Grand Canyon and Tribes Mark Centennial

Above, the Desert View Watchtower at the eastern part of the South Rim. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This year, Grand Canyon National Park is celebrating its centennial. Prior to the park's formation, it was home to Native Americans. It still is, and while relations between the park and tribes have improved, there is still some tension.

MPR News posted an article on the complicated relationship between Native Americans and the park.

They begin with:

Over the last century the geologic wonder of the Grand Canyon has inspired poets, painters, archaeologists and biologists. This week — on Tuesday, Feb. 26 — the Grand Canyon celebrates its 100 years as a National Park. But long before it became a national park, the Grand Canyon was a place many Native Americans called home. 

That's what Carletta Tilousi still calls it. 

"Most Americans think Native Americans are gone but we're still here," Tilousi says. Tilousi is a Havasupai council member and grew up in the Grand Canyon. 

"This is the home of Native Americans and our stories need to be told," Tilousi says. "I think Havasupai we've been ignored for a long time." 

In the late 1800s the federal government sequestered the Havasupai to a side canyon. It wasn't until 1975 that the tribe was given back some of their ancestral land.

To read more, go here.