Provide an aerial tour to Tribal leaders from the Hopi, Navajo, and Shivwits Band of Paiutes Tribes, and US leaders including Senator Gallego and Senator Kelly's staffers.
Flying over this newly designated landscape offered a rare and powerful perspective on a region that holds immense ecological, cultural, and spiritual value. As you saw, the monument stretches across vast, rugged terrain nestled between Grand Staircase-Escalante, Vermilion Cliffs, Pipe Spring National Monuments and the Grand Canyon national Park and Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument. From above, the views were stunning - and on the ground, they tell stories written in rock and carried through generations.
This landscape is laced with ancestral footprints in the form of petroglyphs, pictographs, rock shelters, and ceremonial sites. It protects sacred lands, springs, hunting grounds, and migration routes that remain vital to the Hopi, Havasupai, Hualapai, Navajo Nation, Paiute, Yavapai-Apache, and many other Tribal nations. The protection of this monument honors not just the land, but the deep cultural connections that persist through time.
Ecologically, the monument is a haven for wildlife and rare species. From the endangered California condor soaring on thermals to pronghorn, pinyon jay, burrowing owl, golden eagle, and the ancient Brady’s pincushion cactus - it’s a living mosaic of desert biodiversity. The varied landscapes, from Shinarump cliffs to desert washes, support fragile ecosystems that are increasingly under threat from mineral extraction. This monument status expands the buffer of conserved lands around the Grand Canyon region and ensures a broader network of contiguous protections across this remote and breathtaking region.
