The Havasupai tribe lives at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, in Supai Village. Just north of the village, a hidden aquifer turns into Havasu Falls, a waterfall that cascades into a pool of blue-green water. This water has sustained the Havasupai people for centuries, nourishing their crops, softening the harsh conditions of the desert, and serving as a place of reverence. But now, the Havasupai tribe’s water source is threatened by uranium mining. Carletta Tilousi is a member of the Havasupai tribal council’s anti-uranium committee. She explains their 30-year fight against what is now known as the Pinyon Plain Mine. Colleen Kaska, a former Havasupai tribal council member, reads a poem she wrote about the importance of water to her people.
The Havasupai tribe lives at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, in Supai Village. Just north of the village, a hidden aquifer turns into Havasu Falls, a waterfall that cascades into a pool of blue-green water. This water has sustained the Havasupai people for centuries, nourishing their crops, softening the harsh conditions of the desert, and serving as a place of reverence. But now, the Havasupai tribe’s water source is threatened by uranium mining.
Carletta Tilousi is a member of the Havasupai tribal council’s anti-uranium committee. She explains their 30-year fight against what is now known as the Pinyon Plain Mine. Colleen Kaska, a former Havasupai tribal council member, reads a poem she wrote about the importance of water to her people.
Take Action:
On April 11, 2023 the Havasupai and other Southwest tribes announced their effort to designate the Grand Canyon area as a national monument. They are calling on the federal government to designate this area a permanently protected area, and in doing so, protect it from mining and other threats. You can learn how to support this effort by signing the petition here.
As She Rises is a Wonder Media Network production. Follow Wonder Media Network on Instagram and Twitter.
As She Rises Season 3: The Colorado River Basin
Episode 2: The Creek
COLEEN CASKA:
I run freely. I belong to no one.
The mother earth chose me to run freely. I belong to no one.
For the earth and its beings, we are all as one a unit. I have carved my way under my mother. No one can see me making small and big channels. I can run freely, splashing the sides of the canyon wall, running freely. I make my mother earth look beautiful, blue green and the clear crystal blue water running freely.
I belong to no one. I am so useful in many ways.
I quench thirst for the animals, the plants, the trees, and human beings.
If I should become contaminated, I will contaminate all living things that I come across running freely. I need protection. I am a living thing running freely.
That's my poem.
LEAH THOMAS:
Past the grey walls of Glen Canyon Dam, the Colorado River makes its way south. It rages along red stone, twists and snakes between tall mesas, and meanders west. Around a big bend, and through Grand Canyon National Park where visitors try to catch a glimpse from thousands of feet above its rushing waters. It forges on, carving a path through Arizona.
Along the way the river’s water sometimes takes detours— into side gorges and carved canyons, feeding countless small ecosystems. Worlds unto themselves.
Hi, I’m Leah Thomas. I’m the founder of Intersectional Environmentalist, an organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of communities of color fighting against environmental injustice.
From Wonder Media Network, this is As She Rises. This season, we’re listening to the stories of resilience from the Colorado River Basin.
Our episode today takes us to the base of Havasu Canyon. At the top of the show, you heard Coleen Kaska, a former Havasupai tribal council member. Her poem came to her over time, as she sat by Havasu Creek near her home in Supai Village. She wanted to communicate how important water is to the Havasupai— especially now that it’s under threat from uranium mining.
Supai Village is home to the Havasupai Tribe. It's nestled at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, just outside the boundaries of the national park. The only way to get there is by horse, helicopter, or an 8-mile hike below the rim of the canyon.
Just north of the village, a hidden aquifer turns into Havasu Falls, a waterfall that cascades into a pool of blue-green water. The water eventually connects to Havasu Creek and makes its way through Supai village. And it is this water that has sustained the Havasupai people for centuries— nourishing crops of corn, squash, and beans and softening the harsh conditions of the desert.
CARLETTA TILOUSI:
My name is Carletta Tiilousi. I'm from the Havasupai Tribe. I was born in Supai Village in the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
LEAH:
Carletta is a friend of Coleen’s. She is currently on the Biden Administrations’ White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
CARLETTA:
When I was growing up, um, my home was right next to the river. So everybody woke up pretty early, um, before the sun came up and start working in our fields. And then, um, we would irrigate ‘em, and so there would be water channels that would come kind of upstream. And so my mom and my dad would tell me to go run up to see if anybody had already channeled it to another area of farm. So I would go up there, and the earlier we got up there, we would be able to be the first family to channel the water to our, uh, area that had corn fields and watermelons. And so I would follow the creek all the way down to my house. And sometimes I would just swim in it, and swim back, or walk in it. And that was really fun. I really enjoyed doing that.
