[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 18 (Friday, February 25, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    COMMEMORATING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK

 Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, this Saturday, February 26, marks 
the 75th anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park.
  This historic occasion is important to people throughout the world 
but it's especially significant to the people of Arizona. As citizens 
of the Grand Canyon State, we take immense pride in the park and 
appreciate the awesome stewardship responsibility with which we, 
today's caretakers of the canyon, have been vested.
  Anyone who has visited the Grand Canyon, beheld a sunrise at Navajo 
Point, hiked the back country on the Tanner Trail or run the rapids at 
Lava Falls understands what many scribes and poets have tried in vain 
to describe. Words pale before the indescribable. But, perhaps, John 
Wesley Powell, the Civil War hero who, in 1869, was the first intrepid 
soul to fully explore the Grand Canyon captured it best. He said, 
simply ``The Grand Canyon is the most sublime spectacle on earth.''
  The 75th anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on what the canyon 
means to each of us. It's time for grateful remembrance of our 
forefathers who had the wisdom and foresight to recognize the value of 
the Grand Canyon and to make protection of its resources our guiding 
ethic.
  We remember people such as John Wesley Powell; and President Benjamin 
Harrison, who, in 1876, as a Senator from Indiana, introduced the first 
bill to establish the canyon as a national park. We remember President 
Theodore Roosevelt under whose leadership conservation of the natural 
resources of the canyon was so nobly advanced; And, the flamboyant 
Henry Fountain Ashurst, the Arizona Senator, whose father perished in 
the Canyon, and who, in 1919, introduced the bill signed by President 
Woodrow Wilson creating Grand Canyon National Park 75 years ago. And, 
with fondness and gratitude, we remember the many other citizens and 
public servants who have dedicated their careers and their lives to 
seeing that the canyon should be forever grand.
  As we remember and honor the past, it's also a time to take stock of 
the present--to examine how well we are meeting our responsibilities as 
today's stewards of the Grand Canyon. It's time to rededicate ourselves 
to preserve and protect the Grant Canyon for the next 75 years and 
beyond.
  Proper stewardship of the canyon and its resources has never been 
simple or easy. Like a white-water rafting adventure on the Colorado 
River, the course is calm and subtle as some points and twisting and 
rough at others, but it is always well worth the trip.
  Over the past several years, we have been confronted with a myriad of 
difficult and complex issues affecting the park. We have enjoyed 
success on a number of fronts but many challenges are ahead. There is 
much work to be done.
  Safety issues and noise pollution associated with excessive 
overflights of the park demand our continued attention. In 1987, we 
passed the National Parks Overflights Act, which zoned the airspace 
over the canyon and established, in law, the groundbreaking goal of 
restoring natural quiet to the canyon environment. Visitors seeking 
peace and solitude in which to enjoy the canyon experience deserve the 
opportunity to do so without the incessant intrusion of aircraft noise. 
At time the Grand Canyon has seemed more like national airport than a 
national park.
  We have made some progress. Flights below the rim have been banned 
and certain areas of the Canyon are off limits to aircraft, but much 
work remains to be done. The number of park overflights has increased 
since passage of the legislation, and we have not yet met our goal of 
``substantially restoring the natural quiet of the Grand Canyon.''
  We must press on until the goal is achieved. Quiet aircraft 
technology must be developed and brought on line by air tour operators 
as soon as feasible. Pending the transition to such technology, if we 
need to limit the number of overflights to assure public safety and 
restore the natural quiet to meet the goals of the law, then that's 
what we must do.
  Clearly, there is a limit to the amount of traffic park airspace can 
accomodate before safety and natural quiet are compromised. We must 
endeavor to find that level and manage the airspace accordingly.
  The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service are 
reviewing canyon air regulations and will meet with air tour operators 
and others next month to begin updating the regulations. They should 
approach this work committed to meeting the standards and expectations 
codified in the National Park Overflights Act.
  On another front, we must coninue our efforts to protect air quality 
and visibility at the Grand Canyon. In 1992, an historic agreement was 
reached to control pollution from the Navajo Generating Station to 
improve and protect canyon visibility. But, there is more we can do.
  Today, under the auspices of the Environmental Protection Agency and 
Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission, we are investigating 
other potential contributors to canyon pollution, including emissions 
from the Mohave Power Plant in southern Nevada, and haze creeping into 
the region from the Los Angeles basin. Studies on the impact of these 
sources and potential remedies will be completed next year. Sources 
that significantly impact canyon air quality should be cleaned up to 
protect the scenic vistas for which the Grand Canyon is world-renowned.
  In the past few years we have made great strides in protecting the 
park's water-based resources and recreation. In 1992, we passed the 
