautions they’re taking. With numbers rising, at least nationwide, the question is posed to how much longer things will remain closed to the public or what else the USA will consider closing next.

https://www.nature.com/collections/hajgidghjb



Sources:
By: abc15.com staff. “Coronavirus in Arizona: Tracking Latest Cases, COVID-19 Updates in Arizona.” KNXV, 2 Apr. 2020, www.abc15.com/news/state/coronavirus-in-arizona-tracking-latest-cases-covid-19-updates-in-arizona.

Robert. “Grand Canyon Is Closed Until Further Notice; Impacted Tribes Support Closure.” Native News Online, 2 Apr. 2020, nativenewsonline.net/currents/grand-canyon-is-closed-until-further-notice-impacted-tribes-support-closure/.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Continuum of Hawaiian Sovereignty

Image
  Written by: Natalie Wilson Photo description: “In August 2019,  the Makaliʻi ’Ohana—based on Hawaiʻi island but with ties around the world—brought offerings and sung songs in honor of the Mauna and all who stand to protect her.” Photo credit: Kapulei Flores. Retrieved from “A New Documentary Centers Protest, Poetry, and the Fight for Native Hawaiian Sovereignty” Vogue. 19 February 2021. https://www.vogue.com/article/this-is-the-way-we-rise-documentary-protest-poetry-mauna-kea-hawaii “We are not American!” This is the cry heard across generations of Native Hawaiians; from Haunani-Kay Trask at the 1993 commemoration of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian government to Jamaica Osorio facing off against police at protests to protect Mauna Kea nearly thirty years later, echoing down a violent history of oppression and cultural erasure in Hawaii. [1] The government of the Hawaiian Kingdom was illegally overthrown by white colonizers in the 1890s, an act which President Grover C...
Read more

The Lost Autonomy of the Mapuche Peoples

Image
Written by: Summer Lake After decades of war, assimilation tactics, and terrorism towards the Mapuche peoples of South America, they have finally been able to take legal action against the governments of Chile and Argentina. About 1.5 million Mapuches live in Chile, and 200,000 in Argentina (Youkee. 2019). This year, representatives of the “Mapuche people have petitioned the international criminal court (ICC) to take action against the governments of Chile and Argentina for acts of genocide and crimes against humanity” (Youkee. 2019). The representative leading the discussion, Lonko Juana Calfunao, was quoted saying “the Chilean army with the complicity of the Catholic church, invaded our territory, burned our [homes], killing our people and drowning babies in the rivers” (Youkee. 2019). This is a very serious issue, and even a quick Google search of “Mapuche Chile Conflict” immediately shows headlines of police brutality, injured citizens, and legal battles.   The Map...
Read more

The Land Grab of Bears Ear National Monument

Image
Author : Sarah A. Bears Ears National Monument is an area located in southeastern Utah which is sacred to at least five Native Tribes; the Hopi, Navajo, Uintah and Ouray Ute, Ute Mountain Ute and the Pueblo of Zuni. Former President Obama made it a National Monument in 2016 to protect the site, as National Monuments are lands that are protected from development by law. Each monument has its own specific restrictions, however. For Bears Ears, federal rules forbid new mining and drilling, but allows the interior department to continue to issue things such as cattle grazing leases. When Obama issued it as a National Monument, the acreage was cut down from 1.9 million acres to 1.35 million acres as a compromise that his supporters said was needed to protect 100,000 objects of archaeological significance, including grave sites, ceremonial grounds, ancient cliff dwellings, as well as their surrounding ecosystem. This acreage cut however, is not nearly as bad as the cut that current pre...
Read more