A highly controversial proposal that would bring hotels, an RV Park, a convenience store, and a tram to the eastern end of the Grand Canyon may have a hearing before the Navajo Nation Council as early as October.
Confluence Partners of Scottsdale, Arizona, has proposed building a “Navajo Discovery Land” above the canyon rim just upstream from the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers, along with the aerial tram to the canyon bottom. The tourist attraction would sit on 420 acres of tribal lands outside the national park. The Arizona Republic reports Council Delegate Benjamin Bennett of Fort Defiance has introduced legislation including $65 million in tribal funding for infrastructure to support the development. Following a brief comment period, council committees will review the proposal, which must garner a two-thirds council majority to pass. Supporters say the development would bring thousands of jobs to a portion of the Navajo Nation that is economically depressed following a decades-long construction moratorium, the so-called Bennett Freeze, caused by a land dispute with the Hopi tribe. Opponents, who include numerous river and conservation groups and a Navajo group called Save the Confluence, say the development would forever alter the stark beauty of a pristine wilderness. They also say it would take the Navajo Nation a long time to pay off the $65 million before profiting from the project.
