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Administrative Boundaries

Above from left: Exterior boundaries of the Navajo Nation; grazing districts; Navajo Nation Chapters, and federal lands by controling agency in four corners region.

Administrative Boundaries

The Navajo Nation reservation is a complex mix of multi-jurisdictional administrative areas, established at different times and with different federal purposes and restrictions. There is a distinction between tribal land areas in which the federal government provides tribal trust responsibility services through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and non-tribal land areas (allotments and other federal public lands) in which the federal government acts as land manager through programs other than the BIA. There are also distinctions between types of tribal land due to specific regulations applicable ONLY to certain types of land, e.g. the 1974 Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act and resulting regulations, which removed the disputed area from the jurisdiction of tribal courts for many decades. Intent on governing, the Navajo Nation tribal government has attempted for years to bring all areas under a uniform tribal law that seem to have taken area-specific federal restrictions and applied it to all areas. Administrative boundaries, emphasizing self-determined, but not yet self-governing chapter communities, have been created by the Navajo Nation. 

Exterior Boundaries

The Navajo Nation today is roughly 17 million acres or 27,413 sq. miles in northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, and southeastern Utah, making it the largest reservation in the United States. It is made up of the contiguous reservation, including checkerboards, Navajo Partitioned Lands and New Lands; Ramah Navajo; and To’Hajiilee and Alamo satellite communities.

Lands within the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Nation are of complex types, added for distinct purposes, with distinct governance requirements, and even distinct governmental bodies that may be entirely federal, entirely tribal, or a combination. Land types are tribal trust lands, individual trust lands (allotments), and tribal ranches purchased with public funds. The external reservation boundaries also include federal and state public lands, railroad lands, and private (fee) lands, jurisdiction over some of these is unclear. Large areas of the reservation were established by different federal bodies at different times and are subject to different laws and sources of federal funds. 

When the Navajo Nation took over surface lease and permit management on tribal trust land on Big Navajo, it did so without federal funding support. The absence of federal funding has increased administrative difficulties and transferred land management costs to community users.

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Agencies (6)

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) administratively divides the Navajo Nation into 6 “Agencies,” maintaining field offices in each agency. All of the reservation, except for Ramah, is considered the BIA Navajo Region with with reservation field offices in Western Navajo, Shiprock, Chinle, Fort Defiance, and Eastern Navajo Agencies and main office is off-reservation in Gallup, NM. Ramah Navajo is part of BIA – Southwest. which serves multiple tribes and has a main office well to the east in Albuquerque. All BIA Agency boundaries are for administrative convenience and do not reflect geography, community, or culture.

Federal-Lands by Program/Agency

Due to losses in the Allotment Era, almost all lands in the BIA Eastern Agency are NOT tribal trust land. The allotments are “individual trust lands” as distinct from tribal trust lands. Each allotment includes both surface and subsurface rights. Being largely non-tribal federal land, they have the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as land manager implementing specific allotment regulations, and the Federal Indian Mineral Office (FIMO) as the federal royalties manager, both located within the Dept. of the Interior, but separate from the BIA. Yet there are also isolated parcels of tribal land among the allotments, which means the BIA is also involved. The BIA is not a land manager, but a provider of tribal trust responsibility services, either by direct service or by tribal contracting. The Eastern Agency is by its patchwork character nearly impossible to govern.

Above is the entire four-states region encompassing the Navajo Nation and the different federal agencies responsible for land management. Pink areas are tribal trust lands served by the BIA. These are distinct from public lands, whose land is directly managed by federal programs other than the BIA that may even fall under different departmental oversights, e.g. Dept. of Defense (military reservations) and Dept. of the Interior (most other federal public lands).  Different departments need specific agreements or legislation in order to work together. E.g. Forests, fish and wildlife abutting DOD military reservations are under DOI oversight, preventing self-sustaining military reservation communities from forming until the enactment of the Sikes Act (1960 and 1997).

Waterways

Above are the reservation’s rivers, highways, hills, flatlands, and farmable areas in the context of surrounding towns, cities and states. The small multi-color square patchworks in the New Mexico part of the reservation show mixtures of tribal trust lands and individual trust lands; and non-reservation lands (state public lands, BLM public lands, railroad and private non-Indian lands). In partnership with other federal departments, the BIA is primarily responsible for irrigation and water access projects attached to waterways, with many projects delegated to Navajo Nation tribal enterprises and government programs.

