Climate Point: Ancestral footprints monument covers thousands of sacred sites
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and environment news. I'm Janet Wilson from Palm Springs, California. Wide open spaces once defined the American West, and this week, two iconic areas received likely long-lasting protections.
The first is a new national monument wrapped around the Grand Canyon, thanks to a declaration signed this week by President Joe Biden. The Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints monument will actually protect thousands of sites revered by Southwestern tribes. Its name comes from the Havasupai words for “where Indigenous peoples roam,” and the Hopi words for “our ancestral footprints.”
Biden chose Red Butte, a distinctive Arizona mountain, to announce the new monument, turning a spotlight on one of the most sacred sites of the Havasu 'Baaja, or People of the Blue-Green Water, writes Deb Utacia Krol with the Arizona Republic.
Wii'l Gdwiisa, or "Clenched Fist Mountain," stretches more than 1,000 feet over a high plateau about 12 miles south of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. To the Havasupai it is the abdomen of Mother Earth and nearby Mat Taav Tiivjunmdva, a meadow about 3 miles north, is her navel.
The Havasupai once inhabited an expanse of more than 1.6 million acres in and around what is now Grand Canyon National Park, but the U.S. established a reservation of just 518 acres in 1882 for the tribe. They and 12 other ara tribes suffered further in 1919 when Grand Canyon National Park was established, say Krol. The rest of the nation hailed the decision, but the Havasupai mourned as they were evicted from lands they had lived and prayed on for millennia.
The Havasupai have long fought to regain some control and to protect them from overuse and mineral extraction. The designation makes permanent a 2012 moratorium on new uranium claims. But grazing leases and hunting, fishing and recreational access will remain.
The new monument is drawing criticism, writes Brandon Loomis. Although existing mineral claims also won't be shut down, Energy Fuels, Inc., a company operating Pinyon Plain Mine said the administration’s opposition to uranium mining in the region harms America’s nuclear energy industry and the larger effort to create carbon-free energy.
“These small, highly protective mines that contain lots of carbon-free energy should be celebrated, not vilified,” Energy Fuels spokesman Curtis Moore said. “We implore people to follow the science.”
The Biden administration also announced it would spend $44 million to strengthen climate resilience across the national parks system. "America's natural wonders are our nation's heart and soul," the president said.
Wild stretches of Ventura County, California's coastline also gained protection this week, with more than two miles of rugged bluffs purchased by the Trust for Public Land, writes Cheri Carlson. The ultimate aim is turn over the property, which boasts untrammeled views of the Pacific Ocean, to the National Park Service to become part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
The spot was believed to be the largest swath of undisturbed coastline between the U.S.-Mexico border and Santa Barbara available for sale, officials said. Undisturbed native vegetation covers more than 95% of the property, which climbs quickly from the beach to steep hillsides with 360-degree views.
Those bluffs could prove critical, as waves and surf along the California coast grow bigger and taller because of global warming, per a new study. USA Today's Doyle Rice writes that winter wave heights along the Golden State have risen by nearly a foot since 1970. And surf of at least 13 feet is becoming more common off the coast as the climate warms.
While this could be good news for surfers, the bigger waves could lead to additional flooding and erosion along California’s coast, which is already threatened by accelerating sea-level rise.
Gardeners, want a better backyard habitat? Moths could help if you treat them well, and who knew there are 15 times as many species of moths in the U.S. as there are butterflies? But they're suffering depredation too, particularly in the Midwest. Joseph Dits with the South Bend Tribune has a lovely and informative piece on Indiana biologists researching how to save increasingly rare night flutterers, and boost your garden diversity.
Read on for more coverage of the environment from across the Paste BN Network, including why deep sea mining is on hold, forgotten grasslands, and how the world is inching toward five tipping points. For stories requiring a subscription, sign up and get access to all eNewspapers in the Paste BN network. If someone forwarded you this email and you'd like to receive Climate Point in your inbox for free once a week, sign up here.