Biden to Designate Nearly a Million Acres in Grand Canyon as National Monument

Biden has designated vast swaths of land in the Grand Canyon area as protected even as the move is termed as jeopardizing America’s uranium fuel security.

President Joe Biden speaks at a proclamation signing ceremony in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House in Washington on July 25, 2023. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden will be designating a portion of land in the Grand Canyon region as a national monument and limiting mining in the area—a move criticized as jeopardizing America’s uranium fuel security.

On Tuesday, Mr. Biden is expected to sign a proclamation establishing the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona. This will be the fifth national monument established by Mr. Biden. The monument “will conserve nearly 1 million acres of public lands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. The new monument protects thousands of cultural and sacred sites that are precious to Tribal Nations in the Southwest,” an Aug. 8 White House fact sheet says.