Land Base Formation Timeline

Dinétah – Ancestral Homelands

Dinétah, the ancestral homeland of the Diné people between the Sacred Mountains, has the literal translation: Among the People. Dinétah encompasses a large area of northwestern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, southeastern Utah, and northeastern Arizona generally marked by sacred peaks corresponding to the four cardinal directions — Hesperus Mountain to the north, Blanca Peak to the east, Mt. Taylor to the south, and San Francisco Peaks to the west. There are two other sacred peaks–Governador Knob where Changing Woman came into being, which is the heart of Dinétah but lies outside the federally-established reservation; and Huerfano Mountain Dził Náʼoodiłii, the home of Áłtsé Hastiin (First Man) and Áłtsé Asdzą́ą́ (First Woman). Dinétah is the place of emergence, where the Twins played, a blessing from the Holy People. The traditional perspective is that human beings are one with this land, the earth, there is no distinction. This singleness of being was permanently interrupted by the great rounding up, the Long Walk, mass death, prolonged imprisonment, and destruction of social order during Hwéeldi (captivity at Bosque Redondo reservation near Fort Sumner).

Navajo Treaty of 1850 – U.S. Military Forts

The Treaty of 1850 was signed by the U.S. military commander, New Mexico Territory governor, Indian Agent, and two chiefs of the Navajo Tribe. Pre-dating Hwéeldi, the 1850 Treaty contains promises for permanence that are fundamental to the expectations of the Diné in regards to the federal government relationship and obligations. In exchange for submission of the Diné to its government, the United States would fulfill a guardianship role, and undertake through legislation and action “to secure the permanent prosperity and happiness” of the Navajo people. For protection, the Treaty authorized the building of U.S. military forts.

10 military forts were built beginning with Fort Defiance in 1851. For the next 10 years, known as naahondzood, period of fear, hundreds of New Mexico volunteer militia would kill warriors, capture and enslave women and children, and destroy crops and dwellings in outlaw skirmishes as white settlements expanded. The forts became occupier outposts for control of Indians. When it was determined that they had lost control, U.S. troops began consolidating military campaigns with militia. This began a horrific period of t’aa altso anaa’ silii’, when existence of every living being was under attack.

Beginning in fall and winter of 1863, the U.S. Cavalry and militia marched through Navajo country attacking and killing Diné at their camps, slaughtering livestock, burning hogans and crops, fouling wells, and virtually destroying any property and food supply the people would need to survive. Their livelihoods and communal infrastructures destroyed, 8,500 Diné surrendered at Fort Defiance over several months and were force-marched from there on foot in four separate large groups and a number of smaller ones for over 400 miles to a barren reservation at Bosque Redondo in eastern New Mexico near Fort Sumner. There, divided into indiscriminate groups with other captured peoples and denied humane rations, Diné endured five years of torturous captivity that is known as Hwéeldi, an experience never spoken of by elders. At least 2,000 Diné died, not counting countless who perished during the Long Walk.

Hwéeldi is synonymous with misery, starvation, disease, and death to the Diné people. In 1864, after realization of abject failure of this captivity, Congress finally reserved land in New Mexico for a Navajo reservation. A treaty demarcating boundary lines and further conditions would follow in 1868.

“Trust Responsibility.”

The word “trust” does not appear in either the 1850 nor 1868 Treaty, but the guardianship role is clearly expressed in this Treaty. In return for submission of the Navajo tribe, the U.S. guaranteed that the federal government would protect the Tribe, and undertake measures to secure the “permanent prosperity and happiness” of the people. It made similar promises in treaties with almost 400 other tribes. The U.S. Supreme Court noted that the federal government could not just walk away from its Treaty promises, holding that all these treaties created a special relationship between tribes and the federal government that obligates the government to keep its end of the bargain. This principle, that the federal government has a duty to keep its word and fulfill its treaty commitments, is known as the doctrine of trust responsibility. The purpose behind the trust doctrine is and always has been to ensure the permanent survival and welfare of Indian tribes and people. This includes an obligation to provide those services required to protect and enhance tribal lands, resources, and self-government, and also includes those economic and social programs which are necessary to raise the standard of living and social well-being of the Indian people to a level comparable to the non-Indian society. Federal courts have recognized that when Congress delegates to federal officials the power to control or manage tribal land, their actions with respect to those resources must be “judged by the most exacting fiduciary standards.” Seminole Nation v. U.S. (1942).

