Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Black Mesa Alert "Black Mesa Alert Campaign Fax, Call, Email & Write"

Last week the Hopi BIA's (Keams Canyon) Fred Chavez stated that starting Monday Feb. 15th "BIA impoundment trailers are now moving up to HPL to confiscate all illegal Dine'h livestock." Recent reports say BIA personnel are already on the HPL designating which herds will be taken.

Dine'h families who have not signed AA leases have had their ranging permits revoked and then reissued. Livestock limits were lowered after the drought's effect on the land was studied by the BIA. Dine'h "tenants" and non-signers have been ordered to reduce herds below subsistence levels for their extended families, or face impoundment.

Supporters are concerned these impoundments are timed to intimidate Dine'h into relocating the the "New Lands" near Sanders, AZ. Those who haven't signed AA leases were given notice in November to pick a relocation site or one will be chosen for them. They face forced eviction in 1999 or 2000. Dine'h who did sign the so-called "Accommodation Agreement" also have until February 1, 2000 to change their minds and relocate.

Elders Roberta Blackgoat and Pauline Whitesinger received 90-day eviction notices that expire in March. They are not court orders to move, however.

"This is no surprise to anybody" said Robert Caroline, BIA in Phoenix, "these people have been warned long ago to reduce their herds," seemingly echoing the Office of Navajo- Hopi Indian Relocation about evictions.

These impoundments will take place in the cold of winter when food supplies may be low and before sheep can be sheared or calved. It is comparable to police taking your groceries for the next year by force.

Dine'h livestock on the HPL have already been reduced over 95 percent. Yet ranchers graze livestock on federal lands with little restriction at minimal cost. US taxpayer monies pay to put Dine'h sheep, cattle and horses in jail with bail that compounds daily. Reports of mistreatment while in custody have been documented and posted on the following web site: http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm.

Dine'h sheep grazing has been blamed for erosion in the area despite a record of drought and erosion cycles going back millennia (check out the Grand Canyon for example). No account has been made to the fact that reservation and grazing district fences have restricted the carrying capacity of the land for growing herds and Dine'h families. Formerly a shifting agriculture more suited for the high desert, Dine'h have found themselves increasingly enclosed, so that now the AA "tenant" home sites have been surveyed and staked to 3-acre plots of their former lands.

When the Navajo Reservation, Hopi Reservation and former Joint Use Area (now known as Hopi or Navajo Partition Lands) were created by the US, it was with little consideration that these tribes would survive and grow and would need more resources now denied them by white ranchers and settlers.

Forced reductions basically amounts to punishing the Dine'h for surviving Kit Carson's Long Walk and then thriving since their return in 1868.

When speaking with the BIA, be polite but ask the distressing questions. How can the BIA say the livestock impoundments are not meant to pressure the Dine'h off the HPL when it's the Hopi Tribe deciding allowable herd levels while simultaneously pushing Dine'h eviction proceedings?

If the BIA helps the Hopi Tribe with livestock impoundments then how can the Dine'h on the HPL tell if the BIA doesn't want to move them too?

Will the BIA encourage the Hopi Tribe to work directly with Dine'h on the HPL to negotiate a balance of all concerns? Why not, if it doesn't cost the BIA anything, and it would avoid causing undue hardship?

The Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington DC have decided that they want to get involved in finding a peaceful negotiation to range management issues on the HPL. When contacting the BIA in WDC or Phoenix encourage them to develop a plan to facilitate negotiations about livestock ranging on the HPL. Emphasize that they must work directly with the Dine'h living on the HPL when working out realistic solutions to this land use issue.

Call these BIA officials asking them to stop live-stock impoundments:

Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary,
Bureau of Indian Affairs
1849 C St. NW
Washington DC 20240
Phone: (202) 208-7163
FAX: (202) 208-6334
URL: http://www.doi.gov/bia/as-ia.htm

Robert Caroline
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Phone: (602) 379-4511

Wayne Nordwall, Regional Director
The Phoenix Regional Office,
Bureau of Indian Affairs
P.O. Box 10, Phoenix, AZ 85001 USA
Phone: (602) 379-6605 or (602) 379-6600
FAX: (602) 379-3886
Email: wayne_nordwall@mail.bia.gov

Fred Chavez,
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Keams Canyon
Phone: (520) 738-2225 (ext. 223)
FAX: (520) 738-2249
Or
Robert Caroline
Keams Canyon BIA
Phone: (520) 738-2228
FAX: (520) 738-5522

If you are considering traveling Black Mesa and staying with a Dine'h family, contact ISCO or BMIS, there is a lot to cover in preparation. If you want to help in your own community in Oregon, contact us to plan a presentation or for other help. There are a lot of things we can do and we can all be part of the solution to stop forced relocation for good!

Contact:
Indigenous Support Coalition of Oregon
c/o Beth Newberry
P.O. Box 11715
Eugene, OR 97440
Phone/Voice Mail/FAX:(541) 607-7064 (Call to prearrange fax.)
Email: isco@efn.org