Grazing Districts (23)

There are 23 BIA-established grazing districts on the Navajo Nation. The first federal effort to regulate Navajo grazing was in 1934 (Taylor Grazing Act). New Lands and Tribal Ranches are not within the grazing district system and are not covered by the federal grazing regulations. Grazing is further broken down into 4 distinct administrative areas according to the primary enforcing body and the federal grazing regulations that apply to that area, with the Navajo Partitioned Lands subject to separate federal grazing regulations established in 2005. There are between 7,809 – 10,926 grazing permits authorized in sheep units, and issued in the names of individuals. 

BIA district boundaries were established in 1937 and accepted by the Navajo Nation Government in 1956, when the federal Navajo Grazing Regulations established at 25 CFR 167 were adopted by the Navajo Nation with 16 original grazing districts. Grazing regulations for Navajo Partitioned Lands were established in 2017 at 25 CFR Part 161; applying grazing requirements on the NPL separate from the rest of the Navajo Nation. 

The grazing districts are land management districts conceived as “natural units of land (drainages or sections thereof). Livestock grazing on the Navajo Nation requires an individual to possess a valid grazing permit issued by the BIA based on a recommendation from the Navajo Nation District Grazing Committees. The grazing regulation system was developed in 1944.

Off-reservation Tribal Ranches are not subject to the above regulations, but must comply with state agricultural laws. These include Crow Mesa Largo Ranch in NM (purple), and Espil Rach and Winslow Tract in AZ (green).

The grazing boundaries and permit system has displaced cultural management systems and is the source of ongoing suffering and conflict in Navajo families. In 1997, a USDA study, Conservation and Culture: The Soil Conservation Service, Social Science and Conservation on Tribal Lands in the Southwest (at pages 24-25), noted that as early as 1952, it had been known that the Navajo people capably managed a complex economy in social groups referred to by federal officials as “the Navajo Land Use Community,” which they believed was “a group of extended family land-use and management units based upon matrilineal ties,” in which they concluded “the required leadership and responsibility to assume the burden of correct land use practices is already present in the community.” Reports and studies at that time concluded that the grazing district system conflicted with traditional land use patterns, and aroused hostility and frustration among the Navajo people. 

Navajo Nation Agencies (5)

The Navajo Nation government has created 5 Navajo Nation Agencies that track BIA Agency region boundaries and are even called “Agencies” on the tribal map. While Ramah Navajo is its own BIA Agency, in the Navajo Nation system Ramah is part of the  Eastern Navajo Agency. 

Each Agency region has an advisory council that advocates for the chapters within that region. The Navajo Agencies are Western Navajo Agency, Shiprock Agency, Chinle Agency, Ft. Defiance Agency, and Eastern Agency.

Council Delegate Districts (24)

There are 24 Navajo Nation Council Delegate Districts. The Navajo Nation Council, Béésh bąąh dah siʼání) is the legislative branch of the Navajo Nation. It meets four times per year, with additional special sessions, at the Navajo Nation Council Chamber in Window Rock. The Navajo Nation Council largely follows the federal governmental legislative branch model, with a speaker, committees, general assembly, and votes following discussion and debate. 

The council is composed of 24 delegates representing groups of chapters in representative districts. (Note that Shiprock, Chinle and Tuba City are so large that they each are their own Council delegate district). 

Chapters (110) & Kayenta Township

In 1922, the federal government organized the reservation into 110 “chapters” in order to track population and livestock. Chapter boundaries are arbitrary, do not account for clans, matrilineal customary land uses, or seasonal migrations. Today, each of the 110 chapters is a “political subdivision” of the Navajo Nation, able to create community land use plans but, otherwise, lacking governance abilities.

Chapter representatives sit on advisory boards and committees, including the Navajo Agency Councils. Chapter officials are elected to advisory governmental roles. Chapters are further organized into certified and non-certified chapters under the Navajo Nation Local Governance Act, being “certified” under the LGA means greater local autonomy. 

In addition to the 110 chapters, is the Kayenta Township, regulated by a unique set of tribal pilot regulations. 

For further information on chapters, including topography and villages contained within them, please go to: Navajo Nation Dept of Fish & Wildlife RCP Chapter Map; Navajo Nation Wind (info); Navajo Family Voices (links and maps). 