Act of 1864 - Designate Pecos River NM area for reservation

June 30, 1864, ch. 177, 13 Stat. 323

CHAP. 177. An Act To aid in the settlement, subsistence, and support of the Navajo Indian captives upon a reservation in the Territory of New Mexico.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, for the purpose of settling the Navajo Indians, now captives in New Mexico, upon a reservation upon the Pecos River, in New Mexico, for the purchase of agricultural implements, seeds, and other articles necessary for such purpose, for breaking the ground, and for subsistence of said Indians to the end of the next fiscal year, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said reservation may, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, be so extended and enlarged on the South, as to include the entire valley of the Pecos River, known as the Bosque Grande, and that the whole of said reservation, so enlarged, shall be designated and known as the Navajo and Apache Reservation, and as such shall, until otherwise ordered by law, be exempt from sale, and free from all occupancy except by the said Indians for the purposes herein mentioned; excepting such portion of the said land as is now occupied by Fort Sumner, or as may be needed for the use of said post.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the southern Apache agency of New Mexico is hereby abolished, and that an agent for the Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche Indians be appointed, at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars per annum.

Approved, June 30, 1864.

Treaty Land 1868

Upon signing of the Navajo Treaty on June 1, 1868, survivors of Hwéeldi were released. The 1868 Treaty guaranteed that the Diné will remain a distinct people and a sovereign nation, in return for Diné agreeing to live on a fraction of their ancestral lands, Dinétah. The land base designated as reservation by the Treaty (Treaty lands) is basically viewed as the federal government taking traditional lands and putting on paper a small part of what already belonged to the Diné people.

The Treaty established the official Navajo Nation reservation which ended Hwéeldi, the five years-long imprisonment at Bosque Redondo. In Treaty negotiations, the tribe had rejected 3 other choices: to disband, to be resettled in lower Canada and Arkansas, or be given country west of the Rio Grande. The signed Treaty established the reservation in a small 5,200 sq. mile area surrounding Ft. Defiance, Chinle, Many Farms and Shiprock in exchange for the tribe surrendering rights to all other parts of Dinétah, the ancestral homeland. This initial piece of land is represented in the design of the Navajo Nation’s flag by a dark-brown rectangle.

The Treaty described the area, which included the outlet of Canon-de-Chelly, but included no physical boundaries. No signposts were set in place. Many Diné remained or moved near the Little Colorado and Colorado rivers, on Naatsisʼáán (Navajo Mountain).

Executive Order Lands 1878-1886

Over the next 20 years, the U.S. President issued several Executive Orders (E.O.s) that expanded reservation land without imposing any additional restrictions. These E.O. expansions through 1886 would be among the last unconditional land increases, although further land would be added into the modern era.

Areas colored red in the map added to Treaty land. The increases were primarily the U.S. President’s response to the Indian Agent and delegations of territorial and white settler leaders, to enable further Indian containment, civilize Indians, to curtail Mormon expansion, and for mineral exploration. The discretion of the U.S. President seemed unbounded.

A further E.O. in 1882 also set aside vast acreage for the use of Hopi and other tribes. (See rectangular area in the map colored pink and grey). The E.O. did not formally designate a reservation and no new reservation land was added. The area became disputed by Hopi and Navajo communities. In 1974, the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act would divide the area into Navajo (pink) and Hopi (grey) Partitioned Lands.

1878 E.O. - Add 957,917 acres Chinle Valley

(This Executive Order extends western boundary 20 miles into Arizona by adding 957,917 acres, adding grazing land and rich farmland in the Chinle valley).

