On January 27, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona dismissed two consolidated cases filed against the 2023 Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument designation. Tribal Nations in the region, including NARF’s clients, the Havasupai and Hopi, celebrated the court’s decision, which maintains protections for a culturally significant region that was taken from Tribal Nations.
The National Monument protects thousands of historic and scientific objects, sacred places, vital water sources, and the ancestral homelands of many Indigenous Peoples. Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni lands include cultural and sacred places of the Havasupai Tribe, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, Moapa Band of Paiutes, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Navajo Nation, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, and the Colorado River Indian Tribes. The Monument receives its name from the Indigenous names given to the area by the Havasupai and Hopi. Baaj nwaavjo (BAAHJ – NUH-WAAHV-JOH) means “where Indigenous peoples roam” in the Havasupai language, and i’tah kukveni (EE-TAH – KOOK-VENNY) means “our ancestral footprints” in the Hopi language.
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