The Grand Canyon Regional Intertribal Intergenerational Stewardship Expedition (RIISE) is accepting applications from young people ages 16-20 who identify as members of one of the associated Native American tribes of the Grand Canyon.
Resource Issue: Water
Native voices share their personal and cultural connections to the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.
Native voices — sheepherders, scientists, educators, farmers, artists, and activists — share their personal and cultural connections to the Little Colorado River, from its headwaters to the Grand Canyon
Native voices share their personal and cultural connections to the Little Colorado River in this collection of stories.
Scientists developed this dashboard to help explain mine shaft flooding at Canyon uranium mine and heavy metal levels in water pumped out of the mine shaft.
Heavy metals, including uranium, arsenic, and lead in floodwater at Canyon uranium mine, renamed Pinyon Plain Mine.
In late 2016, miners at Canyon Mine (subsequently renamed Pinyon Plain Mine) near Grand Canyon National Park pierced groundwater and water began rushing into the mine shaft. Since then, more than 66 million gallons of water containing high levels of heavy metals including uranium, arsenic, and lead have been pumped out of the mine into […]
Canyon Mine, also known as Pinyon Plain Mine, a uranium mine located near Grand Canyon, continues to flood with water.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE White Mesa, UT—Bills of lading recently uncovered in a shipping database reveal that Energy Fuels Resources imported more than 275,000 pounds of radioactive materials from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The materials appear to have been trucked to the company’s controversial White Mesa uranium mill, a mile from Bears Ears National Monument […]
The rules for managing the Colorado River expire at the end of 2026. There isn’t enough water in the Colorado River to go around. New rules are desperately needed to sustain the river for people and the environment. Learn about current water use in the Colorado River Basin › Download the two-page PDF ›
Below Glen Canyon Dam, nonnative fish like smallmouth bass are threatening imperiled humpback chub in the Grand Canyon. Get the facts.
Completed in 1963, Glen Canyon Dam was designed to operate with a full reservoir behind it. But climate change and rising demand of water across the thirsty West are shrinking Lake Powell. It’s time to address the dam’s design flaws. Learn more about the future of Glen Canyon Dam › Download the 2-page PDF ›
On May 20, 2024, the Grand Canyon Trust submitted comments on the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s proposed rulemaking to update aquifer water-quality standards that are out of compliance with Arizona law. As of that date, the state of Arizona had no aquifer water quality standard for uranium, for example. The Trust urged state regulators, […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PHOENIX, AZ – Conservation groups filed a motion to intervene yesterday in defense of President Biden’s designation of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona. The Arizona legislature and others filed lawsuits in February attempting to overturn the monument designation and attacking the Antiquities […]
On April 25, 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied the preliminary permit application for the Big Canyon Pumped Storage Project, which would have dammed Big Canyon, a tributary canyon to the Little Colorado River Gorge, mere miles from Grand Canyon National Park. Big Canyon Pumped Storage Project Read the denial › See a map […]
See a map of proposed hydropower dams on the Navajo Nation.
See a map of past coal strip-mining on Black Mesa, along with proposed pumped storage hydroelectric dam projects.
On March 22, 2024, the Grand Canyon Trust submitted comments on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Glen Canyon Dam Long-term Experimental and Management Plan. Reclamation proposed revising the 2016 Record of Decision for the Long-term Experimental and Management Plan to modify releases from Glen Canyon Dam to prevent […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Flagstaff, AZ — The Grand Canyon Regional Intertribal Intergenerational Stewardship Expedition (RIISE) is accepting applications from young people ages 16-20 who identify as members of one of the associated tribes of the Grand Canyon for its third annual free nine-day Colorado River rafting trip through the Grand Canyon July 15-23, 2024. Hosted by […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Flagstaff, AZ — The Grand Canyon Trust is now accepting applications for its 2024 LeaderShift Scholars program. Up to 12 LeaderShift scholars will be selected for a free nine-day immersive outdoor environmental justice advocacy training across the Colorado Plateau, August 10-18, 2024. LeaderShift scholarships include $150 stipends, meals, and transportation, with gear-lending available. […]
Tribes have formally opposed a dozen pumped storage hydroelectric projects proposed on or near Native lands. See a map.
See the proposed pumped storage hydroelectric projects on or near Native lands across the Colorado Plateau in this interactive map.
This map shows how much water proposed hydropower projects would require to initially fill reservoirs.
On December 11, 2023, the Grand Canyon Trust submitted comments on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Revised Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Near-term Colorado River Operations dated October 2023. Reclamation proposed to revise the 2007 Interim Guidelines for the operation of Glen Canyon and Hoover dams for the period between 2023 and 2026 for […]
On November 17, 2023, the Navajo Nation filed a motion to intervene in the preliminary permit proceeding for the proposed Western Navajo No. 2 hydropower project. According to the preliminary-permit application, the planned dam on the Navajo Nation would be located near Page, Arizona, and utilize water from Lake Powell. Read the motion › Download the […]
On October 31, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accepted an application by Nature and People First, a company organized by a French entrepreneur, for a preliminary permit for a proposed hydroelectric project called Chuska Mountain Pumped Storage Project on Navajo Nation land. According to the preliminary-permit application, the project would consist of seven reservoirs […]
A map of the cumulative depth of snow across the western U.S. during the 2022-2023 winter.
his graph shows the maximum flow recorded in the Colorado River below Glenwood Springs, Colorado, during the months of May, June, and July from 1999-2023.