It is hereby ordered that the tract of country in the Territory of Arizona lying within the following-described boundaries, viz: Commencing at the northwest corner of the Navajo Indian Reservation, on the boundary line between the Territories of Arizona and Utah; thence west along said boundary line to the 110th° of longitude west; thence south along said degree to the 36th parallel of latitude north; thence east along said parallel to the west boundary of the Navajo reservation; thence north along said west boundary to the place of beginning, be, and the same hereby is, withdrawn from sale and settlement and set apart as an addition to the present reservation for the Navajo Indians.

R. B. HAYES
Executive Mansion
October 29, 1878

1880 E.O. - Add 996,403 acres east of San Juan River

(This Executive Order extends eastern, southern and western boundaries in Arizona and New Mexico by adding 996,403 acres).

It is hereby ordered that the following-described country lying within the boundaries of the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, viz:

Commencing in the middle of the channel of the San Juan River, where the east line of the Navajo Reservation in the Territory of New Mexico, as established by the treaty of June 1, 1868 (15 Stat. 667), crosses said river; thence up and along the middle channel of said river to a point fifteen miles due east of the eastern boundary line of said reservation; thence due south to a point due east of the present southeast corner of said reservation; thence due south six miles; thence due west to the one hundred and tenth degree of west longitude; thence north along said degree to the southwest corner of said reservation in the Territory of Arizona, as defined by Executive Order, dated October 29th, 1878, be, and the same is hereby, withdrawn from sale and settlement and set apart as an addition to the present Navajo Reservation in said Territories.

R. B. HAYES
Executive Mansion
January 6th, 1880

1882 E.O. - Set aside 2.5 million acres for use of Hopi and other Indians

(This 1882 Executive Order sets aside a 70 x 55 mile, 2.5 million acre reservation in northern Arizona for the use of the Hopi Tribe and “such other Indians as the Secretary may see fit to settle thereon” extending from the Navajo reservation’s western boundary partly in order to end local opposition to Indian boarding schools. From its inception, this area was jointly used by Hopi and Navajo communities but controlled by neither. The area became highly disputed, resulting in the 1974 Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement).

It is hereby ordered that the tract of country, in the territory of Arizona, lying and being within the following described boundaries, viz: beginning on the one hundred and tenth degree of longitude west from Greenwich, at a point 36° 30°north; thence due east to the one hundred and tenth degree of longitude west, thence due north to place of beginning, be and the same is hereby withdrawn from settlement and sale, and set apart for the use and occupancy of the Moqui, and such other Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to settle thereon.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR
Executive Mansion
December 16, 1882

1884 E.O. - Add 2.3 million acres south of San Juan River exempting townships

(This Executive Order extends the Navajo reservation in northern AZ and southeastern part of Utah south of the San Juan River by 2,373,870 acres but also eliminated 36,723 acres near Shiprock south of the San Juan River. The decrease near Shiprock meant loss of community water access for herds).

It is hereby ordered that the Executive Order dated January 6, 1880, adding certain lands to the Navajo Reservation, in New Mexico and Arizona Territories, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to exempt from its operation and exclude from said reservation all those portions of townships 29 north, ranges 14, 15, and 16 west of the New Mexico principal meridian, south of the San Juan River, in the Territory of New Mexico.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR
Executive Mansion
Washington May 17, 1884

1884 E.O. (2) - Add 431,160 acres Paiute Strip

(This Executive Order adds the 431,160 acre Pauite Strip in southern Utah. It was apparently an effort to contain Mormon settlement of land with agricultural and mineral potential).

