President Biden announced new monument at Red Butte. Here's why it is sacred to tribes

When President Joe Biden chose Red Butte, a distinctive mountain southeast of Tusayan to announce a new national monument Tuesday, he turned a spotlight on one of the most sacred sites of the Havasu 'Baaja, or People of the Blue-Green Water.

Wii'l Gdwiisa, or "Clenched Fist Mountain," stretches more than 1,000 feet over the high plateau about 12 miles south of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It is known to the Havasupai as the abdomen of Mother Earth. Red Butte, and nearby Mat Taav Tiivjunmdva, a meadow about 3 miles north of Red Butte close to the Canyon's South Rim, is her navel.

These are places of prayer for the Havasupai, who have long fought to regain some control over the places and to protect them from overuse and mineral extraction.

The Havasupai once inhabited an expanse of more than 1.6 million acres in and around what is now Grand Canyon National Park, including Red Butte and Mat Taav Tiivjunmdva. They grew crops and cared for orchards in the Havasu Canyon and other canyons during the summer, and journeyed up to the rim to hunt and locate other needed materials in the winter. They wove baskets for food storage; to tote and swaddle their infants; and for other purposes.

As settlers moved in and recognized the riches of the region, the Havasupai were pushed into smaller and smaller portions of their lands. Eventually, the U.S. established a reservation of just 518 acres in 1882 for the tribe.

More: Biden to designate a new national monument on sacred tribal lands near the Grand Canyon

The Havasupai, as well as the other 12 tribes with cultural and historic ties to the Canyon, suffered further in 1919 when Grand Canyon National Park was established. The rest of the nation hailed the decision, but the Havasupai mourned as they were evicted from the lands they had lived, loved and prayed on for millennia. The Hopi's place of emergence, Sipapu, is sited at the eastern end of the Canyon.

Later on, the remainder of their lands were swept into national forests and other public lands. Some was sold to private buyers.

Although the Havasupai eventually regained another 185,000 acres of its lands, they still were mainly barred from stewarding public lands, both within the national park and the Kaibab National Forest. The lands they once held and cared for were open to anybody, including mineral hunters and recreationists. Several mineral claims were established, as were campgrounds, forest roads and visitor infrastructure. While the Kolb brothers were allowed to live in their home on the edge of the South Rim, Havasupai people were barely tolerated.

The situation has improved in recent years as the National Park Service began engaging with the tribes who call the Canyon part of their homeland and religions.

Culture and history: Indigenous people find legal, cultural barriers to protect sacred spaces off tribal lands

But the Havasupai have continued to fight for their ancestral lands and the right to steward them. They're also concerned about keeping mine, especially uranium mines, off their ancestral lands. They're particularly worried that the one operational mine located just a few miles from Red Butte would contaminate the groundwater that feeds the eponymous creek with the blue-green waters that flows down to meet the ruddy waters of the Colorado River, rendering the water unsafe with uranium ore or the toxic materials used to leach the ore from the rock it's embedded in.

Former Havasupai Council Member Carletta Tilousi made a video explaining the lands' significance. "All this region here is originally our ancient territories," she said. "There's also burial sites and sweat lodges and archeological rock writings that are also in this area."

Havasupai people, as well as members of the other 12 tribes, have long advocated for greater protection of the lands surrounding the national park. In 2012, then-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued a ban on new mining claims in a 1.1-million-acre region to the west and south of the Canyon.

But the tribes and their environmental allies called for a national monument, which would extend more protection over the lands since an Arizona Republic investigation in 2020 found that federal laws frequently fall short of protecting tribal sacred sites and other culturally important areas.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, said during a press call Monday that the new Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument would rectify an injustice committed against Native peoples in the area.

"It will ensure that Indian people can use these lands for protection of sacred and important lands, protect important plants, some of which are found only in the area, and ensure that the lands will be protected for future generations." Haaland visited with tribes, including the Havasupai, in May.

The Biden administration took note of these and other requests from tribes. To date, Biden has restored the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument, which had been significantly reduced under the Trump administration, and established Avi Kwa Ame, a 506,000-acre monument, in March. That monument in southern Nevada was backed by not only 14 tribes but environmentalists, recreation companies and residents.

"We have a responsibility to take care of this place," Tilousi said. "That’s a very big responsibility for the Havasupai. That’s why we’re coming together and reaching out to the other tribes to protect this beautiful area."

Hiking to Havasupai: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland talks with Arizona tribes at the Grand Canyon

Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at debra.krol@azcentral.com. Follow her on Twitter at @debkrol.

Coverage of Indigenous issues at the intersection of climate, culture and commerce is supported by the Catena Foundation.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: President Biden declares new monument at Red Butte, a sacred space for tribes