The controversial Tusayan development project, proposed in 2010 by Italian developer, Stilo Group, wanted to construct about 2,200 housing units, hotels, restaurants, a spa, and “an entertainment pavilion based on Native American themes” in an undeveloped part of the tiny town of Tusayan, Arizona.
The project would have been about a mile south of Grand Canyon National park at Kotzin Ranch, a 160-acre parcel about a mile northwest of the town of Tusayan. The town wasn’t incorporated until 2010, and with a population of around 558 people living on a land area of 144 square acres, it is the smallest town in Arizona.
All hell broke loose when the town of Tusayan applied for a road easement to the site of the proposed development. More than 200,000 letters and emails flooded into the Kaibab National Forest ranger headquarters opposing the development and the easement.
While a host of local and national environmental groups opposed the plan, from the Grand Canyon Trust to the Sierra Club, many were specific in their concerns. For example, there was the issue of water and its availability. Roger Clark, the director of the Grand Canyon program for the Grand Canyon Trust was concerned about where the water for the development was supposed to come from.
“Tusayan gets its water from springs that are part of the national park’s watershed,” said Clark. He pointed out that those springs are already over-tapped, and the development would also disrupt wildlife, create traffic congestion, and cause damage to Native American sacred sites.
Advocates of the development project cite the boost to the town’s economy such a project would bring, and of course, the developers stress that everything would be done to not disrupt the environment or the Grand Canyon’s diverse ecosystem. But no one has apparently looked at what has happened in other areas when development was allowed to go forward despite the environmental threats and risks.
Rejection of the Tusayan project
In a letter addressed to the mayor of Tusayan, Kaibab Forest Supervisor Heather Provencio wrote the USFS had rejected the easement proposal by the town because not only would it “stress local and park infrastructure and have untold impacts to the surrounding Tribal and National Park lands, [but it’s] deeply controversial [and] is opposed by local and national communities.”
She concluded, “There is significant evidence the proposal is not in the public interest.”
According to USFS documents, during the public comment period, “the Forest Service received 2,447 unique comment letters, 85,693 form letters, two petitions with 105,698 signatures, and 86 other comments. After the close of the initial formal scoping period, the Forest Service received over 35,000 additional comment letters. The vast majority of comments opposed the Forest Service authorizing the proposed roads and infrastructure.”
The second threat to the Grand Canyon
There is another proposal in the works called the Escalade, a gondola tramway that would take visitors from the rim of the canyon to the bottom. This project was dealt a serious blow last year after the election of a new chief of the Navajo nation.
The Escalade project was conceived by R. Lamar Whitmer, a Scottsdale, Arizona, developer. He and his partners were working with the Navajo nation to build a billion-dollar development with hotels, restaurants, shops, and a Navajo cultural center on the East rim of the canyon, 30 miles from the nearest highway. But then came the tribal elections.
The incoming Navajo President Russell Begaye and Navajo Vice President Jonathan Nez have both made strong public statements opposing the Escalade project in the canyon.
Revered yet vulnerable
Just how far will we go to bring nature closer, make it easier to view, or touch? There has been a lot of discussion on leaving the environment alone, leaving wildlife as it is, and in turn, leaving the wild places left on Earth to evolve as time and nature intended. The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Everglades and many other National Parks are in danger of man’s greed and ignorance.
And while everyone is celebrating a victory, of sorts over the rejection of the Tusayan proposal, bear in mind that the USFS did not close the door fully on the town’s project. That is the scary part the headlines don’t mention.
