ST. GEORGE — Pilots flying tours over Bryce Canyon National Park are encouraged to give an offering before they start their flights, a Native American cultural leader says.
The tribal consultation of the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians sent this message to park officials when public comment was sought by the National Park Service and Federal Aviation Administration for the Bryce National Park Air Tour Management Plan earlier this year.
“An offering is in the form of loose tobacco given to the land after saying a prayer or talking about why you are there,” Shanandoah Anderson, cultural manager of the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians, said. “When you are finished with your prayer, you sprinkle the tobacco onto the land.”
The document authorizes up to 515 air tours per year on defined routes over the park. Although there have been commercial air tours over Bryce Canyon for years, no defined operating guidelines exist.
Anderson said that pilots are asked to respect the traditions of the Native Americans by asking the land for good and safe travels while they are in the area.
“The Hoodoos in the area talk of a legend of bad people that were turned into stone by Coyote the trickster,” Anderson said. “The Southern Paiutes call the hoodoos ‘Red Painted Face’ in Paiute ‘Angka-ku-wass-a-wits.’ In later years the Paiutes called them ‘oohdoos,’ meaning something scary, like ghosts from the past. An offering would be left near them to ask for no harm while they were in the area.”
Peter Densmore, Bryce Canyon National Park spokesman, said the plan helps manage significant adverse impacts from commercial air tours on the park. He said the air tour management plan would safeguard natural resources, preservation of wilderness character and visitor experience.
“The plan’s purpose is to protect opportunities for park visitors to experience quiet and solitude in a remote natural setting,” Densmore said.
Anderson said there are traditional cultural properties in Bryce Canyon National Park within the area that has flyovers for the Southern Paiute tribes/bands and the neighboring tribes.
“Bryce Canyon (Unka-timpe-wa-wince-pock-ich) is a significant place to the Southern Paiutes in the spring, summer and fall months, living in the region harvesting all that the land had to offer,” Anderson said.
Densmore said an essential part of the process of the plan included Native American tribes. He said the park reached out to tribes with lands within or adjacent to Bryce Canyon. The park personnel also contacted tribes that attach historical and cultural significance to resources within the park.
Densmore said 20 tribes with traditional cultural affiliations to the park were invited to consult on the air tour management plan. Of the tribes, only one, the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians, elected to consult on the plan. Anderson provided that consultation.
The affiliated tribes invited to consult on the planning process include:
- Chemehuevi Indian Tribe
- Confederated Tribes of the Goshute
- Hopi Tribe of Arizona
- Indian Peaks Band of Paiute Indians
- Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians
- Kanosh Band of Paiute Indians
- Koosharem Band of Paiute Indians
- Las Vegas Tribe of Paiute Indians
- Moapa Band of Paiute Indians
- Navajo Nation
- Northwestern Band of Shoshone
- Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah
- San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe
- Shivwits Band of Paiute Indians
- Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians
- Southern Ute Indian Tribe
- Ute Indian Tribe of Uintah and Ouray
- Ute Mountain Tribe
- White Mesa Ute Community
- Zuni Tribe
The park service and the FAA sought public feedback on the draft air tour management plan. The park service and FAA also held a virtual public meeting to discuss the draft plan on Sept. 27, 2021. Densmore said that Bryce Canyon National Park Service received 448 responses during that comment period.
“We encourage those interested in how these comments informed the final plan to read the Record of Decision,” Densmore said, adding that this is available as a companion document to the final air tour management plan.
Densmore added the park would notify the air tour operators of the conditions under which they must operate. And there will be educational meetings that will include Anderson’s recommendation. He added the park would notify the air tour operators of the conditions under which they must operate.
The final air tour management plan is available at this link. Visit this park service website and this FAA website for more information about air tour management plans.
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