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The 34th annual Grand Canyon Star Party will conclude for the season on Saturday, June 8. South Rim events include a nightly slide show from a special guest speaker at 8 p.m. in the plaza of the Grand Canyon Visitor Center.
The list of speakers can be found on the Grand Canyon Star Party webpage and also in the NPS Mobile App. The talks are followed by free telescope viewing behind the building. Green-laser constellation tours will be offered nightly at 9, 9:30, and 10 p.m.
North Rim events include telescopes set up on the terrace of the Grand Canyon Lodge every evening along with astronomers with green lasers to pointing out constellations. By day, look for solar telescopes on the terrace and surrounding the Grand Canyon Lodge. A flyer for the evening events on the North Rim can be found here.
InterTribal Economic Summit recap
Last week, the park hosted the Emergence Summit, the second Grand Canyon InterTribal Economic Summit. More than 60 participants were in attendance including Tribal vendors, tour operators, entrepreneurs, partners, and park staff. The purpose of the summit was to discuss ways the park and its many partners can best work together to improve economic benefits for the park, private companies, Tribal partners, nonprofit partners, and the surrounding communities.
Keynote speaker Natasha Hale (Navajo and Saudi Arabian and pictured above), cofounder of Change Labs, offered lessons from her 15 years of experience supporting Native entrepreneurs and economic equity on the Colorado Plateau.
“To move past these wrongs, we still have to keep talking about them. But I think we’re all eager to move past it,” said Hale. “That’s what Emergence is about – we want to be able to co-manage these lands, but we also want to be able to have access to that economic power.”
You can learn more about the summit from Grand Canyon Trust’s website here.
Rock Your Mocs Week November 12-18
As part of Native American Heritage Month, next week is Rock Your Mocs Week, when Indigenous people across the country show their cultural pride by wearing traditional moccasins.
Moccasins are not always worn in public by Indigenous people. They hold special significance and are most often worn for ceremonies and other cultural events. During Rock Your Mocs Week, the National Park Service encourages Indigenous employees to take pride in their heritage by wearing moccasins. A flyer for this week can be found here.
Grand Canyon National Park is proud to celebrate Native cultures and traditions by helping to share their rich histories and ongoing contributions to our park and our country.
So rock those mocs!
Fire restrictions and heat danger continue through the weekend
Stage 1 fire and smoking restrictions remain in effect on the entirety of the Coconino National Forest and the Williams Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest. Additionally, all undeveloped areas of Coconino County, the Town of Tusayan, and the City of Flagstaff are also in fire restrictions. *Please note, at this time the Tusayan Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest has no fire restrictions in effect.
Grand Canyon National Park remains in Stage 1 fire restrictions, as it is year-round, which means fires, campfires, charcoal, coal and wood stoves are prohibited, except within a developed campground site.
Through Monday, July 24, an Excessive Heat Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for elevations at and below 4,000 feet in the Grand Canyon.
All Xanterra passenger mule rides to Phantom Ranch continue to be cancelled through at least July 24.
What’s that clicking noise?
Pretty much everyone on the South Rim during the last two weeks has noticed the ‘click click click click click’ sounds coming from pretty much everywhere.
On the South Rim, we’re hearing Putnam’s Cicada, (Platypedia Putnami) — large, dark-colored insects with bulging eyes and membranous wings that are folded tent-like over their bodies. Putnam’s Cicadas are only found in the western states, and have a three to five year life cycle, unlike some varieties of cicadas found in the eastern U.S. that have 13 to 17 year cycles. Like other cicadas, they don’t bite or sting, just go around feeding by using their straw-like mouth to drink watery nutrients from plants and trees.
Tusayan’s first annual Cinco de Mayo celebration will take place on Friday, May 5 at the Squire Resort. The fiesta takes place from 3 to 7 p.m., is family-friendly, free, and open to the community.