Grand Canyon Protection Act to stop the damage caused by fluctuating 
water releases from Glen Canyon Dam-flows which were destroying 
Colorado River beaches, degrading recreation and harming fish and 
wildlife within the park.
  As a result of the new law, water now flows from the dam in a manner 
that better protects downstream resources. The Department of the 
Interior will complete a final environmental impact study on dam 
operations by the end of the year.
  The study will give us the scientific data we need to reconcile the 
dam with the need to preserve, protect and enhance the natural 
resources of the Grand Canyon National Park--as required by the Grand 
Canyon Protection Act. Our challenge now is to see that the good 
intentions and lofty goals of the law are matched by our actions to 
implement it.
  Mr. President, overflights, air quality, Colorado River protection, 
are just a few of the challenges we still confront.
  The world is a much different place than when Woodrow Wilson signed 
Senator Ashurst's bill establishing Grand Canyon National Park. In 
1919, its first year as a National Park, the Grand Canyon was visited 
by just over 100,000 people, and operated on a budget of $40,000.
  Seventy-five years later, over 5 million people from all over the 
world visit the Canyon yearly and the Park Service will employ 350 
people and spend $12 million to manage the park. Visitation is expected 
to double within the next 10 years.
  Times will continue to change, but our stewardship responsibilities 
will not. They will only be made more complicated by the growing demand 
and encroachments of expanding civilization.
  We are deciding how the future will look today. The National Park 
Service is currently crafting the Grand Canyon's general management 
plan which will guide the park into the next century on critical issues 
such as park user levels, land use, river management, back country 
management, services, infrastructure, transportation, staffing and 
funding, just to name a few.
  Wisely, and most appropriately, our laws provide for and encourage 
public review and participation in park management planning. I hope 
that all concerned citizens will exercise their rights and 
responsibility to participate in the process as we debate the 
management plan and set the course for tomorrow.
  The Grand Canyon is a shared resource and we have a shared 
responsibility to ensure a future for the park that is worthy of its 
place as the centerpiece of our natural heritage and one of the seven 
wonders of the world.
  The general management plan, with its public participation process, 
will be a particularly constructive forum in which to debate and 
address the most critical issue facing the Grand Canyon--how to deal 
with increasing demand for the park and its impact on visitor 
experience and the canyon environment. There are as many ideas on this 
topic as there are commentators on the issue.
  Some have suggested that controls should be placed on visitation in 
the near future through a visitor reservation system. Perhaps someday 
restricting the number of visitors may be necessary to ensure the 
visitor experience and the canyon environment remain world class. But, 
I do not believe that we are at that point today.
  One of the prime directives of the National Park Service is to 
provide for the enjoyment of park resources for the American people. I 
fear that a reservation system is a burdensome, bureaucratic and 
premature answer to a problem that lends itself to a less onerous 
solution.
  The primary problem with park crowding is that too many private 
vehicles clog the roads at certain times of the day and too many people 
are funneled into a small section of the park. It seems to me that the 
money and manpower necessary to implement a reservation system could be 
used more effectively to alleviate crowding by improving alternative 
transportation opportunities for visitors. We should give people more 
opportunity and incentive to park private vehicles outside of the park 
and use alternative transportation within.
  In 1990, Congress ordered the Department of Transportation to conduct 
a study on alternative modes of transportation within national parks to 
alleviate crowding and to enhance visitor experience. That study will 
be completed shortly and could offer some valuable and timely 
alternatives.
  Let's not lose sight of the fact that Grand Canyon National Park is 
over 200 miles long and has five public access roads on the south rim. 
In addition, to alternative transportation, we should look at ways to 
disperse visitors by encouraging entry at points other than the main 
south rim entrance through Tusayan, where the vast majority of visitors 
congregate. In seems to me that with proper planning we could disperse 
visitation more widely and relieve crowding without constructing 
intrusive or unnecessary development in areas of the park that should 
remain as pristine as possible.
  The Grand Canyon is a national shrine--a place where people seek 
solace and inspiration, to see the humbling work of ages and the 
awesome hand of God--to experience something much greater than 
themselves. Needing the Government's permission to visit the Canyon, is 
like needing a reservation to go to church. It just isn't in keeping 
with the spirit of what the Grand Canyon is all about.
  All options deserve to be debated by the public through the general 
management planning process and examined in the appropriate 
environmental studies before we take any steps to implement a 
reservation system which should be our last, not our first, resort.
  Mr. President, the next 75 years at the Grand Canyon will surely be 
as challenging as the past. Before embarking on his trip to brave the 
unchartered rapids of the Grand Canyon, John Wesley Powell said,

