Grand Canyon East Entrance and Navajo Tribal Parks

Above, Monument Valley and other tribal parks can't reopen until the Navajo
 Nation attains orange level status for COVID-19. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To paraphrase William Shakespeare, "To reopen or not to reopen, that is the question." 

That, and when. This is what the Navajo Nation is pondering. Should they reopen the tribal parks and when?

According to the Navajo-Hopi Observer:

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — On Feb. 10, Grand Canyon National Park officials met with Navajo Nation leaders to discuss the reopening of the park’s eastern park entrance, which borders the Navajo Nation.

Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Edward Keable said the National Park Services (NPS) plans to reopen the east entrance May 21.

“Keeping safety in mind, we are not committed to this date and want to be good neighbors by incorporating the Navajo Nation’s interests in our plans,” Keable said.

During the meeting, members of the Nation’s Resources and Development Committee (RDC) presented their concerns for the safety of both Navajo Nation residents and Grand Canyon tourists in the event of a reopening.

“The purpose of our current health order is to expand the vaccine distribution and contribute to the Navajo Nation’s economic recovery plan. But, it is a balancing act and a race against time,” said Deputy Chief of Staff for the Office of the Navajo President, Milton Bluehouse, Jr.

Bluehouse indicated the Navajo Nation leads the country in vaccine distributions with more than 2,000 Navajos vaccinated on the weekend of Feb. 6.

Navajo Nation Department of Health Executive Director Dr. Jill Jim said the Nation is focused on staying ahead of a possible third COVID-19 positive case surge with new variants of the virus reported in surrounding states.

Above, the Desert View Watchtower on the east end of Grand Canyon National Park remains closed. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

On the question of reopening tribal parks (such as Monument Valley):

With the Navajo Nation under a level-red declaration red, the highest COVID-19 concentration-code level, Begaye said many in-person services, such as tours, have been canceled. Consequently, 15 to 20 of the 75 department staff have lost their jobs or have been furloughed.

Dr. Jim explained the HCOC’s data-driven approach to creating gating criteria for determining the Navajo Nation’s Covid-19 code levels involves an evaluation of the number of positive Covid-19 cases and other factors related to the spread of the virus.

Although Covid-19 numbers have gone down, Navajo tribal parks are not able to open until the Navajo Nation is in the orange phase.

The Navajo Nation made great strides in vaccinating tribal members. When the Nation can be put in the orange code level is anyone's guess.

To read the full article, go here.