Post by Okwes on Aug 3, 2006 11:54:48 GMT -5
Battle Lines Drawn Over Paved Road At Grand Canyon
July 7, 2006 08:18 PM
www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5119798&nav=menu102_1
<http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5119798&nav=menu102_1>
[Grand Canyon West is an attraction run by the
Hualapai tribe who wants a paved road.] Grand Canyon West is an
attraction run by the Hualapai tribe who wants a paved road.
[Artist drawing of a skybridge over the Grand Canyon.] Artist
drawing of a skybridge over the Grand Canyon.
[Nigel Turner, Grand Canyon West Ranch owner opposes paved road.]
Nigel Turner, Grand Canyon West Ranch owner opposes paved road.
Also on klastv.com Grand Canyon West Ranch Grand
Canyon West
A hundred years ago, cowboys battled Indians in the American West, for
control of the land. A similar battle is underway right now.
At stake is millions of tourism dollars for Las Vegas-based companies,
as well as for the poverty-stricken Hualapai tribe, whose land includes
part of the Grand Canyon. But this story has a twist. The tribe is the
party that wants to pave the land, and it's the cowboys who are trying
to stop it.
The western rim of the Grand Canyon is not as well known but just as
spectacular as tourist-heavy national park venues, with jaw dropping
vistas in every direction, the Colorado River nearly a mile below. The
Hualapai tribe owns 106 miles of the canyon. Instead of pinning their
hopes on casinos, the Hualapai have put their financial eggs into the
tourism basket.
They've created Grand Canyon West, an attraction that already brings in
more than 200,000 visitors per year, most of them arriving by air from
Las Vegas. But tribe has much loftier goals.
"Our goal is to achieve well over 1 million visitors by 2008. We think
that is very possible," said Steve Beattie, Grand Canyon Resort Corp.
The reason for the optimism is this million-pound horseshoe sitting on
the edge of the canyon. Sometime in the next few months, it will be
attached to steel shafts in the canyon walls, then covered with glass to
create the skywalk, a bridge extending 70 feet out over the canyon,
providing visitors with one heck of a look down.
The attraction would be a major draw in Las Vegas, which is a mere
two-and-a-half hours by car from the west rim. When vehicles leave the
Hualapai property, they hit a 14-mile stretch of unpaved road and
disappear in a cloud of dust.
The road is the most direct route to Las Vegas. It's not too bad in most
places, but as the scars and grease marks on raised rocks suggest, many
an axle and oil pan has met its match here.
Assorted car parts litter the desert, and it's common to see broken down
motorists, even professional tour guides.
"We're doing off road driving. It's an occupational hazard," said one
tour guide. "It's a terrible road. I call it the road from hell," said
Steve Copolla who runs a roadside pit stop called The Place.
The tribe uses it as a park and ride spot where visitors can hope a
tribal shuttle to save the wear and tear on their own cars. But a
shuttle system isn't going to cut it in the long run.
"Without paving that road, we won't be able to draw the people we need
to make this project successful," said Charlie Vaughn, Hualapai
chairman.
So why can't the Indians just pave it? The cowboys won't let them.
More specifically, one cowboy, an English helicopter pilot named Nigel
Turner whose 100,000 acre ranch is smack dab in the path of the road.
Turner's Grand Canyon West Ranch is a hit with European tourists who
stay in his cabins or even tepees, watch real cowboys work cattle, zip
over the canyon aboard his choppers, and take sunset horseback rides up
the hill while being serenaded by cowpokes.
A paved road might mean more business for Turner, but he doesn't want
it. "Most of them are from Europe and don't want to drive on a paved
road. They're excited to drive rough dirt roads. Take a poll and
99.9-percent would say don't pave the road," Turner said.
Turner says the condition of the road helps to preserve the solitude
that is essential to his operation. He worries about the noise, trash,
and off-roaders that will come. Plus, he says, a wider paved road would
mean death to an estimated 10,000 Joshua trees, and would wipe out
Native American fire pits dating back 3600 years.
Both sides have accused the other of being greedy and underhanded. Both
argue the other doesn't care about the land.
George Knapp, Reporter
Grand Canyon West's Skywalk Project
<http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3652863&nav=menu102_1>
<http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3652863&nav=menu102_1> The
Hualapia tribe intends to build the world's only sky walk, a glass
bridge that will allow visitors to walk 4,000 feet above the canyon
floor.
