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Hopi Partition Lands, AZ - Privately sponsored drought relief efforts have begun for more than 50 Dineh (Navajo) families currently living on Hopi Partition Lands (HPL) of the Hopi Reservation.

A joint project of the Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, a grazing association of Dineh weavers, and the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church (funds made available by the United Methodist Committee on Relief), the hay run, arriving in Hardrock this Thursday and Friday from Window Rock, NM will provide enough feed to sustain Dineh flocks for the next month.

"These are very small subsistence herds", said Carol Halberstadt co-founder of the Black Mesa Weavers, "the BIA estimates that there are 2200 sheep in excess of the permitted amount set in 1996. The permitted numbers can mean as few as 5 sheep per person, well below the number needed for subsistence estimated at 30 per person."

Reverend Travis Kendall, representative of the Desert Southwest Conference of the UMC commented, "through no fault of their own these families are faced with lack of resources to continue their way of life and survival. This is a tragedy."

Since the declaration of drought disaster areas throughout the state of Arizona, which include the Hopi Partition Lands, residents of these areas are now eligible for emergency watershed protection. Both the Hopi and Navajo Tribal Councils, however, have yet to apply for such relief. Hopi officials say it will likely take until October to get approval from the Tribal Council.

The hay run comes after an apology issued by Kevin Gover, Assistant-Secretary of the BIA for the agency’s participation in "ethnic cleansing" of western tribes: "Never again will we be complicit in the theft of Indian property…Never again will we attack your religions, your languages, your rituals, or any of your tribal ways".

But many question the integrity of Gover’s statement: "If the BIA has pledged to uphold the sanctity of Native peoples and their religions, why are Dineh hogans being destroyed? Why are Dineh not allowed to bury their dead on their ancestral land? Why is their traditional life being threatened by mineral exploration? And why, in the face of drought is the only source of drinking water for all of Hopi, Dineh on HPL, Tuba City, Kayenta and Moenkopi being drained by the Peabody coal slurry line operating for the past ten years without a permit under 'administrative delay' by the Department of the Interior?" asks Sharon Lungo of the Action Resource Center, and supporter of Dineh on HPL.

"If the BIA intends to uphold its promises, it should begin by ensuring that Dineh people are able to feed and maintain their livestock, their very way of life, without the threat of confiscation.” Said Lungo.