About Native Voices

Can you provide more details about the spirit world at Deer Creek? (Response at GTS 2008).

Please tell us more about the Paiute ancestry at Deer Creek. Can you tell us about the handprints in white? Do you have any old stories about John Wesley Powell? Of the three men who hiked away from Powell’s trip in 1869 at “Separation Canyon”?

Did the Paiute who live near Death Valley in California now used to live in the Grand Canyon?

According to Kaibab Paiute, areas are sacred but can be visited yet need to be respected. Clarify appropriate behavior.

Why is it considered disrespectful to enter the narrows? Is there a way it could be explored that would be considered honoring the sacredness of the space?

What are the “new age artifacts” to which Ms. Homer of the Kaibab Paiute tribe referred? Cairns? Balance rocks?

Was Granite Park a gathering place for the Hualapais and Paiutes?

You mentioned uranium mining approval. Can you give us more information regarding that?

Please describe the Peach Festival. When is it? How long does it last? Is it open to the public?

What is being done at Havasupai campground to process human waste? Urban legend says the water quality in Havasu Creek is poor, because of the campground.

The bighorn sheep is considered sacred. For what reason?

Zuni
Why do your current elders believe your people are beginning the process of leaving earth?

How and when was the rock art panel at Whitmore Wash identified as the Zuni creation story?

I’d like to hear more about the water strider (Zuni grand father).

How do you balance the Hualapai’s need or income with maintaining the integrity of the Grand Canyon and Colorado River? (Response at GTS 2008).

Is it true that Hualapai Tribe is exploring the possibility of a road into National Canyon?

Why is Spencer Canyon sacred to Hualapais?

Hualapai suggests excavating an archaeological site at river mile 204, river left. Do other tribes share the view that it is OK to disturb these sacred sites?

How do you balance the Hualapai’s need for tourism income (e.g. Skywalk, river running, dock building, and helicopter tourism) with maintaining the ecological and spiritual integrity of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River?

Was Granite Park a gathering place for the Hualapais and Paiutes?

General Questions

Tribal Identities
What are the various Native American names for the Grand Canyon? (Response)

How are all the tribes connected?

On the Native Voices website, will you list the “greeting” for each tribe, how to pronounce it and what it translates to?

The name Anasazi has been changed to ancient puebloans in part because the Zuni consider the Anasazi their ancestors, as do the Hopi. Can you tell us how Zuni and Hopi are related?

From my experience on a Hopi trip with GCMRC in 1997 working as a guide, the elders were deeply disturbed by the use of the word “Anasazi” to refer to their ancestors – yet Jason used that word throughout his presentation. I’ve been referring to those people who lived in the canyon (to my passengers especially) as Puebloans. Is there any consensus between you as to what we or how you’d prefer we refer to the “Puebloans”?

Sacredness
Are there sacred areas within Native American lands that are considered to be off limits or should be off limits to non-Native Americans?

Is the mouth of Diamond Creek sacred to any tribe?

I know Vulcan’s Anvil is sacred to many tribes. How do you feel about all the trinkets left at the anvil by river trips?

Why do ask that people other than your tribe not visit religious natural sites? Can’t other people respect and appreciate their sites without harming the site for you? We do care about the canyon. From the river comes the water (of the river). Peeing in the river (besides out perspective of dilution is the solution to pollution) could also be seen a returning the water to the same source. Just some thoughts on your perspective.

Archaeology
What kinds of legends are told by tribes about sites along the river? (Response at GTS 2008)

Do Native Americans believe that archaeological sites should be left in state or repaired or reconstructed?

What is your position on the National Park Service confiscating artifacts from archaeological sites?

When people moved on from a dwelling site, were pots intentionally destroyed? Were some taken along and others destroyed?

What lesson or message do you want us to learn and pass on to passengers? (Response at GTS 2008).

What are your opinions on what guides should or should not do when on the Colorado River? (Response at GTS 2008).

As Grand Canyon River Guides, do you think we are good stewards of the canyon? How can we improve?

What lesson / message do you want us to learn and pass on to passengers?

What is one of the most disrespectful offensive actions we should avoid doing and have our passengers not do in order to be respectful?

If there was one “thing” – piece of information, concept, idea you would appreciate we share with our passengers, what would that be? I am aware the way I conduct myself in the canyon speaks volumes about honoring and respecting the “spirit of the place”, and every trip is a spiritual one for me – and usually is one for passengers, though they may come to the river without the expectation of such a deep experience. This trip may be the deepest sense of connection many folks ever experience with natures, the outdoors. Many leave with a desire to maintain that connection and increase their knowledge and awareness of “your” perspectives… Guess I’m looking for a website, books, a way or place to connect their experience to their every day world. Sorry I rambled. Maybe it’s more an idea than a question.

Aren't they poverty stricken, and don't they all have casinos?

A lot of Easterners, and definitely Europeans, truly believe the American Indian is a savage and that's why we all read stories, legends, coyote tales, etc., etc.