Interior Secretary Deb Haaland paid unannounced visits to the Grand Canyon and several northern Arizona tribes over the weekend, ending with what the agency said was the first-ever visit of a sitting Interior Secretary to Supai in the Havasupai Tribe's lands on the Canyon's floor.
The visit's goal was to learn more about a proposed national monument advocated by tribes to protect lands around the Grand Canyon.
Haaland had accepted an invitation to the Canyon from Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz. after an April 11 news conference hosted by him and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. where they and tribal leaders called on President Joe Biden to create a new national monument in the region where a mining ban currently exists...