You are standing on the edge of the Kaibab Monocline, gazing into Grand Canyon and beyond. The Bears Ears, Hopi Mesas, and the San Francisco Peaks (Nuva’tukya’ovi) are only an infinitesimal of what the Colorado Plateau holds. This is home to a myriad of plants, animals, and people, cultural history and resources. This diverse and interdependent living organism has a long and toxic history of being ravaged by uranium mining. Hundreds of abandoned uranium mines still litter the Grand Canyon region and Navajo Nation, continuing to contaminate land and water. 

In 2012, in response to a spike in uranium prices that triggered 10,000 new mining claims around the Grand Canyon, the secretary of the interior placed a 20-year ban on all new mining claims on 1 million acres of federal land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. And, in 2016, President Barak Obama, established Bears Ears National Monument, protecting another 1.2 million acres of culturally rich land in southeastern Utah. In 2017, President Trump ruthlessly eviscerated Bears Ears National Monument by 85%. Then, a few days later, he slashed the 1.8 million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (established by President Clinton in 1996) by 47%, making these sacred lands once again vulnerable to mining, drilling, logging and irresponsible off-roading. In 2018, two executive orders from the Trump administration renewed interest in uranium, undermining the 20 year ban on new mining claims in and around Grand Canyon. This is only one of hundreds of examples, of how this current administration, in the short-sighted service of the fossil fuel industry, continues to commit cultural and ecological genocide across our sacred lands and treasured National Parks and Monuments. 

We as individuals must do our part and make our voices heard, we must VOTE and make choices every day that reduce our own carbon-footprint. This is our land, this is our home, this is Our Only One.

For more information and how you can help please visit: www.grandcanyontrust.org

Original painting and signed & numbered archival prints available.

Please contact Erica directly.