A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon

by Kevin Fedarko

In the summer of 2023, Joe Biden traveled to northern Arizona to sign a presidential proclamation incorporating almost 1 million acres of public lands on both the north and south sides of the canyon into the country’s newest national monument. Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, which translates as “Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon,” may be difficult for many non-indigenous people to pronounce; but the name, a linguistic composite of both Havasupai and Hopi, symbolizes an effort to address a number of injustices connected with the forcible removal of Native Americans from land that later became part of the park. The monument, which now protects thousands of cultural and religious sites as well as a host of plants, animals, and springs that lie just beyond the formal borders of the park, stands as a victory for all of the tribes—although the ceremony itself held special significance for those who continue to call themselves “the guardians of the Grand Canyon.”