It is hereby ordered that the following-described lands in the Territories of Arizona and Utah be, and the same are, withheld from sale and settlement and set apart as a reservation for Indian purposes, viz:

Beginning on the 110° west longitude at 36° and 30° north latitude (the same being the northeast corner of the Moqui Indian Reservation); thence due west to the 111° 30° west longitude; thence due north to the middle of the channel of the Colorado River; thence up and along the middle of the channel of said river to its intersection with the San Juan River, thence up and along the middle channel of San Juan River to west boundary of Colorado (32° west longitude, Wash. meridian); thence due south to the 37th parallel north latitude; thence west along said parallel to the 110° of west longitude; thence due south to place of beginning: Provided, That any tract or tracts within the region of country described as aforesaid which are settled upon or occupied, or to which valid rights have attached under existing laws of the United States prior to the date of this order, are hereby excluded from this reservation.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR
Washington
May 17, 1884

1886 E.O. - Restore 36,723 acres surrounding Shiprock

(This Executive Order restores acres near Shiprock south of the San Juan River previously eliminated in 1884).

It is hereby ordered that the following-described tract of country in the Territory of New Mexico, viz, all those portions of townships 29 north, ranges 14, 15, and 16 west of the New Mexico principal meridian, south of the San Juan River, be, and the same is hereby, withdrawn from sale and settlement and set apart as an addition to the Navajo Indian Reservation.

GROVER CLEVELAND
Executive Mansion
April 24, 1886

Allotments 1887-1934 and Land Consolidation

In 1887, the Dawes General Allotment Act was enacted by Congress as a experimental initiative of the President to break up tribes as territorial sovereign units and compel the absorption of tribal members into the American mainstream.

The General Allotment Act expanded Presidential powers over Indian affairs, authorizing the President to subdivide tribal communal landholdings into individually-held “allotments.” The authority was buttressed by a 1868 treaty term allowing farm plots to be given to tribal members and authorizing the U.S. President to “fix the character of the title” on such settlements. The Act set aside land for tribal heads of families and orphan children from which to choose plots, with unchosen land deemed “surplus” to be sold to white settlers. Chosen plots were issued trust patents lasting up to 25 years, that imposed principles of ownership but without right of sale or even management other than farming. The trust patent could be converted into a patent-in-fee, or outright ownership.

Executive Orders and Congressional Acts were issued almost every year in this period, adding and taking away from the Navajo reservation for allotments and surplus sales to white settlers. Squares of land plots were designated for allotment primarily across what is now the Eastern Navajo Agency, with most of this set aside land permanently lost to tribal communities through surplus sales and through fee patent sales, debt and swindles. Like other reservations, huge swarthes of the eastern Navajo reservation became isolated checkerboards of allotments, tribal trust, private, railroad and state lands. There are presently 210,100 acres of isolated allotments in the eastern Navajo region, the entire region rich in subsurface minerals, claimed for governance by the Tribe but financially managed and probated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Map of modern day contiguous reservation (green) and allotments (orange dots, most located in the Checkerboard).

The Eastern Navajo Agency checkerboard is distinct from the rest of the reservation in character of land and isolation, and even by which federal program controls it.

In 1928, the Meriam Report declared that allotment had been a disaster for Native American communities and poverty, disease, and anger had all skyrocketed on Indian reservations. The allotment experiment was one of “several past policies adopted by the government in dealing with Indians . . . of a type which, if long continued, would tend to pauperize any race.” Through various enactments, Congress began reversing allotments by consolidating tribal trust land through land exchanges. On June 18, 1934 Congress curtailed all future allotment and provided for the return to the tribes of unsold surplus lands, and through federal governmental purchase of private lands, through enactment of the Indian Reorganization Act (Wheeler-Howard Act or IRA).

Allotment Governance:

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 as the provider of trust responsibility services.

Federal law treats allottees differently from tribal trust communities. Allottees “own” the surface and subsurface of their parcels, including mineral rights and benefits, and are referred to as “landowners”. Tribal members in other parts of the reservation do not have these rights. Yet, allottees play no role in financial management of royalty trust accounts. As landowners, allottees are concerned with mineral royalty rights and income, property rights of appraisals of mineral rights-of-way, federal probate, and joint tenancy allotment concerns that are entirely foreign to fellow tribal members.

