Category Archives: Grand Canyon

CAVIAT Board Vacancy at Grand Canyon Unified School District

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FLAGSTAFF – Coconino County Superintendent of Schools Risha VanderWey is seeking applicants for appointment to the Coconino Association for Vocations, Industry and Technology (CAVIAT) Governing Board. One vacant seat is eligible to residents of the Grand Canyon Unified School District.

Per CAVIAT Bylaws, the appointment will be a four-year term ending Dec. 31, 2020.

Applicants must be Arizona registered voters and residents of the school district for at least one year prior to the date of appointment. Applicants or their spouses can’t be an employee of the district.

Application information:
· Download the application here http://www.coconino.az.gov/schoolboardapplication
· Deadline to submit is Monday, March 13 by 5 p.m.
· Submit by email kgraves@coconino.az.gov (Live signature original required)
· Submit by fax 928-526-1469 (Live signature original required)
· Mail/drop off Coconino County School Superintendent, 2384 N Steves Blvd, Flagstaff, AZ 86004

An advisory committee, consisting of district residents and a current board member will be assembled to conduct interviews and advise Superintendent VanderWey on the appointment.

For more information, please call Kim Graves at the Office of the Coconino County School Superintendent at 928-679-8070 or e-mail: kgraves@coconino.az.gov.

Grand Canyon hosts Native American celebration and waives fees on Veterans Day

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640-grand-canyon-veterans-1GRAND CANYON — On Wednesday, November 9, Grand Canyon National Park will host a Native American Indian Heritage Celebration with special presentations and demonstrations. Grand Canyon visitors and residents are invited to participate in this special day to recognize and celebrate the many accomplishments, contributions, and sacrifices made by First Americans.

From 10 am to 3 pm at Shrine of the Ages, visitors can see cultural demonstrations and buy direct from artists. The celebration continues at 7:30 pm at Shrine of the Ages with presentation of colors by the Cameron Veterans Color Guard, a traditional Hopi prayer, the Dupkia Hopi Dancers, the Dishchii’bikoh Apache Crown Dancers, and the Havasupai Guardians of the Grand Canyon Ram Dancers. To end the evening, enjoy Dine Nation’s Milton Tso playing traditional flute music. All Native American Indian Heritage celebration events are free and open to the public.

Later in the week, and in honor of those that serve and have served in the United States military, Grand Canyon National Park will offer everyone free entrance on Veterans Day Friday, November 11.

Fee-free designation applies to entrance fees only and does not affect fees for camping, reservations, tours, or use of concessions. Park entrance stations will have the Interagency Senior and Annual passes available for those who wish to purchase them. Visitors who plan to spend time in the park beyond November 11 will need to pay the regular entrance fee the remainder of their stay.

This is the last fee-free day of 2016. Fee-free days for 2017 have not been announced yet. Once those dates are announced, they will be posted here: http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm.

Rock Fire on Tusayan Ranger District growing due to dry conditions

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Overview of fire looking southeast. Photo taken Aug. 7, 2015, by Brandon Oberhardt. U.S. Forest Service, Southwestern Region, Kaibab National Forest.

Overview of fire looking southeast. Photo taken Aug. 7, 2015, by Brandon Oberhardt. U.S. Forest Service, Southwestern Region, Kaibab National Forest.

TUSAYAN — Dry conditions over the last few days have led to increasing activity on a lightning-caused wildfire on the Tusayan Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest. The 1,581-acre Rock Fire is growing within boundaries established for it and is being managed for multiple objectives including allowing natural fire to play its role as a disturbance factor in the ecosystem, enhancing wildlife habitat, improving forest health, and reducing the potential for future high-intensity wildfires. There are no closures associated with the Rock Fire.

The Rock Fire, which was started by lightning July 31, is located south of the Coconino Rim about 15 miles southeast of the Town of Tusayan and is burning at a low-to-moderate level of intensity through an area dominated by ponderosa pine trees.

Fire managers plan to allow the wildfire to take its natural course within predefined boundaries in order to help restore ecological balance across the landscape. Over the last few days, firefighters completed burn out operations along Forest Road 316 in anticipation of the wildfire’s growth in that direction. FR 316 serves as the eastern boundary of the planning area within which the Rock Fire will be held.

Today firefighters conducted burn out operations along FR 2762, which serves as the western boundary of the planning area, in advance of the fire’s natural spread. This will ensure fire managers are able to keep the Rock Fire within pre-determined perimeters over the next several days as dry conditions in the forecast indicate that the wildfire will be active. Firefighters also continue to prepare for the fire’s likely spread by lining archaeological sites, range fences, trick tanks, and any other potentially fire-sensitive resources near the fire area. This important work ensures that as the Rock Fire grows, it won’t negatively impact other values in the area.