Havasupai water is the name of our people. Havasu Baja is called the Havasupai people. Havasu Baja means people of the bluegreen water. That identifies my people who live there. We were taught that we are to protect water. Even though we have abundance of water that's flowing through our village, we still have to pray to it. Uh, be thankful of the freshwater. And we also have stories in our creation stories on how the waters were formed and how the water is sustaining us. And not only us, but also the people that live downstream, and that we were to be mindful of the way we take care of the water upstream affects the people living downstream.
LEAH:
Havasu Falls, upstream of Supai Village, is an oasis. People from all over come to see it to take in the turquoise blue water gushing down, and the vibrant green moss growing behind it, on age-old burnt red stone. Some tourists come, look, and leave after a day. And some, sadly, treat it as a playground. When really, it is a place of reverence. And precious to the Havasupai life cycle.
CARLETTA:
From my house in Supai Village, you either walked down to the falls or you rode a horse. At that time when we were small, we weren't really allowed to go down there because it was such a sacred place and you only went down there for, um, certain reasons. As the tourist industry was increasing in our village, more tourists were coming down. I got a summer job when I was younger and, uh, we had horses. So tourists would land in the helicopter, and I would offer three horses and I would guide them down to the waterfalls. And as you're going down, it kind of descends down, further down on the horses and the walls are getting taller as you're going down and you hear the sounds of the water as we're getting closer, but you don't see it yet. And then you come around a curve and then you actually see the falls.
I would always see the impressions of the visitors when they would see the falls. It was very, uh, interesting for me to see their impression of our backyard, of our home. They've never seen a place like this. I guess there's no other place like this in the world, so they come here to see it. But the falls is an area and that is a home of our ancestors, that is our home, our final resting place of our people. So whenever we are ready to pass on to the next world, many of my family members are buried there. That's their final resting place.
LEAH:
Havasu Falls and Supai Village make up just a fraction of the Havasupai’s ancestral lands, which used to extend into canyonlands that are now considered Grand Canyon National Park. Their relationship with the land they live on has changed a lot in the last century, and not by choice.
CARLETTA:
We're one of the only tribes in the country that has a, a small community within a Grand Canyon National Park. Part of it is because when Theodore Roosevelt came and created the Grand Canyon National Park, the Havasupai were there, and, um, they forcibly removed a lot of my people and my family to Supai Village and said, you will remain here. We didn't have a reservation at the time. All, all our land was taken from right underneath our feet, so some of the families refused to leave. And that's where Supai Camp emerged from. And that's where Colleen Kaska lived and grew up. And, um, my parents, um, also lived there too.
Just in 1976, the Havasupai tribe was given some land back and so we finally had a reservation. And that's what you see now in the map, that's the Havasupai Reservation. So we had more land, we had all of the South Rim that we roamed and, um, a lot of my parents and my grandparents, um, were broken-hearted because that land was taken from them and that they were forced to move and, um, leave their original homelands ‘cause Supai was not just, um, our only home, you know, but they confined us down there and said, you stay here.
So when I was growing up, we'd go back to the Grand Canyon National Park. You know, we would be followed by rangers ‘cause the Rangers didn't want us there. You know, this is a tourist industry now. You have to pay to get in here, you have to pay to see the Grand Canyon.
LEAH:
In 2019, Grand Canyon National Park marked its 100th anniversary. But for the Havasupai and other tribes in the area, it’s not really a celebration. Yes, the Grand Canyon itself is a monument of great beauty, one that now millions of tourists visit every year. But the park also represents a colonial land practice that forcibly removed people from their land, from their home.
While the Havasupai eventually got some of their land back, this American and colonial sense of “ownership” is pervasive. And it is still threatening the Havasupai and their way of life.
CARLETTA:
The first time I heard about uranium was in 1984, when I was 14 years old. I was at a community meeting with my mom, and my mom was very active in the community when it came to politics. I would listen in in the meetings and it was expressed that there was uranium on the rims of our canyon that mining companies were very interested in obtaining.
LEAH:
Carletta’s referring to an area on the canyon rim, east of the Supai Village and just south of the Colorado River. Because of an 1872 law, mining companies can stake uranium claims on federal lands for very cheap. And the land Carletta is referring to is technically federal land, according to the American system of land ownership, Managed by the Kaibab National Forest Service.