There will also be lawn games, piñatas, a Mariachi band and a variety of authentic Mexican foods for guests to enjoy. The drive-in movie, Coco, will be begin at 5:30 p.m.
The Cinco de Mayo event is new this year and reflects the town’s goal of offering more activities and recreational opportunities for visitors and residents alike. A full flyer with more details on the event is available here.
National Public Lands Day this Saturday, September 24
This Saturday, September 24th marks Public Lands Day and a Fee Free Day on all NPS lands.
The public is invited to celebrate National Public Lands Day at 1 p.m. (Mountain Daylight Time) September 24 by observing the release of captive-bred California condors into the wild at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.
The event also will be live streamed via The Peregrine Fund’s YouTube channel beginning at 12:30 p.m. (MDT). Viewers can set a reminder to join the release, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. (MDT) noon local time in northern Arizona (Mountain Standard Time) but ultimately depends on when the birds choose to leave their release pen. There will be a picture-in-picture set up with a camera trained on the release pen; videos and interviews with condor biologists and conservationists who work with these massive birds will be included. Viewers also will be able to have their questions answered live by the team.
The historical California Condor population declined to just 22 individuals in the 1980s when the greater California Condor Recovery Program was initiated to save the species from extinction. As of May 2022, there were 113 condors in the rugged, canyon country of northern Arizona and southern Utah. The total world population of endangered California condors numbers more than 550 individuals, with more than half of them winging across the skies of Arizona, Utah, California and Mexico.
Grand Canyon National Park biologists have received confirmation that a bat collected along the Colorado River in mid-August has tested positive for rabies. Wildlife managers generally report an increase in human-bat interactions in summer months. Individuals who have had physical contact with a bat are advised to seek medical attention and be assessed for appropriate medical treatment.
Rabies is a serious disease that can kill both animals and humans. Humans can contract rabies through contact with an infected animal’s saliva, such as a bite or scratch. Possible rabies infections should be considered in animals that exhibit unusual or aggressive behavior or that are not afraid of humans. All mammals are susceptible to rabies, including bats, skunks, and foxes. Although primarily nocturnal, bats observed flying during daylight is not indicative of a rabid bat.
Grand Canyon National Park will implement a new pilot advance day-use ticket reservation system for the Tuweep Visitor Use Area, July 21, 2022. Park staff are managing for significant and steadily increasing visitation at Tuweep since 1995, along with limited park staffing in the area, ongoing vehicle safety, and natural and cultural resource concerns.
There will be two types of reservations available. One ticket will be for private vehicles and the other will be for authorized Tuweep tour Commercial Use Authorization (CUA) permit holders. The day-use reservation system will apply to the Tuweep area of Grand Canyon National Park, including all park areas within Toroweap Valley and on the Kanab Plateau. It excludes the North and South rim developed areas and overlooks.
he Coconino County Health and Human Service’s mobile vaccine team will be providing COVID-19 vaccinations and booster doses on Friday, February 11 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Williams Senior Center.
Winter Road Conditions and Reporting Emergencies
With the first major snow of the season arriving, here are a few reminders on park road conditions and reporting emergencies, especially during periods of inclement weather.
When a road closes in the park, Grand Canyon Dispatch, who are staffed 24 hours a day, receive the notification and immediately will update the road conditions outgoing message. This number should be programmed into your phone if it isn’t already; it is: 928-638-7496. Please do not call dispatch for roads updates unless you are reporting an emergency.
COVID-19 Updates
This week’s numbers at a glance:
The average number of new cases per day in Arizona is 1,552 down from 2,246 on average per day last week.
As of Thursday, the total number of cases in the 86023 zip code since the pandemic began is 183. This number represents cases both inside and outside the park.
There is one new reported case in the park this week.
Since the pandemic began, we’ve had 43 total positive COVID-19 cases in the park. To date, and as reported, none of the positive cases resulted from interaction with park visitors.
More detailed statistics are available on the Coconino County COVID-19 Dashboard.