Given dry conditions in the forecast for the next few days, the Rock Fire is expected to burn actively and produce smoke that is visible from Cameron, Tuba City, Valle and Highway 64.

Kaibab Lodge hosts annual Star Party

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supermoonGRAND CANYON, NORTH RIM — The Kaibab Lodge will host the 7th Annual Star Party June 13-20 located at the lodge, just five miles from the entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park North Rim.

Astronomers from the Saguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) will be on hand with telescope to help visitors navigate the night sky. SAC is one of the larger amateur astronomy clubs in the Phoenix area.

“The sky here at the Grand Canyon is ideal for observing other planets, stars, nebulas, globular clusters, and many, many other objects in the night sky,” said Ellen Winchester, Kaibab Lodge owner and event host.

The Star Party will begin each evening with a lecture from 7 to 8 p.m. at the DeMotte Campground amphitheater followed by the viewing at 9 p.m.

Opening night will commence with a Star Party cookie party featuring regular and gluten free triple-chocolate “Deep Dark Secrets on a Starry Night” homemade cookies. Each night a pair of “El Winchester” earrings, designed especially for the Star Party, will be given away as a door prize.

“The Star Party is a wonderful educational event for the community. We especially welcome any children interested in astronomy. This is a fun and interesting science field trip, and a great opportunity to spend some quality family time together,” said Winchester.

Additional upcoming outdoor events on the Kaibab Plateau include:

Grand Canyon Ultra Marathon, 100 Mile Race, May 16-17
For more information: www.grandcircletrails.com

Rainbow Rim Trail Extension Volunteer Work Weekend, May 23-25
For more information: www.tinyurl.com/RainbowRim2015

7th Annual Star Party, June 13-20
For more information: www.kaibablodge.com

Grand Canyon Fat Tire Festival, 56 and 100 Mile Mountain Bike Races, June 19-20
For more information: www.gcfattirefestival.com/

SR 64 east of the Grand Canyon National Park reduced to one lane

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Grand_CanyonGRAND CANYON — Motorists traveling on State Route 64 just east of the Grand Canyon National Park can expect delays up to 30 minutes while the Arizona Department of Transportation crews apply a pavement preservation treatment on the roadway this Wednesday and Thursday, May 6-7 between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m.

During the work, one lane of travel will be closed with a pilot car providing for alternating travel through the work zone. ADOT advises motorists to allow for extra travel time and observe posted restrictions while crews work in the area.

Kiwanis Club Arts & Craft fair at Rodeo Barn

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Tuesday Events 2015-04-21 002WILLIAMS — The Kiwanis Club of WIlliams Gateway to the Grand Canyon Arts & Craft Fairis coming to the Rodeo Barn across the street from Old Trails Hardware store on Rodeo Road. The fair will be Saturday May 16 10 to 7 p.m. and Sunday May 17 10 to 3 p.m. You should be able to find a handicrafted gift for any occassion.

The proceeds from this event benefit the Children’s scholarship and activities such as the annual holiday dinner. Vendors can contact Cookie at 928-699-9036.

Kaibab National Forest seeks comments on adding camping corridors

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WILLIAMS — The Kaibab National Forest is seeking public comments on an Environmental Assessment released today that analyzes the potential effects of adding camping corridors and making other changes to the transportation system of the Williams and Tusayan ranger districts.

The document and background information are available on the Kaibab National Forest website at http://go.usa.gov/kpQV. The 30-day comment period begins today and runs through May 11.

Specifically, the Kaibab National Forest is proposing to:

  • Designate approximately 291 miles of camping corridors along all or portions of several system roads on both districts. The corridors would extend 200 feet from either side of the centerline of the road, except where limited by topographical factors, resource concerns or private land.
  • Add 15 spur roads to the open road system on the Tusayan district. These spurs total 1.3 miles and would provide access to areas historically used for motorized camping.
  • Close approximately 9 miles of currently open roads across the two districts.
  • Add approximately 16 miles of roads to the open road system across the two districts. This includes 12 miles of formerly closed roads and 4 miles of user-created routes.
  • Develop an adaptive management strategy for making future changes to the transportation system for the two districts based on changing needs and/or new information.

Besides the proposed action, the Environmental Assessment also analyzes the potential effects of other alternatives such as varying corridor widths.

