More than a decade of campaigning by Native nations led to the creation of a new national monument
The Biden-Zone Natural Monument: Preserving Native American Spiral Sites in the Grand Canyon with Uranium Mines
The new national monument in Arizona that President Biden is announcing today is primarily aimed at protecting Native American sacred sites on just fewer than a million acres of federally owned land. It’s a reflection of his administration prioritizing goals of America’s indigenous peoples.
In the Grand Canyon, tribal nations and conservationists have been calling for additional protections in the area for years, as KNAU’s Ryan Heinsius has reported.
sacred and culturally important sites are at risk due to the dangers of uranium mining according to the Havasupai.
We are now a group of native Americans, with our historical sites and sacred places. Everything else has been taken from us, our original homelands, our sacred places.” The coordination of the Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition was done by Carletta Tilousi.
Not surprisingly, the uranium industry has opposed restrictions on mining in the area for years. They say they can mine significant reserves around the Grand Canyon and not have a huge impact on the land.
The White House and the Tribal Coalition in Support of a New Uranium Resource Conservation Measurement in the Interior Department of the Grand Canyon
But the Biden administration has been very open to Native peoples’ concerns. The Interior Secretary who is Indigenous is Deb Haaland. She put the region’s tribes in control of the current version of the monument proposal, which is in line with what the tribal coalition has been requesting.
A lot has changed over time, according to Moore. “We know a lot more about how to mine uranium responsibly. The Grand Canyon is a national treasure and we want to protect it as much as possible.
Moore says it’s important to develop a domestic uranium supply because Russia and former Soviet republics supply nearly half of all U.S. nuclear fuel now.
The White House says the land inside the new monument has less than 2% of the known uranium reserves in the U.S. and that there’s plenty of uranium elsewhere.
There are thousands of sacred and cultural sites near the Grand Canyon that are important to more than a dozen tribes, according to the president.
The Grand Canyon’s north and south rim will be included in the new monument. The ponderosa pine forest, which is at an elevation of 8,000 feet above sea level, is to the north and south of the park. Outside of the park there is a section of desert landscape that’s being protected. It is an area that contains many seeps and springs that feed the river.
Biden in Utah and New Mexico: What’s Happening in the West? A Secretary of State to the US Department of Interior and Natural Resources
Biden will be in Utah and New Mexico next Tuesday to make a case for how he is tackling the climate and economic challenges faced by Americans in the West.
A recent statewide poll showed broad support for the proposal, though local ranchers who have worked the land for generations have concerns. Senior administration officials told reporters that the national monument designation does not affect existing mining claims and supports private property rights.
She stated that the lands would be protected as a place of healing and a source of spiritual sustenance. It will help ensure that these areas are used for religious ceremonies, hunting and gathering of plants, medicines and other materials, not to mention that some items are found nowhere else on earth. objects of historic and scientific importance will be protected for the benefit of tribes, the public and future generations.
The new national monument will be called Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument. The coalition says the name “Baaj Nwaavjo” means “where tribes roam” in Havasupai and that the name “I’atahn Kukven” means “our ancestral footprints” in Hopi.
Biden’s Western swing is about more than preservation. Many Americans don’t know what the administration has done, so this is about emphasizing what the administration has already done.
Asked whether this week’s trip is about advertising accomplishments, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, “We’re going to continue to do our jobs and continue to talk about it … The hope is that we’ll get our message out.
She said support would continue to build for the president as the legislation is implemented around the country. “We’ll see, I think, Americans start to feel and see what it is that we have been able to do in Washington, D.C.”
Up First Briefing: Biden’s Grand Canyon National Monument; Health Tips from Japan. New FDA Guidelines for Gay and Bisexual Men to Donate Blood
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Ohioans head to the ballots today to decide whether to make it harder to change the state’s constitution. The threshold of approval for future amendments need to be raised to at least 60 percent. The outcome of today’s vote would affect a November vote on a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights. Statehouse news bureau.
Gay and bisexual men can donate blood according to new guidelines adopted by the American Red Cross. The FDA guidelines focus on individual risk factors instead of sexual orientation, as implemented by the organization. The new rules apply to anyone who has had new or multiple new partners in the last three months and has participated in anal sex.
Source: Up First Briefing: Biden’s Grand Canyon national monument; health tips from Japan.
A Times Square Spikes Back: The Case of Poet Mustafa Zaidi in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1970
NPR’s Yuki Noguchi was born and raised in the Midwest and often visits her family’s homeland in Japan. There, she’s struck by the amount of delicious, fresh food available. While Japan and the U.S. are both wealthy, industrialized cities, they have vastly different obesity levels. Noguchi looks into how Japanese society makes healthy living easier:
Poet Mustafa Zaidi’s death in Karachi, Pakistan in 1970 triggered a media frenzy. At the time, it was reported as a love affair gone bad — Zaidi was embroiled in a public affair with socialite Shehnaz Gul. Both were married to other people. NPR’s Diaa Hadid talks to two authors who reexamined the case in a true crime podcast. There was a disturbing story that was uncovered when the team of Tooba Masood and Saba Imtiaz brought life to the city in the 60s and 70s.
US President Joe Biden has designated a national monument in Arizona’s Grand Canyon where he said, “The Grand Canyon is a national treasure and we want to protect it…as much as possible.” The monument will be called Baaj Nwaavjo I’tahveni Grand Canyon National Monument. The White House said the land inside the new monument has less than 2% of the known uranium reserves in the US.