So two years after Carletta first heard about this mining company in a community meeting, the Kaibab National Forest authorized a Canadian uranium mining company to open Canyon Mine.
They began to build Canyon Mine in 1986, on a plot of land in an otherwise peaceful meadow surrounded by pinyon and ponderosa pines. Where sagebrush dots the landscape and perfumes the air. Carletta says you often see elk and mule deer roaming, and even eagles above. She often comes to this area, which is part of the vast ancestral homelands of the Havasupai. The mine is a scar on this landscape.
CARLETTA:
And so our community leaders at the time and the citizens of our village were very upset because it was next to our church. It was next to our sacred mountain called Red Butte. As you enter into the Grand Canyon National Park, it's on your right-hand side. It's the only mountain there. And so that mountain has a lot of oral stories that, uh, completes our creation story of how we became to be as Havasupai people. Some people call it our very old traditional name is “Wii'i Gdwiisa.” Means lungs of Mother Earth. Red Butte is our sacred place, not only to the Havasupai, but also to all the tribes in the Southwest, consider that mountain special. They all have a story that goes to that mountain.
LEAH:
In 1991 miners were just starting to drill the Canyon Mine shaft when uranium prices plummeted, and the project shut down for more than two decades. That didn’t mean the problem went away though. The company didn’t clean up the site or relinquish the land.
Years later, after the prices rose again, they reopened the mine to continue digging the mine shaft into the earth. The mine, by the way, is now called Pinyon Plain Mine.
During this time Carletta and other members of her community took on the fight her parents’ generation started. Both Carletta and our poet, Coleen, served on the Havasupai tribal council for many years together. Currently, Carletta serves on the council’s anti-uranium committee.
It’s been almost 30 years since the mine was approved and the Havasupai have been fighting it the entire time. Though no uranium has been extracted yet, the threat and risk remain.
For a while, the tribe fought the mine through legal challenge after legal challenge. For failure to consult the tribe or consider the cultural significance of the sight. For the risk of water contamination and the lack of transparency or monitoring.
At every turn, the tribe faced opposition. One of the ways they stayed strong was in community. In 2009, the Havasupai gathered hundreds of supporters at Red Butte to oppose the reopening of Canyon Mine. This became a practice every few years. The first few days were an opportunity to gather in ceremony and prayer.
CARLETTA:
Our mountain needed to hear our voices, needed to hear our songs and feel our presence. Because when we don't do that, our mountains get lonely. Where did they go? Where's their songs? Where's their prayers? What happened to them?
The last gathering we had at Red Butte was very beautiful. Each of us had a campsite with fire going. And we would have singing, dancing, sharing of words, and eating. And those are all the things that, um, really made us feel unified. And also going back to our original territories and claiming it back. We're not gonna just sit back and say it's sacred over there. We're gonna go there and we're gonna claim that land back.
LEAH:
After a few days of gathering together, the tribe invited members of the public to join. To learn why the tribe was there and about their belief system. To see why The Havasupai having access to their land for prayer and singing and dancing together was so important. Carletta says the mining company didn’t like that.
CARLETTA:
A couple of times they would come over and try to confront us. And you know, we told 'em, we're not here in protest. We're here doing our ceremonies. That's all we have left as a part of who we are. And we're just trying to protect it. So when we went there, it wasn't a protest. It was us going back and reclaiming our homelands back.
LEAH:
Not only is the Pinyon Plain Mine on ancestral Havasupai land, but it poses a major contamination risk. The mine is above two aquifers: the shallower Coconino aquifer and the deep, expansive Redwall-Muav aquifer. Little is certain about the exact ways the groundwater below the mine flows, but these aquifers connect to the seeps and springs that feed into the Grand Canyon. Contamination from the mine could reach Havasu Creek, the Supai Village’s only water source, and the Colorado River.
This is not an unfounded worry. Because whether or not the mine is active, it is still a source of toxic pollution. Over the years, as miners have drilled the mining shaft into the earth in pursuit of uranium ore, over 49 million gallons of groundwater have flooded into the shaft.
This water becomes contaminated and then needs to be pumped out. That water is either kept in nearby open-air basins, or it gets hauled off somewhere else.
