Environmental Issues: Grand Canyon 4

The Air: Life Itself

“... The Chrome and Steel she rides colliding with the very air she breathes. …”
Neil Young Unknown Legend

Look At The Grand Canyon!

Or not. Some days, there is so much haze in the air from a nearby coal fired power plant that you can barely see from rim to rim. Seriously.

Photo courtesy of the author. Saddle Mountain is on the very northeast edge of the Park. The coal haze is apparent.

The Navajo Generating Station is less than 20 miles from the Grand Canyon and is considered one of the dirtiest power plants in the US. How can the Navajo Tribe do such a thing to the very place they consider the most sacred on earth? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms for the tribe that considers itself to be the stewarts of the Canyon?

Like everything else in and around Grand Canyon National Park, it’s complicated. The Navajo tribe has long been considered to be one of the poorest in the nation, particularly as measured by personal income.

Just after WWII the Navajo Reservation was found to hold a significant coal deposit. It was a way out of the crushing poverty that the tribe had lived in for 50 years. Mining and Power Generation were presented as a way to raise the income level for every tribal member. The tribe bought into it and allowed the project to proceed.

Photo courtesy of the author. Looking toward the confluence, the haze makes it an ordinarily useless view.

In all actuality, the tribe has nothing to do with the management of the power plant or the mining operation. In what turns out to be a naive decision, the tribe trusted the developers. So today, the NAVAJO Generating Station provides a blight on the Canyon.

The tribe has done what they can. The supply rail line from the mine to the plant is all electric. No pollution from the trains. The tribe has currently decided that when the leases expire the plant and mine will be shuttered. But it’s years in the future.

Cars Too

There are certain atmospheric conditions that can deliver Phoenix grade air to the Grand Canyon. Phoenix works hard at air quality and the freeway system in and around the metro area mostly works, lowering overall pollution. But it’s still the 3rd or 4th largest metro area in the US and clouds of air pollution can be problematic and when the winds and temps are right it can flow right into the Grand Canyon. Las Vegas and it's slow moving traffic is even closer.

Photo courtesy of the author. North Rim view. See that yellowish band just above the South Rim? That's automotive pollution.

Even the popularity of the park can work against itself regarding air pollution. At times there are so many people entering the park through the South Entrance that there becomes a sort of micro climate that tends to trap the CO2 and CO1 at low levels which tends to funnel it right into the canyon.

All in all, the canyon does quite well with vehicle borne air pollution, so who cares if a little gets through? The Condors care.

California Condor

Pollution and habitat loss were part of the decline of the California Condor that led to an emergency plan to protect the very last of the species and prevent extinction.

The Condor is the largest bird in North America and one of the rarest. When the US government decided that they needed to step into the debate in 1987 by capturing all the remaining Condors to facilitate a captive breeding program. There were 27 living California Condors in 1987. By 1991 the program had succeeded to the point where Condors were reintroduced to the Grand Canyon. There are now 463 individuals in the wild. While they are still listed as ‘critically endangered’ because of low population, the numbers and the birds chances are better every year.

^Source

You can see the Condors mostly from the South Rim. They were incredibly shy and hard to see for the first 10 years of the introduction but for most of this century they have been fairly easy to see for yourself.

I’ve seen Condors multiple times at the Grand Canyon and haven’t a serviceable picture to show. I just can’t seem to get my camera up in front of my face when the Condors are in the area. They are so majestic and big that it seems I just can’t take the time or effort to show them.

Success Breeds Success

The last known Blackfooted Ferret was found between Williams and Flagstaff Arizona in 1931 when they were considered to be extinct.

Some time after that a small colony was discovered in the wild but by the time it was discovered and a plan made to trap the survivors there were only 18 left on earth. The number was considered too small to be viable but the effort was launched nonetheless.

It worked. BF Ferrets have been reintroduced at several sites throughout the western US. Two of those sites are in Arizona and near the canyon. Both sites in Arizona are on private land in cooperation with landowners and various state and federal agencies.

^Source

The original release for the BF Ferret was in an extremely wild area in Badlands National Park. The Ferret reintroduction plan has been a raging success. There are now thought to be over 1000 individuals living in the wild. That is a nice rise from 18 individuals all in captivity in 1981.

The Grand Canyon is at once fragile and solid as a rock. Threatened but still standing as a natural monument like no other. It’s up to us now. You and me. What do we want to leave for our children and generations to follow? A beautiful place that is just barely hanging on, or a place for the generations to come?

If you are moved to action by what you’ve read and need to do something you can support the Grand Canyon Trust and tell your congressman to support the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act.

I’m going to stick with the Colorado River (and it’s tributaries) as we look at the environmental concerns that dog the whole drainage basin in my next post. Thanks for following along!

You want to hear the Neil Young song referenced at the top? The Video "Unknown Legend" is right here. Part of it was filmed in Seligman, AZ which is on Route 66 right near the Grand Canyon. If you find yourself in Seligman be sure to stop for a burger at the Sno-Cap Drive Inn. You will not regret the visit.

All words in this post are mine. The photographs are either sourced properly or taken by me and used courtesy of the author.

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