Building Resilient Habitats Map

Arizona: Grand Canyon Chapter

The Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter is working with other conservation groups as well as local, state and federal policy makers to ensure that the Grand Canyon, its watershed, and the health of area residents is protected from the harmful impacts of uranium mining.

In the Grand Canyon, where water sources for wildlife and hikers are few and far between, uranium contamination of the seeps and springs found in the canyon have a significant impact on all organisms in the area.

Unfortunately, these water sources are already threatened by climate change; temperature and precipitation changes caused by global warming affect the availability of dependable sources of spring water. Without access to reliable and healthy streams, vegetation and wildlife are beginning to disappear.

Scientists have already noticed population declines among Desert Bighorn Sheep, and researchers at UC Berkeley have theorized that bighorn populations could face extinction in the next 60 years. The Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter is working to stop the contamination of the Grand Canyon's remaining water sources in an effort to further protect Big Horn Sheep and the wildlife of the canyon from the harmful effects of climate change.

The Chapter supports a proposal to protect one million acres near the Grand Canyon from new future mining activities, including uranium mining. The Grand Canyon Chapter has also challenged a proposal to allow uranium mining exploration within only a couple of miles of the Park boundary. To help protect the Grand Canyon and its watershed from uranium mining, the chapter works to support the Grand Canyon Watersheds Protection Act of 2008.

For more information about the Sierra Club chapter in Arizona and its involvement with the Grand Canyon, please visit http://arizona.sierraclub.org/