Biden will tout long-sought Grand Canyon monument designation during Arizona visit

abcnews.go.com:

President Joe Biden will announce a new national monument to preserve land around Grand Canyon National Park and limit it from mining

PHOENIX — President Joe Biden will announce a new national monument to preserve land around Grand Canyon National Park and limit it from mining, White House officials said Monday.

White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi confirmed during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One that Biden will call for the designation during his visit to northern Arizona on Tuesday, making it his fifth national monument.

A dozen tribes “stepped up” and asked for this monument, Zaidi added.

Advocates for limiting mining around Grand Canyon National Park had expressed hope that this would be the reason behind the presidential visit.

Biden 's new national monument designation would preserve about 1,562 square miles (4,046 square kilometers) for future generations.

Representatives of various northern Arizona tribes have been invited to attend the president's remarks. Among them are Yavapai-Apache Nation Chairwoman Tanya Lewis, Colorado River Indian Tribes Chairwoman Amelia Flores, Navajo President Buu Nygren and Havasupai Tribal Councilwoman Dianna Sue White Dove Uqualla. Uqualla is part of a group of tribal dancers who will perform a blessing.

«It's really the uranium we don't want coming out of the ground because it's going to affect everything around us — the trees, the land, the animals, the people,» said Uqualla. «It's not going to stop.”

Nygren is on board with the new monument if it means protecting land for Navajo and other tribes. Uranium mining in particular left a legacy of death and disease on the Navajo Nation, where more than 500 mines that supported Cold War weaponry were abandoned and haven't been