Navajo wants Canyon de Chelly resolution repealed

ABOVE: Canyon de Chelly landowner and farmer Sophie B. Yazzie sits on her porch outside Chinle, AZ Thursday, August 21. Yazzie and her family are some of the most outspoken opponents to the Navajo Nation's plan to take over control of the canyon. BELOW: Justin Tso, owner of Justin's Horse Tours, stands with one of his horses Thursday, August 21 at Canyon de Chelly. Tso has been one of the most influencial proponents of the Navajo Nation's plan to reclaim control of Canyon de Chelly.— © 2008 Gallup Independent / Cable Hoover

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

CHINLE, Ariz. — On July 8, 1930, the Navajo Tribal Council assembled at Fort Wingate and approved legislation authorizing the president of the United States to establish Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Chinle.

On Monday, the Navajo Nation Council’s Intergovernmental Relations Committee in Window Rock voted 7-2 to repeal the enabling resolution. The proposed legislation still must be approved by Ethics & Rules Committee and the full Council.

The bill is sponsored by Resources Committee member Norman John II and co-sponsored by Resources Chairman George Arthur, who presented it to IGR.

Arthur said that when the Tribal Council approved the legislation, it did so with the realization that as an administration, it “didn’t have the expertise nor the capabilities in respect to finance and other issues at the time” to manage its uniqueness, its artifacts and ruins.

“Now, today, the committee feels that it’s time the Navajo Nation revisit the issue and revisit the assignment as requested back in 1930,” he said. “What would have to happen is we would need to request Congress to have a bill introduced to transfer the administrative functions of managing of the park.

“We also requested, in addition, to maintain whatever funding that the federal government allows through the National Park Service,” he said.

Chinle Delegate Andy Ayze told IGR that some of the canyon residents are opposed and still want government oversight. The chapter was divided, he said, but did approve a supporting resolution.

According to Arthur, the 1930 agreement said that the United States “would only be responsible for administering and managing of the park, as such, and everything else in the canyonlands and the park area would remain the same, meaning that the families would have access to their normal style of life and their everyday activities.”

Norman John said the Resources Committee has visited the chapter and residents, and some have appeared before the committee on numerous occasions to voice complaints.

Delegate Larry Noble, a member of Resources during the 20th Council, said the issue has been ongoing for the past six to seven years. Some of the people said they were not being listened to under the former park administration and “they didn’t like the way they were being treated,” Noble said.

Justin Tso of Chinle, who runs a horse tour operation at the park, is one who is not happy with federal oversight. A few years ago, Tso went through an ordeal with the National Park Service and Navajo Nation Rangers which resulted in his horses being confiscated. Since then, he says, he has a hard time trusting non-Natives.

A member of the Canyon de Chelly/Del Muerto Residents Association, which favors a Navajo takeover, Tso blames the former park superintendent for creating a division between residents. But he adds, “We’re all human. All we want to do is get along and live a peaceful life.

“My folks grew up in here, my great-grandfolks grew up in here. My dad worked for the National Park Service. My grandpa, Navajo John, he was the first Navajo into the canyon with tourists in 1931, not too long after the agreement was made.

“The way that people lived here, they loved each other, they respected one another. The reason I always feel that I want the Nation to take over is a place like this, the tribe has to see that they could gain a lot from this, not only financially, but with visitors coming here, we could have a real fine program.

“I always feel that the Navajo Nation can do it. We have educated people that can run a program,” he said. “Everybody should know this canyon is Navajo land. I feel that it’s our turn to put our full management into it.”
Sophie B. Yazzie, 94, grew up in the canyon and still farms there, hoeing and watering her plants.

“Way up where there’s the Twin Trails, that’s where I was born, they tell me. My clan is Kiyaa’aanii, and my dad was Salt Clan. Almost all my life, after being away for 40 years — I went to school and worked for BIA 30 years — I came back and started farming two places out there.”

She believes the Park Service is doing a good job managing the canyon and she’s not happy with the discord that has developed.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s just the imagination that the tribe would take over. They had it once before.” If the Navajo Nation takes it over, she wants to see it done in “a pleasant way.”

“The Park Service took over in 1930 and planted all those cottonwoods, the Russian olives. It was supposed to be erosion control, but nobody paid attention to it.

“Some of the people lived in there year-round. But us, we had sheep and we had to move around. After the government took over, they told us not to graze the sheep but once or twice a year. We had quite a number of sheep in those days, but now I don’t have one.

“In those days, too, people were so helpful. They worked together. We never heard anything like this in those days. So now, I guess, we’re just loaded with hatred and greed and want to take the canyon over.”

Adam Teller, president of the Joint Management Planning Team, is opposed to the way the transition is currently being handled. He said the team’s mission is to coordinate with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Navajo Nation, county and state in working together to manage the park.

“You know the old saying that we have too many chiefs and not enough warriors? That’s what’s happening here. We want to establish a team that can coordinate all these four agencies to work together so they can come to a uniform decision,” Teller said.

Yazzie’s daughter, Genny, said the group does support the Navajo Nation’s capabilities. “We know the Navajo Nation can take over the eventual transfer of Canyon de Chelly, however, it needs to be done in a caring and responsible way. That transition has to be organized, rather than the situation that it’s in now.”

She said the Resources Committee has just been listening to one side. “The current motivation to transfer is not right. It’s just really negative. I can see the transfer happening, but the purpose of the transfer must be understood. It must be beneficial for the canyon and the users of the canyon, whether they’re farmers, vendors, or tourists,

“We have to think positive and make that purpose positive, which includes strategic planning. I really believe the transition must be developed and implemented in a spirit of cooperation and a beneficial purpose to reflect the Navajo empowerment.”

One of the vendors at the park said Thursday that his only problem with the Park Service is that they won’t allow the vendors to put up umbrellas to shade them from the sun. “We just have to bake,” he said.

Cydny Martin, who supervises the National Park Service’s three superintendents that make up the Southern Four Corners Group which includes Canyon de Chelly, said recently, “The National Park Service would be happy to work with the Navajo Nation on a government-to-government basis regarding the Nation taking over the management of Canyon de Chelly.”

According to the 1930 agreement, the Park Service was limited in its administration of the national monument to the “care, maintenance, preservation and restoration of the prehistoric ruins, or other features of scientific or historical interest.”

It also was permitted to construct roads, trails or other structures or improvements as necessary for the administration and protection of the monument and to provide facilities for the care and accommodation of visitors.

Since that time, the Navajo people have “clearly demonstrated their competence and expertise in the administration and use of their land and resources for the benefit of the Navajo Nation,” the proposed legislation states. The Nation now has its own Division of Natural Resources.

“It remains central to the Navajo Nation’s sovereign integrity, self-determination and economic development for the Navajo Nation to assume full administrative responsibility for the Canyon de Chelly National Monument,” the legislation states.