Navajo Nation Council will make final decision
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On July 14, the Naa’bik’iyati Committee, a subcommittee of the Navajo Nation Council which consists of the chairs and vice chairs of the council’s various committees, voted 14-2 to reject the Grand Canyon Escalade, a proposed billion-dollar entertainment complex located on the western edge of the Navajo Nation. If the Escalade project should get approval, it would include hotels, restaurants, shops, and a cultural center on the Grand Canyon’s east rim.
The Grand Canyon Escalade project was rejected by the Navajo Nation’s Budget and Finance Committee 3-1 last March.
A final decision on the Escalade proposal will eventually be decided by the Navajo Nation Council.
The most controversial part of the development is a tram system that would transport 4,000 to 10,000 visitors a day from the rim down to river level at the spot where the Little Colorado River joins the Colorado River, where visitors would find an elevated walkway, ampitheater and another gift shop.
The confluence is considered sacred by the Navajos, Hopis, Zunis and other Indian tribes native to the Grand Canyon region.
The Little Colorado is a beatiful place. It’s waters are made a milky turquoise blue from dissolved copper sulphate and calcium carbonate found in the water. The calcium carbonate forms natural travertine pools, the bank of the river is lined by rushes and willows and the entire space is surrounded by the Grand Canyon’s 4,000 foot cliff walls in various tones of pink, red, gold and brown.
At present, the confluence of the Colorado River and Little Colorado River can only be reached by raft down the Colorado River or by foot, hiking down the Little Colorado River corridor.