Navajo Partitioned Lands – Precincts & Range Units

Map showing the 3 “precincts” and range units of the NPL

The Navajo Partitioned Lands (NPL) area encompasses three precincts with a total number of 914,554 acres. In October of 1973, the U.S. District Court of Arizona issued an Order of Compliance that cancelled all grazing permits on the former Navajo Hopi Joint Use Area. Since then, permits have been issued based on a specific criterion provided by congress and the Navajo Nation. The NPL is served under the general supervision of the BIA Navajo Region, with an office in Pinon, Arizona. 

Police Districts (7)

The Navajo Nation is divided into seven police response districts over vast remote areas: Chinle, Crownpoint, Dilkon, Kayenta, Shiprock, Tuba City, and Window Rock.

According to a 2021 Organizational Assessment, the Navajo Police Department (NPD) force of under 300 “simply does not have enough police personnel to respond optimally to demand from the 170,000 residents living in small communities spread across a vast country nearly the size of Portugal.” Between 2016-2020, there were 232,137 average service calls per year. Consistently, it is noted that police take hours to come. In one instance, a report of livestock being shot and killed by distant shooters was never responded. Officers feel very much at-risk when responding in geographical isolation. Recommendations include ensuring officer emotional survival, using chapters to scout officer talent, and implementing a “culturally responsive problem-solving policing.” NPD is a department of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and provides law enforcement services by contract delegation from the BIA. 

Court Districts (11)

 

The Navajo Nation is divided into 11 judicial districts, each with a district/family court. From the Public Guide to the Courts: The Navajo Nation is historically a clan-based society. However, during the detention of the Navajo People at Bosque Redondo during hwéeldi (1863-1868), Navajos were divided into twelve villages, each with a “chief” selected by governing military who collectively served as a jury, with the commander of Fort Sumner serving as the judge for those crimes. Upon the People’s release and return to our homelands, the village system evolved to a “chapter” based system established by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Judicial Districts of the Navajo Nation are each organized around constituent chapters.

In 1988, judicial districts in Chinle, Crownpoint, Kayenta, Shiprock, Tuba City, Window Rock, and Ramah were established. Ramah then included the satellite courts of Alamo and To’hajiilee. In 2006, the Alamo and Tó’hajiilee satellite courts became a distinct Judicial District.  In 2007, Dilkon and Aneth Judicial Districts were established. Finally, in 2012, the Dził Yijiin Judicial District, located at Pinon, Arizona, was established as the eleventh judicial district of the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation Supreme Court, the tribal court of appeals, is in Window Rock.

Allotment probates are NOT handled in this court system. Instead, they are administratively prepared by the BIA and probated in federal court.

Fire Services

Fire services on the Navajo Nation are separately managed by the Tribe, county, community or the BIA depending on area and type of service.  The BIA Branch of Wildland Fire Management  is responsible for wilderness fire suppression and response reservation-wide, with some coordination with Navajo Nation Forestry Department. Otherwise, the Navajo Nation Department of Fire & Rescue Services (NNDFRS) maintains the below 9 community fire stations, each with 10-15 volunteer firefighters and one to two paid firefighters:

  • Window Rock (Fire Station 10)
  • Fort Defiance (Fire Station 12)
  • Shiprock (Fire Station 20)
  • Newcomb (Fire Station 21)
  • Ojo Amarillo (Fire Station 22)
  • Tuba City (Fire Station 40)
  • Chinle (Fire Station 50)
  • Leupp (Fire Station 80)
  • Twin Arrows (Fire Station 81)

There are 2 remaining community stations at Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle (Fire Station 11), and Kayenta Township which are managed by San Juan County, NM and Kayenta Township, respectively.

Off-Reservation Tribal Ranches

Ranches purchased by the Tribe using public funds (off-reservation) are subject to the prevailing state law, and Navajo Nation livestock management laws. Federal regulations do not apply.

USDA SWRO FNS Region

The Navajo Nation is in the Southwest Region (SWRO) for USDA Food & Nutrition Services. 

Census – American Indian Areas

American Indian Areas in Denver Regional Census Area (2010)

The Navajo Nation is part of the Denver Regional Census Area. On the map above, the Navajo Nation is the beige area on the bottom half of the map. It is, by far, the largest Native American reservation by land area in the United States.