Grand Canyon faces challenge of development

Opinion

Grand Canyon faces challenge of development

Developer proposes tram to sacred site at river bottom
A sacred place to several Native American tribes, the confluence of the Little Colorado and the Colorado rivers is also the spot where John Wesley Powell in 1869 felt that he truly began his journey into Grand Canyon. Today, a developer is aiming to establish a tram system that could bring 4,000 visitors a day to an elevated walkway adjacent to the confluence.
The turquoise blue waters of the Little Colorado are a stunning revelation as they mingle with the normally dark brown or green waters of the Colorado River. Thousands of river visitors each year frolic in the light blue currents.
The bottom of the Grand Canyon is synonymous around the world with wilderness but now there are plans to pierce that isolation with a tram system and resort labeled The Confluence Project. One of the key issues is the location of the legal boundary between Grand Canyon National Park and the Navajo Nation.
A swimmer gives the thumbs up sign as he plays like an otter in the many pools of the Little Colorado River. National Park Service staff members fear a proposed tram to the bottom of the Grand Canyon will forever alter the visitor experience of those who arrive by boat or raft.
Probably the most iconic place in America, Grand Canyon is now threatened by a developer who wants to build a resort on nearby Navajo land and penetrate the canyon with a tram to the Little Colorado River.
President Theodore Roosevelt, standing on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in 1903, said it was the one great spot that all Americans should visit and that we should “protect it for our children, and our children’s children, and all who will come after.”
A rainstorm moves into the bottom of Grand Canyon. Another storm is brewing atop the canyon as a developer plans to build a tram system down into the heart of the canyon at the confluence of the Little Colorado and the Colorado Rivers.

Grand Canyon faces challenge of development

A sacred place to several Native American tribes, the confluence of the Little Colorado and the Colorado rivers is also the spot where John Wesley Powell in 1869 felt that he truly began his journey into Grand Canyon. Today, a developer is aiming to establish a tram system that could bring 4,000 visitors a day to an elevated walkway adjacent to the confluence.
The turquoise blue waters of the Little Colorado are a stunning revelation as they mingle with the normally dark brown or green waters of the Colorado River. Thousands of river visitors each year frolic in the light blue currents.
The bottom of the Grand Canyon is synonymous around the world with wilderness but now there are plans to pierce that isolation with a tram system and resort labeled The Confluence Project. One of the key issues is the location of the legal boundary between Grand Canyon National Park and the Navajo Nation.
A swimmer gives the thumbs up sign as he plays like an otter in the many pools of the Little Colorado River. National Park Service staff members fear a proposed tram to the bottom of the Grand Canyon will forever alter the visitor experience of those who arrive by boat or raft.
Probably the most iconic place in America, Grand Canyon is now threatened by a developer who wants to build a resort on nearby Navajo land and penetrate the canyon with a tram to the Little Colorado River.
President Theodore Roosevelt, standing on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in 1903, said it was the one great spot that all Americans should visit and that we should “protect it for our children, and our children’s children, and all who will come after.”
A rainstorm moves into the bottom of Grand Canyon. Another storm is brewing atop the canyon as a developer plans to build a tram system down into the heart of the canyon at the confluence of the Little Colorado and the Colorado Rivers.