       We are now ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown 
     * * * We have an unknown distance to run; and unknown river 
     to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks 
     beset the channel, we know not; what walls rise over the 
     river, we know not.

  Those words echo from the past, echo forth to appropriately describe 
our own journey into the future--the Great Unknown.
  But, like Powell, with courage and determination, we, too, can 
negotiate the distance with honor and success and bequeath to the next 
generation a proud canyon legacy that ensures the Grand Canyon will 
remain ``The most sublime spectacle on earth.''
  On this 75th anniversary, let's rededicate ourselves, as Theodore 
Roosevelt admonished--

       To keep the canyon for our children and our children's 
     children, and for all who come after us, as one of the great 
     sights which every American if he can travel at all should 
     see.

  I ask that the text of the law creating Grand Canyon National Park be 
printed at this point in the Record.
  The text follows:

                    Sixty-Fifth Congress. Sess. III


 CHAP. 44.--An Act To establish the Grand Canyon National Park in the 
                            State of Arizona

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled, That 
     there is hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, 
     occupancy, or disposal under the laws of the United States 
     and dedicated and set apart as a public park for the benefit 
     and enjoyment of the people, under the name of the ``Grand 
     Canyon National Park,'' the tract of land in the State of 
     Arizona particularly described by and included within metes 
     and bounds as follows, to wit:
       Beginning at a point which is the northeast corner of 
     township thirty north, range one east, of the Gila and Salt 
     River meridian, Arizona; thence west on township line between 
     townships thirty and thirty-one north, range one east, to 
     section corner common to sections one and two, township 
     thirty north, range one east, and thirty-five and thirty-six, 
     township thirty-one north, range one east; thence north on 
     section lines to the intersection with Tobocobya Spring-Rowe 
     Well Road; thence northwesterly along the southwesterly side 
     of said Tobocobya Spring-Rowe Well Road, passing and in 
     relation to United States Geological Survey bench marks 
     stamped ``Canyon'' and numbered 6340, 6235, 6372, 6412, 6302, 
     6144, and 6129, through townships thirty-one and thirty-two 
     north, ranges one east and one and two west, to its 
     intersection with the section line between sections nine and 
     sixteen in township thirty-two north, range two west; thence 
     west along the section lines through townships thirty-two 
     north, ranges two and three west, to its intersection with 
     upper westerly rim of Cataract Canyon; thence northwesterly 
     along upper rim of Cataract Canyon, crossing Hualapai Canyon 
     and continuing northwesterly along said upper rim to its 
     intersection with range line, township thirty-three north, 
     between ranges four and five west; thence north on said 
     range line, townships thirty-three and thirty-four north, 
     ranges four and five west, to north bank of the Colorado 
     River; thence northeasterly along the north bank of the 
     Colorado River to junction with Tapeats Creek; thence 
     easterly along north bank of Tapeats Creek to junction 
     with Spring Creek; thence easterly along the north bank of 
     Spring Creek to its intersection with Gila and Salt River 
     meridian; township thirty-four north, between ranges one 
     east and one west and between section six, township 
     thirty-four north, range one east, and section one, 
     township thirty-four north, range one west; thence south 
     on range line between ranges one east and one west to 
     section corner common to sections seven and eighteen, 
     township thirty-four north, range one east, and sections 
     twelve and thirteen, township thirty-four north, range one 
     west; thence east on section lines to section corner 
     common to sections seven, eight, seventeen, and eighteen, 
     township thirty-four north, range two east; thence south 
     on section lines to township line between townships 
     thirty-three and thirty-four north, range two east, at 
     section corner common to sections thirty-one and thirty-
     two, township thirty-four north, range two east, and 
     sections five and six, township thirty-three north, range 
     two east; thence east on township line to section corner 
     common to sections thirty-one and thirty-two, township 
     thirty-four north, range three east, and sections five and 
     six, township thirty-three north, range three east; thence 
     south on section lines to section corner common to 
     sections seventeen eighteen, nineteen, and twenty, 
