About 100 miles north of Flagstaff, Ariz., a long dirt road ends at a precipice. Thirty-five-hundred feet below, the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers meet at the floor of the Grand Canyon.

Developers are trying to broker a deal with the Navajo Nation to build on the eastern edge of the Grand Canyon. But many Hopi, Zuni and Navajo people consider the Navajo land sacred. Navajo leaders are divided over whether to allow desperately needed economic development on a place they believe to be holy.

The Grand Canyon Escalade proposal promises the tribe 3,200 jobs, a road, infrastructure and at least 8 percent of gross revenues. The trade-off: 420 acres of land considered holy by many tribal members.

But Whitmer says it is not a documented sacred site.

"Navajo and the Hopi, in their litigation with the federal government, have spent significant time — 50, 60 years — cataloging significant sacred sites. There are no significant sacred sites within the 420 acres," says Whitmer.