The U.S. National Parks Service (NPS) quietly announced it would change the name for a historic Grand Canyon viewing area. This was done as the original name of the historic Grand Canyon viewing area was offensive to the Havasupai Native American Tribe.
Havasupai Gardens is located on the Bright Angel Trail. It’s a popular stop for day hikers and backpackers who are exploring the Grand Canyon’s backcountry. The NPS made the Havasupai leave the inner canyon by the middle of the 1920s.
The Honorable Chair of the Havasupai Tribe Thomas Siyuja Sr. stated that the evictions of Havasupai residents Ha’a Gyoh and the offensive name, Indian Garden had detrimental and lasting effects on the Havasupai family members who lived there. Many people don’t know the history of this place. The Havasupai Gardens will be renaming it.
While there are efforts to update signage and websites with the new name, it is hard not to wonder who was truly offended: the Havasupai staff or the NPS staffers super-woke.
Superintendent Ed Keable said that the Grand Canyon National Park Team was proud to have worked with the Havasupai Tribal Council in renaming this culturally significant location at the Grand Canyon. They had to leave in 1926. The renaming is done out of respect for their undue hardship.
Billy Burro was the last Havasupai resident in 1928. He was forced out of the canyon’s inner canyon. They started to call him Billy Burro. Ophelia Watahomigie, a former Council member, and member of Havasupai Tribe explained that he could climb up the walls like a mule.
Keable said that the Bright Angel Trail is used by approximately 100,000 people each year. They are often unaware of its history. ”
According to the NPS, the renaming of Havasupai Gardens takes place at a time when the U.S. Department of the Interior “focuses on changing offensive location names for federally managed land.”