     township thirty-three north, range three east; thence east 
     on section lines to section corner common to sections 
     thirteen, fourteen, twenty-three, and twenty-four, 
     township thirty-three north, range three east; thence 
     north on section lines to section corner common to 
     sections one, two, eleven, and twelve, township thirty-
     three north, range three east; thence east on section 
     lines to the intersection with upper rim of Grand Canyon; 
     thence northerly along said upper rim of Grand Canyon to 
     main hydrographic divide north of Nankoweap Creek; thence 
     easterly along the said hydrographic divide to its 
     intersection with the Colorado River, approximately at the 
     mouth of Nankoweap Creek; thence easterly across the 
     Colorado River and up the hydrographic divide nearest the 
     junction of Nankoweap Creek and Colorado River to a point 
     on the upper east rim of the Grand Canyon; thence by 
     shortest route to an intersection with range line, 
     townships thirty-three and thirty-four north, between 
     ranges five and six east; thence south on said range line, 
     between ranges five and six east, to section corner common 
     to sections eighteen and nineteen, township thirty-three 
     north, range six east, and sections thirteen and twenty-
     four, township thirty-three north, range five east; thence 
     east on section lines to section corner common to sections 
     sixteen, seventeen, twenty, and twenty-one, township 
     thirty-three north, range six east; thence south on 
     section lines to section corner common to sections eight, 
     nine, sixteen, and seventeen, township thirty-one north, 
     range six east; thence west on section line to section 
     corner common to sections seven, eight, seventeen, and 
     eighteen, township thirty-one north, range six east; 
     thence south on section lines to township line between 
     townships thirty and thirty-one north at section corner 
     common to sections thirty-one and thirty-two, township 
     thirty-one north, range six east, and sections five and 
     six, township thirty north, range six east; thence west on 
     township line to section corner common to sections thirty-
     four and thirty-five, township thirty-one north, range 
     five east, and sections two and three, township thirty 
     north, range five east; thence south on section line to 
     section corner common to sections two, three, ten, and 
     eleven, township thirty north, range five east; thence 
     west on section lines to range line, township thirty 
     north, between ranges four and five east, at section 
     corner common to sections six and seven, township thirty 
     north, range five east, and one and twelve, township 
     thirty north, between ranges four and five east, to 
     section corner common to sections seven and eighteen, 
     township thirty north, range five east, and sections 
     twelve and thirteen, township thirty north, range four 
     east; thence west on section line to section corner common 
     to sections eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, 
     township thirty north, range four east; thence south on 
     section line to section corner common to sections 
     thirteen, fourteen, twenty-three, and twenty-four, 
     township thirty north, range four east; thence west on 
     section lines to section corner common to sections 
     fifteen, sixteen, twenty-one, and twenty-two, township 
     thirty north, range four east; thence south on section 
     line to section corner common to sections twenty-one, 
     twenty-two, twenty-seven, and twenty-eight, township 
     thirty north, range four east; thence west on section 
     lines to range line, township thirty north, between ranges 
     three and four east, at section corner common to sections 
     nineteen and thirty, township thirty north, range four 
     east, and sections twenty-four and twenty-five, township 
     thirty north, range three east; thence north on range line 
     to section corner common to sections eighteen and nineteen 
     township thirty north, range four east, and sections 
     thirteen and twenty-four, township thirty north, range 
     three east; thence west on sections lines to section 
     corner common to sections fourteen, fifteen, twenty-two, 
     and twenty-three, township thirty north, range three east; 
     thence north on section line to section corner common to 
     sections, ten eleven, fourteen, and fifteen, township 
     thirty north, range three east; thence west on section 
     lines to range line at section corner common to sections 
     seven and eighteen, township thirty north, range three 
     east, and sections twelve and thirteen, township thirty 
     north, range two east; thence north on range line to 
     section corner common to sections six and seven, township 
     thirty north, range three east, and sections one and 
