Far above the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, the Hualapai Indians are building a spectacularly enormous glass-bottom walkway in the shape of a horseshoe that will allow visitors walk out over the canyon at 4,000 feet, or four times the height of downtown's Library Tower. For a $25 fee, you'll be able to feel like Wile E. Coyote when he runs out over a canyon and doesn't realize he's groundless. Predictably, there are people who are displeased with the project, calling it a tacky eyesore, as the L.A. Times reports. The Hualapai, like a lot North American Indians, want to be self-sustaining. Understandably so, but fears of overdevelopment are prevalent, even among the tribe:
Joe Powskey, a Hualapai guide who takes tourists through a newly built Indian village adjacent to the Skywalk construction site, said that although growth was necessary to give the tribe an economic base, tribal leaders needed to be careful not to overdo it.
[...]
Powskey said he was aggrieved to see visitors step down from buses and toss cigarette butts around the rim. "We ask people not to smoke. They do. We tell them not to throw cigarettes around; the bones of our ancestors are buried here."
The quote refers to the general abuse tourists inflict upon the canyon, sign of a wider problem than a single project meant to give a struggling native nation an economic boost. * Graphic from LATimes.com