Who owns the Grand Canyon land?

Question

I heard a report today that America had sold this land ( and others)to pay off national debt. Does anyone know if this is true?

Answer 1

The short answer is that nearly all of the Grand Canyon is ultimately owned or controlled by the Federal Government which could (in theory) sell off any part of it. Congressman Richard Pombo (R-Cal) has at times proposed selling off large portions of the National Park system. The idea has not received a lot of support from either Democrats or Republicans and is very unlikely to happen soon, but given the country's financial and political trends, may be a definite possibility in the future.

Here are the details:

Most of the Grand Canyon (including the most famous portions like Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Trail, etc) is a National Park that was founded in 1919. National Parks are created by an act of Congress and are administered by the National Park Service. A small part of the northwestern Grand Canyon is covered by the Lake Mead Recreation Area (which is administered by the National Park Service). Any National Park service land could theoretically be sold off by an act of congress and this has happened in the past (for example, parts of Olympic National Park have been removed from the park for sale to timber compaines).

Most of the western end of the Grand Canyon is covered by the Hualapai Indian Reservation and the smaller Havasupai Indian Reservation (where the famous Havasu Falls are). Although indian reservations are theoretically the property of the tribes and semi-autonomous, the reservations themselves were created and defined by the Federal Government and are somewhat administered (at the federal level) by the Bereau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Although there would be many legal challenges, the federal government has in the past 'closed' reservations or forced changes to reservation rules to encourage the tribes to sell their lands to non-tribal members.

So, essentially ALL of the Grand Canyon is under the ultimate control of the Federal Government which could (theoretically) close and sell-off any of it.

The story floating around about National Parks being sold to pay for the national debt is based on some proposals by congressman Richard Pompo (see links below) who once proposed that a quarter of the National Park Service be sold off. This did not receive much support and was seen by some as being something of a publicity stunt although some extreme anti-government groups have seriously advocated the idea.

However, the possibility of much or all of the National Parks (and other public lands) being sold off in our life times is very real. Between the war in Iraq, a slowing economy, rising health care, and major tax cuts (really tax delays, because we are still spending the money and it will eventually have to be paid for) we are running up a huge national debt (currently at 8.5 Trillion dollars).

Large countries can run large debts for short periods of time (sometimes it is even necessary), but neither the war in Iraq, nor the tax cuts are likely to end soon, nor is it likely that the economy will boom big and long enough to cover both.

Next, throw in the fact that many high paying American jobs are moving overseas and a huge portion of our population (the baby boomers) will be retiring (and depending on federal benefits) over the next couple decades and you have a country that will likely fall into economic collapse within the next 10-20 years unless something major changes.

National Parks are like the canaries in a coal mine... if we do fall into serious economic decline, there is a very good chance that many National and State Parks would either be sold or turned over to private companies to run as for-profit amusment-like parks. Of course by that time, we will also be cutting Social Security and Medicare, cutting most major scientific and educational initiatives and watching much of the population (especially elderly who are dependant on federal support) fall into Depression-era poverty.

I hope this will not be the case, but 'hope' did not prevent the Great Depression and we are certainly currently living on borrowed economic time.

Answer 2

The Grand Canyon i believe is a National Park. The government did not sell the Grand Canyon. Trust me, something like that would have been in the "In The Headlines" on yahoo.com.

Answer 3

Probably not true. The national debt is HUGE and even thought he Grand Canyon is gorgeous, it won't make a dent in the debt. Besides, there are Hualapais down in parts of the Canyon and they wouldn't be very happy.

Answer 4

Horse Hockey.

No body sold anything like that but unless some body does something soon it's gonna be a real problem.

Answer 5

the government. It's a national park. national parks are owned by the national government and state parks by the state, etc.

Answer 6

never herad of that, but if no one owns it i'm going to start selling plots of it.

Answer 7

lol no its a park

Answer 8

It's MINE!!! keep out!!!

Answer 9

me!