TUSAYAN, Ariz. (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his visit to Arizona on Tuesday to formally announce a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon, making Native American tribes’ and environmentalists’ decades-long vision to preserve the land a reality.
Biden is expected to announce plans for a new national monument to preserve about 1,562 square miles (4,046 square kilometers) just outside Grand Canyon National Park, national climate adviser Ali Zaidi confirmed. It will mark the Democratic president’s fifth monument designation.
Tribes in Arizona have been pushing Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create a new national monument called Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni. “Baaj Nwaavjo” means “where tribes roam,” for the Havasupai people, while “I’tah Kukveni” translates to “our footprints,” for the Hopi tribe...