Chain link fences surrounding the mine barely keep out animals who roam the land or drink from the contaminated water in the retention basins. And Carletta worries about whether her community can consume the plants that grow nearby, or the cattle that graze them. Just look at the several examples of other Southwest tribes whose land, animals, and fellow people have been poisoned by the lasting effects of uranium mining.
CARLETTA:
Humans aren't the only people that live on this earth. It's the animals that also live on this earth. And once the animals get contaminated, we get contaminated, we follow. Arizona's in a drought right now, and mining companies are allowed to pierce aquifers and millions of gallons are coming out with no enforcement and no oversight. What else are they gonna do? What else are they allowed to do and get away with it?
[Coleen Kaska, Water Song]
COLEEN:
Watch the water, take care of it. The water feeds us, keeps us alive. Protect the water.
LEAH:
Today the Pinyon Plain Mine has all the permits from federal and state agencies it needs to proceed. The mine is now owned by Energy Fuels, the largest producer of uranium in the United States. While drilling hasn’t started yet, Carletta says they occasionally send press releases announcing their plans for immediate operation.
The Havasupai have exhausted their legal options. Yet as long as Energy Fuels intends to proceed, the fight continues.
CARLETTA:
We make a move and the mining company makes a move, and it's just the chess game. We tell the mining company that we're not going away. This is our backyard. This is where we live, and, um, we're gonna continue to protect our areas that are important to us.
What I will say is every American has a responsibility to protect the land. Uh, every American also has a responsibility to vote for good representatives in Washington DC that will have a voice for your community and your state. And we need those good people to lead us into the future that have the concept of protecting the water, the air, and its natural resources. We've already done enough of contamination and destruction to our waters and our lands and, um, we need to end it here. Once you contaminate water, there's no reverse. You can't reverse it.
We're just waiting for a catastrophe to happen. Not just for the Havasupai, but for everyone living downstream. And that was, uh, our biggest message to everyone. That we need everyone's help. We need you all to contact your congressional representatives to not only protect the Grand Canyon, but protect the water source of the Colorado River. The Colorado River needs to be protected, and it's not a Native American issue. It's everyone's issue. And everyone needs to protect the Grand Canyon who live here in Arizona. The Colorado River no longer drains into Mexico like it used to, ‘cause they're using it so fast. But because it's not draining down there, their whole livelihood has changed in Mexico too. So we feel for those people down there, we feel for what they're facing. And we just wanna make sure, as Havasupai people, make sure that the people downstream have some fresh water and clean water. And that's all we ask. And it's everyone's responsibility.
I think what keeps me going forward is my children. And all the hard work that my ancestors went through. I'm going through it in a different way, but my ancestors made that path for me to follow, so I need to continue personally and encouraging other people in my community to continue the path forward because our ancestors did a lot of work to obtain our land back and sustain our language, sustain our livelihood even though we were removed from our original territories. They somehow managed to protect me as a child. And my children, I, I worry about where they're gonna live, um, if they're gonna have clean water. I, I worry about that. It's hard, but we have to continue. Mm-hmm. Yeah, we're gonna have to continue.
LEAH:
Carletta and the Havasupai have not only been protecting their water, but helping steward the health of a river that millions depend on. It has taken a huge commitment for the tribe, years of taxing work and perseverance.
They remind us of what’s at stake. And they demonstrate the commitment required to protect the resources that nurture us all.
On April 11, 2023 the Havasupai tribe announced their effort to designate the Grand Canyon area as a national monument. They’re calling on the federal government to designate this area a permanently protected area, and in doing so, protect it from mining and other threats. You can go to our show notes to see how you can support this effort.
All season long, we’re following the Colorado River, listening to stories of resilience.
Next, we’ll learn about a different extractive industry that drained an aquifer downriver for over 50 years. And about the people who won that resource back.
Coleen Kaska wrote the song you heard in the middle of the episode. She started writing it in 2012, to protect her community’s land and water from uranium mining. Here she is again, singing part of a protest song from Rex Tilousi— an elder, leader, and singer. He wrote the song when the Havasupai first started opposing uranium mining in the 80s.
[Coleen Kaska, Rex’ Protest Song]
As She Rises is a Wonder Media Network Production. Our creator and editor is Grace Lynch. Our executive producer is Jenny Kaplan. Emily Rudder is our Head of Development. The show is produced by Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Ale Tejeda, Brittany Martinez, Adesuwa Agbonile, and Sara Schleede. Original music by Andrea Kristinsdottir and Jessica Jarvis.
Special thanks to Amber Reimondo from the Grand Canyon Trust.
Until next time.