Brandon Loomis

The Republic | azcentral.com

Plan envisions hotels, tram on Grand Canyon edge

Developer says it will bring thousands of jobs

Opponents call project an 'obnoxious' intrusion into the canyon

A controversial plan to develop tourist attractions including a tram into the Grand Canyon will have its hearing before Navajo Nation lawmakers.

A Navajo Council member introduced legislation this week to approve the long-debated Grand Canyon Escalade project, complete with hotels above the Canyon rim and a tram to the Little Colorado River just upstream from its confluence with the Colorado.

The legislation also proposes $65 million in tribal development funds for roads and other needed improvements.

Scottsdale-based developer Confluence Partners pitched the plan as a big job creator for a largely jobless corner of the reservation. It's on Grand Canyon National Park's eastern edge, on a part of the reservation where a land dispute with the Hopi Tribe caused federal officials to place a moratorium on development for 40 years.

"I can't think of a more deserving spot in the country than these folks, who get overlooked all the time by government officials and politicians," Confluence Partners managing partner Lamar Whitmer said.

The tram also would give people who can't hike, ride mules or boat into the canyon "a below-the-rim experience" without overwhelming the larger wilderness, he argued.

GRAND CANYON ESCALADE SERIES: Part I: Controversial proposal | Part II: Defending sacred land | Part III: A complicated land dispute | Part IV: Will project really bring jobs to the reservation?

Critics call project 'industrial tourism'

Over the past five years the plan has worried the National Park Service, national environmental groups and a Navajo opposition group called Save the Confluence.

They argue that the tram endangers the serenity of river rafters and a sacred site, where the rivers meet just inside the national park boundary and where Navajo tradition holds that the tribe emerged into the world.

The developers and their supporters have taken their case to the tribal government instead of to the sheepherders who don't want to be displaced, area resident and Save the Confluence spokeswoman Renae Yellowhorse said.

"They have never expressed respect for the traditional, customary land users," Yellowhorse said.

Neighbors are "greatly disappointed that it (legislation) has come to the Navajo Nation" after years of conflict dividing residents of the tribe's Bodaway/Gap Chapter.

American Rivers is among the regional and national groups opposing Escalade, which it has labeled "industrial tourism." Last year, in an annual list of most-endangered rivers, the group reserved the top spot for the Colorado in large part because of the development proposal.

American Rivers spokesman Sinjin Eberle called the tram plan an "obnoxious" intrusion into the canyon, and rejected Whitmer's case that allowing everyone a chance at the Canyon floor is a matter of fairness.

"What's wrong with sitting on the edge of the Canyon — which literally anyone can do — and enjoying the splendor of the place in a quiet, contemplative manner?" Eberle said.

He acknowledged that the 420-acre development would be "a blip" in the wilderness, "but it's the idea.

"Is that how we want to treat our national parks? Do we want to turn them into amusement parks?"

Proponents: Up to 1,000 jobs possible

Navajo Council Delegate Benjamin Bennett, of Fort Defiance, introduced the legislation, starting a five-day public comment period before council committees begin their reviews. The issue could come before the whole council in an October session, and would require a two-thirds majority to win approval.

Bennett did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

A brief submitted with the legislation anticipates up to 1,000 jobs at a proposed "Navajo Discovery Land" above the Canyon rim, and hundreds more at hotels, an RV park and a convenience store.

It also envisions millions of dollars a year in franchise fees to the tribe, though Eberle challenged that assertion and said whatever money comes in would have to repay the $65 million development fund for years.

After more than five years of trying to advance the project, Whitmer said, the development partners are "happy to have the legislation going before the representatives of the Navajo people."

Yellowhorse said her area needs jobs, but on its own terms.

"As far as economic development?" she said. "The ideas should come from the people, not outsiders intent on profiting over people."

The council has ultimate authority over developments on the reservation, but the plan could face lawsuits by local herders and by the Hopi Tribe, which also considers the area sacred. The National Park Service also could step in where the tram is concerned, as it has disputed whether its boundary with the reservation is at the river or at the cliff.