More>> <http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3652863&nav=menu102_1>
July 7, 2006 08:18 PM
www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5119798&nav=menu102_1
<http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5119798&nav=menu102_1>
[Grand Canyon West is an attraction run by the
Hualapai tribe who wants a paved road.] Grand Canyon West is an
attraction run by the Hualapai tribe who wants a paved road.
[Artist drawing of a skybridge over the Grand Canyon.] Artist
drawing of a skybridge over the Grand Canyon.
[Nigel Turner, Grand Canyon West Ranch owner opposes paved road.]
Nigel Turner, Grand Canyon West Ranch owner opposes paved road.
Also on klastv.com Grand Canyon West Ranch Grand
Canyon West
A hundred years ago, cowboys battled Indians in the American West, for
control of the land. A similar battle is underway right now.
At stake is millions of tourism dollars for Las Vegas-based companies,
as well as for the poverty-stricken Hualapai tribe, whose land includes
part of the Grand Canyon. But this story has a twist. The tribe is the
party that wants to pave the land, and it's the cowboys who are trying
to stop it.
The western rim of the Grand Canyon is not as well known but just as
spectacular as tourist-heavy national park venues, with jaw dropping
vistas in every direction, the Colorado River nearly a mile below. The
Hualapai tribe owns 106 miles of the canyon. Instead of pinning their
hopes on casinos, the Hualapai have put their financial eggs into the
tourism basket.
They've created Grand Canyon West, an attraction that already brings in
more than 200,000 visitors per year, most of them arriving by air from
Las Vegas. But tribe has much loftier goals.
"Our goal is to achieve well over 1 million visitors by 2008. We think
that is very possible," said Steve Beattie, Grand Canyon Resort Corp.
The reason for the optimism is this million-pound horseshoe sitting on
the edge of the canyon. Sometime in the next few months, it will be
attached to steel shafts in the canyon walls, then covered with glass to
create the skywalk, a bridge extending 70 feet out over the canyon,
providing visitors with one heck of a look down.
The attraction would be a major draw in Las Vegas, which is a mere
two-and-a-half hours by car from the west rim. When vehicles leave the
Hualapai property, they hit a 14-mile stretch of unpaved road and
disappear in a cloud of dust.
The road is the most direct route to Las Vegas. It's not too bad in most
places, but as the scars and grease marks on raised rocks suggest, many
an axle and oil pan has met its match here.
Assorted car parts litter the desert, and it's common to see broken down
motorists, even professional tour guides.
"We're doing off road driving. It's an occupational hazard," said one
tour guide. "It's a terrible road. I call it the road from hell," said
Steve Copolla who runs a roadside pit stop called The Place.
The tribe uses it as a park and ride spot where visitors can hope a
tribal shuttle to save the wear and tear on their own cars. But a
shuttle system isn't going to cut it in the long run.
"Without paving that road, we won't be able to draw the people we need
to make this project successful," said Charlie Vaughn, Hualapai
chairman.
So why can't the Indians just pave it? The cowboys won't let them.
More specifically, one cowboy, an English helicopter pilot named Nigel
Turner whose 100,000 acre ranch is smack dab in the path of the road.
Turner's Grand Canyon West Ranch is a hit with European tourists who
stay in his cabins or even tepees, watch real cowboys work cattle, zip
over the canyon aboard his choppers, and take sunset horseback rides up
the hill while being serenaded by cowpokes.
A paved road might mean more business for Turner, but he doesn't want
it. "Most of them are from Europe and don't want to drive on a paved
road. They're excited to drive rough dirt roads. Take a poll and
99.9-percent would say don't pave the road," Turner said.
Turner says the condition of the road helps to preserve the solitude
that is essential to his operation. He worries about the noise, trash,
and off-roaders that will come. Plus, he says, a wider paved road would
mean death to an estimated 10,000 Joshua trees, and would wipe out
Native American fire pits dating back 3600 years.
Both sides have accused the other of being greedy and underhanded. Both
argue the other doesn't care about the land.
George Knapp, Reporter
Grand Canyon West's Skywalk Project
<http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3652863&nav=menu102_1>
<http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3652863&nav=menu102_1> The
Hualapia tribe intends to build the world's only sky walk, a glass
bridge that will allow visitors to walk 4,000 feet above the canyon
floor.
More>> <http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3652863&nav=menu102_1>