BOUNDARIES

THE BOUNDARY OF GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK

The Park boundary can be divided into 16 major segments, each with its own history and formal, legal justification. I have labelled them A through P, starting at the Paria River junction and proceeding clockwise.  Most of the posts under this topic deal with a specific segment, including text, sources, and maps. There are also several more general posts referring to the boundary, which I have collected together at the beginning. 

I have given the boundary that abuts the Hualapai Indian Reservation and the boundary of the Reservation itself special treatment in several posts, which appear in a section by themselves.

EACH TOPIC IS PLACED AT THE LEFT MARGIN. 
CLICK ON A TOPIC AND THE BLOG PAGE WILL COME UP IN A NEW WINDOW. 
WHEN DONE, CLOSE THE WINDOW TO RETURN HERE FOR ANOTHER CHOICE.

Introductory and Summary Comments
  My orientation to the job of getting the boundary segments just right
  The crude map from which we all have to work
  Another map, to show the rationale of the segments as they abut other jurisdictions
  Brings together the conclusions from the discussion of individual segments below
  I compare my conclusions with the Park's website map, though it is not official

  Instructions on how to access the map data
  There is no consensus on the Park/Navajo boundary

   2023 Boundary Rectification Proposals
   Four projects are introduced
   Actions to settle the line on the south (east) left river bank

Individual Segments
  Why that point? Ambiguities abound everywhere. ALL the river surface.
  The laws defining the Navajo reservation control the line at the river bank  
B. Is there an eastern Park boundary?
  The Park line was only proposed 
  How the Canyon's third National Monument came to be
  An artifact from J.W.Powell
  A complex boundary that has been the subject of many detailed negotiations
  An inadvertent change from Forest to Park
E: maps, law, reports on Beaver Falls being in Park  
  What a visitor needs to know to visit Beaver Falls
  The map and words are clear, but on the ground?
E: Correcting an error
  Beaver Falls is in the Park, Congress decreed 
E: More evidence on Beaver Falls
  Another report, from the Senate-House Conference, gives the Falls to the Park
E: Beaver Falls is IN THE Park 
       Here is why
E: More on Beaver Falls and the Park  

  A summary of the most contested segment; more detail below
  What the National Parks & Cons. Assoc. said about the Navajo & Hualapai lines
  Ignorance is not a good resource for boundary-drawing
  How on-the-ground knowledge can help
G: Revisiting the needed west boundary rectification
  A more detailed case for the change
  Trying to square a big-scale map and the bumps of the land
  What happened when Congress changed its mind
  Another close comparison of NPS maps
  Does the Park Service listen when a powerful senator speaks?
  This segment has been contested from the beginning; is it settled now?
  The Park should have come first; what if it had?
  Canyon and Forest; work still to be done
  A fiercely contested line from the 1920's
  Some abuts the Forest, some Bureau of Land Management lands



The Hualapai Controversy
New (January 2019) on Hualapai/GC National Park boundaries

Older, summary material: 
  An orientation to the elements of the Hualapai/GCNP river boundary dispute
  A quick run-through of the differing points of view on the GCNP/Hualapai river boundary
  Not one an FOTH would accept, and only up to the fight over Hualapai dam
  A full gathering of the arguments
  Including solicitor's opinions and Hualapai position papers
  Dates and my statement of events
  Haitat and adjudication
  How could the Park make such a mistake?
  High water line vs. low water line; which prevails
A 1973 discovery
  Relevant remarks by a GCNP Superintendent and a Hualapai vice chairman
A 1975 discovery
  The Solicitor is irrelevant; it is the Park boundary that Congress set






Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)