     twelve, township thirty north, range two east; thence west 
     on section line to section corner common to sections one, 
     two, eleven, and twelve, township thirty north, range two 
     east; thence north on section line to township line at 
     section corner common to sections thirty-five and thirty-
     six township-one north, range two east, and sections one 
     and two, township thirty north, range two east; thence 
     west on township line to the northeast corner of township 
     thirty north, range one east, the place of beginning.
       Sec. 2. That the administration, protection, and promotion 
     of said Grand Canyon National Park shall be exercised, under 
     the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, by the 
     National Park Service, subject to the provisions of the Act 
     of August twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, 
     entitled ``An Act to establish a National Park Service, and 
     for other purposes'': Provided, That all concessions for 
     hotels, camps, transportation, and other privileges of every 
     kind and nature for the accommodation or entertainment of 
     visitors shall be let at public bidding to the best and most 
     responsible bidder.
       Sec. 3. That nothing herein contained shall affect the 
     rights of the Havasupai Tribe of Indians to the use and 
     occupancy of the bottom lands of the Canyon of Cataract Creek 
     as described in the Executive order of March thirty-first, 
     eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and the Secretary of the 
     Interior is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to permit 
     individual members of said tribe to use and occupy other 
     tracts of land within said park for agricultural purposes.
       Sec. 4. That nothing herein contained shall affect any 
     valid existing claim, location, or entry under the land laws 
     of the United States, whether for homestead, mineral, right 
     of way, or any other purpose whatsoever, or shall affect 
     the rights of any such claimant, locator, or entryman to 
     the full use and enjoyment of his land and nothing herein 
     contained shall affect, diminish, or impair the right and 
     authority of the county of Coconino, in the State of 
     Arizona, to levy and collect tolls for the passage of live 
     stock over and upon the Bright Angel Toll Road and Trail, 
     and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to 
     negotiate with the said county of Coconino for the 
     purchase of said Bright Angel Toll Road and Trail and all 
     rights therein, and report to Congress at as early a date 
     as possible the terms upon which the property can be 
     procured.
       Sec. 5. That whenever consistent with the primary purposes 
     of said park the Act of February fifteenth, nineteen hundred 
     and one, applicable to the locations of rights of way in 
     certain national parks and the national forests for 
     irrigation and other purposes, and subsequent Acts shall be 
     and remain applicable to the lands included within the park. 
     The Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion and upon 
     such conditions as he may deem proper, grant easements or 
     rights of way for railroads upon or across the park.
       Sec. 6. That whenever consistent with the primary purposes 
     of said park, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized, 
     under general regulations to be prescribed by him, to permit 
     the prospecting, development, and utilization of the mineral 
     resources of said park upon such terms and for specified 
     periods, or otherwise, as he may deem to be for the best 
     interests of the United States.
       Sec. 7. That whenever consistent with the primary purposes 
     of said park, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to 
     permit the utilization of areas therein which may be 
     necessary for the development and maintenance of a Government 
     reclamation project.
       Sec. 8. That where privately owned lands within the said 
     park lie within three hundred feet of the rim of the Grand 
     Canyon no building, tent, fence, or other structure shall be 
     erected on the park lands lying between said privately owned 
     lands and the rim.
       Sec. 9. The Executive order of January eleventh, nineteen 
     hundred and eight, creating the Grand Canyon National 
     Monument, is hereby revoked and repealed, and such parts of 
     the Grand Canyon National Game Preserve, designated under 
     authority of the Act of Congress, approved June twenty-ninth, 
     nineteen hundred and six, entitled ``An Act for the 
     protection of wild animals in the Grant Canyon Forest 
     Reserve,'' as are by this Act included with the Grand Canyon 
     National Park are hereby excluded and eliminated from said 
     game preserve.
       Approved, February 26, 1919.

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