The Biden administration announced yesterday that they will conserve almost one million acres of the greater Grand Canyon landscape to protect it from toxic uranium mining.

The Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Paiute, Navajo, Yavapai-Apache, Zuni, and Colorado River Indian Tribes have a sacred ancestral relationship to the lands and resources in the canyon, where the Havasupai people still live to this day. This law protects the sacred land, wildlife, and the Colorado River from toxic uranium mineral production.

The Grand Canyon will now be preserved for the Tribal Nations and the millions who have come to the Grand Canyon to reconnect with the beauty of the natural world. The Tribes who led this struggle have carried out their responsibilities to this sacred place.

Native Organizers Alliance commits to continuing our efforts to support Tribal Nations and Native communities as they stand for all who believe we must defend the beauty and health of natural landscapes and sacred places.

Through a joint effort with partner organizations, 46,801 letters to members of the House and the Senate In support of the permanent protection of the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.

This victory is a reflection of the grassroots political power of Tribal Nations, environmentalists, and conservationists, Native and non-Native. This is unity in action for the good of Mother Earth.