The proposed action and alternatives were all developed based on several years of monitoring following implementation of the Travel Management Rule on the two districts, which included documenting public concerns about recreational access and other issues.

Additional information and methods to submit comments are available at http://go.usa.gov/kpQV

Gosar submits bill for cull hunt of bison at Grand Canyon

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(Because of the deadline for this article, the office of Representative Gosar could not be reached for comment)

White Bison at Bearizona Wildlife Park.

White Bison at Bearizona Wildlife Park.

WASHINGTON — In 1906, Charles “Buffalo” Jones brought bison to northern Arizona in an unsuccessful attempt to breed them with cattle. The descendants of these bison have been managed since 1950 by the state of Arizona in the House Rock Wildlife Area (HRWA) on the Kaibab National Forest, through an inter-agency agreement with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In 1990 the 1990 the bison started moving to the top of the Kaibab Plateau and into the Grand Canyon National Park.

The Grand Canyon National Park began a request for input on a Bison Management Plan that ended in June of 2014. The effort was an attempt to balance their mission to secure natural vegetation, archeological sites and water resources while maintaining the bison as wildlife.

On March 18, Paul Gosar [R-AZ-4] submitted H.R. 1443 (S. 782 in the Senate by McCain) to permit a cull hunt for Bison at the Grand Canyon National Park.

The bill calls for the Secretary of the Interior to publish a management plan for Bison no later than 180 days after H.R. 1443 is enacted. The plan would be to reduce, through humane lethal culling by skilled public volunteers and other non-lethal means the population of Bison in the park.

Skilled public volunteers are defines as those with a valid hunting license issued by the State of Arizona and other qualifications the Secretary may require after consulting with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Kirby Shedlowski, Acting Public Affairs Officer at Grand Canyon National Park, said, “In order have allowed cull, there’s usually a very large management planning process.”

She said, “There has never been a cull hunt for bison at the Grand Canyon. There has been a cull on the forest. On the Kaibab Forest on the north side.”

Kirby said she was not sure of cull hunts for Bison in other parks, such as Yellowstone. “There are different culling hunts in different parks for different animals. Rocky Mountain did it for elk. Rock Creek Park has done it for white-tail deer. Getteysburg has done it for white-tail deer. But, as far as Bison go—I’m not sure. But Grand Canyon National Park has never had a cull for Bison.”

Marvelous Marv on the road to the Canyon

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The Marvelous Van

The Marvelous Van

WILLIAMS — It’s spring time and visitors are taking advantage of the private, guided tour of the Grand Canyon given by Marvelous Marv’s Private Grand Canyon Tour.

Marvelous Marv has been conducting tours to the Grand Canyon for well over thirty-years. He adjust the tour length to the time you have and picks you up where ever you are staying in Williams. He even gives you a disk of pictures he has taken over the years.

Marv’s Marvelous Van is equipped with a DVD system which plays educational videos on the trip to and return from the Canyon. When you arrive, he explains features and history of the Canyon. You then have time to wander, take photos or just enjoy the splendor of the Grand Canyon.

NPS Photo.

Marv does not just give tours in the spring and summer. His tours are available all year, weather permitting. He often laments that people do not take advantage of the beauty of the Grand Canyon during the “off-season.” The changing climate of the Canyon during the fall and winter provide some spectacular views such as the recent inversion layer witnessed.

If you do not get a reservation to his tours, there is always the Grand Canyon Railway and Jeep tours. You can sign up for the Pink Jeep Tours in downtown Williams.

One way or another, if you visit Williams we can get you to the Grand Canyon.

Friends of the NRA selling raffle tickets

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friends-nra-drawWILLIAMS – The Grand Canyon Friends of the NRA is selling tickets for your choice between two guns. Tickets are $10 each or 3 for $20. Only 200 tickets will be sold and there are less than 100 left. The drawing will take place when all tickets are sold.

The winner will have their choice between two weapons. The Ruger American bolt action rifle in .308 caliber or Soeger P350 pump action 12 gauge shotgun.

The winner must be able to comply with all State and federal laws concerning firearms. Must be at least 18-years old and able to pass background check.

The group is also gearing up for their annual dinner at Doc Holiday’s in Williams. The dinner is August 1 and the doors open at 4:30 p.m. Tickets must be purchased in advance.

The Grand Canyon Friends of the NRA supports sport shooting events in the northern Arizona area.

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Williams Wear inside Buck’s Place at 117 W Route66 in downtown Williams.