The Grand Canyon could be getting a mall and conference rooms

The natural masterpiece faces a 'battery of threats'

(Getty)

The Grand Canyon, one of the world's most beautiful and thrillingly empty areas on the planet, could soon be getting a $1 billion entertainment complex encompassing a mall, hotel, restaurants, meeting rooms and an IMAX cinema.

Described as a 'tourism destination development', The Grand Canyon Escalade would be built on the east rim and take visitors down to an elevated riverwalk on the Canyon floor via a gondola tramway.

It is being designed to "enable public access to the majestic Grand Canyon while minimizing adverse environmental impacts and preserving historical, cultural and religious areas on or in the Canyon," or as the Daily Beast puts it, to "provide easy access to both a fragile ecosystem and sacred place to Native Americans."

The Grand Canyon Escalade's land use plan

A rendering of where the tramway will be located

'Unspoilt beauty' may be a clichéd term but it's an important one, and it's hard to imagine how the development could not have a negative effect on the canyon however sensitively it is designed.

The Escalade "will be visible from six of the seven eastern viewpoints in the National Park," the developers' brag, who hope to sell up to two million annual tram tickets.

The proposal has some support from members of the Navajo tribe, albeit ones tied up in corruption and judicial misconduct charges, but a tide of people opposing it.

Action group Sum Of US has set up a petition addressed to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell calling for this "natural masterpiece" to be producted from this "unprecedented level of development". You can add your signature here.

@christophhooton