The Stilo development plan in Tusayan still faces some major hurdles. Those challenges have been outlined in a letter to the U.S. Forest Service from the Center for Biological Diversity.

Easements on Forest Service land are essential to the Stilo project which would add three million square feet of commercial space and thousands of new homes to the area. So far there are no indications as to where Stilo will get the water and that is the basis of the Center’s objection to the Stilo project. Here is a portion of the letter it sent to the Forest Service.

The right of way easement is the lynchpin that triggers the massive new development that will destroy the seeps and springs of the south rim. No easement, no Stilo development. No easement, no destruction….Insufficient water exists to support Stilo’s proposed development with harming the seeps and springs of the south rim. USGS 20071 and other studies establish the connectivity between the water pumped at Tusayan and the Grand Canyon National Park springs……The Center for Biological Diversity (“Center”) is a non-profit, public interest, conservation organization with more than 675,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. We are highly motivated to protect the seeps and springs of the south rim.”

The Center holds considerable sway in environmental issues and its findings and opinions are well-researched.  It’s concerns over the Stilo project could have a profound impact on the process.