A map of the four-states region encompassing the Navajo Nation and the different federal agencies responsible for different land types may be found here. Tribal trust lands served by the BIA are distinct from public lands directly managed by federal programs other than the BIA. This governance distinction is as critical as it is obscure.

Below are numerous Executive Orders (E.O.) and Congressional Acts (Act) specific to Navajo land during Allotment and Land Consolidation.

1892 E.O. - Set aside 431,160 acres Paiute Strip

(set aside 431,160 Pauite Strip)

It is hereby ordered that the Executive Order of May 17, 1884, by President Chester A. Arthur, withdrawing from sale and settlement and setting apart as a reservation for Indian purposes certain lands in the Territories of Utah and Arizona, be, and the same hereby is, modified so that all the lands described in said order which lie west of the 110 degree of west longitude and within the Territory of Utah be, and the same hereby are, restored to the public domain, freed from the reservation made by said order.

BENJAMIN HARRISON
Washington, D.C.
November 19, 1892

1900 E.O. - Set aside 1.5 million acres west of Navajo & Hopi reservations

(withdraw 1.5 million acres from sale and allotment)

It is hereby ordered that the tract of country lying west of the Navajo and Moqui reservations in the Territory of Arizona, embraced within the following-described boundaries, viz: beginning at the southeast corner of the Moqui reservation and running due west to the Little Colorado River; thence down that stream to the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve; thence north on the line of that reserve to the northeast corner thereof; thence west to the Colorado River; thence up that stream to the Navajo Indian reservation, be, and the same is hereby, withdrawn from sale and settlement until further ordered.

WILLIAM MCKINLEY
Executive Mansion
January 8, 1900

Act of Jul 1, 1902 - Allow white settlers to claim land

July 1, 1902, ch. 1363, 32 Stat. 657

CHAP. 1363. An Act Authorizing the adjustment of rights of settlers on the Navajo Indian Reservation, Territory of Arizona.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all lands claimed by actual settlers or persons to whom valid rights attach, who settled upon or occupied any part of the public lands of the United States prior to the date of the Executive order of January sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty, extending the boundaries of the Navajo Indian Reservation, in the Territory of Arizona, and which were included in said Executive order, are hereby excepted from the operations thereof, and said settlers are hereby granted authority to establish their rights and secure patents for any of said lands to which they have a valid title under the public-land laws of the United States.

Approved, July 1, 1902.

1901 E.O. - Set aside for allotments 419,622 acres at Little Colorado River

(withdraw from settlement 419,622 acres SW of 1882 “set apart” reservation)

It is hereby ordered that the following-described tract of country in Arizona, viz: Commencing at a point where the south line of the Navajo Indian reservation (Addition of January 8, 1900) intersects the Little Colorado River; thence due south to the 5th Standard Parallel North; thence east on said standard to the Middle of the South line of township 21 North, range 15 east; thence north on the line bisecting townships 21, 22, 23, 24, said range 15 east, to the south line of the Moqui reservation; thence due west to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, withdrawn from sale and settlement until such time as the Indians residing thereon shall have been settled permanently under the provisions of the homestead laws or the General allotment Act approved February 8, 1887 (24 Stats., 388 [25 U.S.C. § 331 et seq.]), and the Act amendatory thereof, approved February 28, 1891 (26 Stats., 794).

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
White House
November 14, 1901

1905 E.O. No. 324A - Set apart lands to Colorado state line

The Executive Order of March 10, 1905, setting apart certain lands in Utah, as an addition to the Navajo Indian Reservation, is hereby cancelled, and in lieu thereof it is hereby ordered that the following-described lands situated in said State be, and the same are hereby, withheld from sale and entry and set apart for Indian purposes, as an addition to the said Indian reservation, viz:

Beginning at the corner to sections 25 and 30, 31 and 36, on the range line between ranges 23 and 24 east, in Township 40 South, running east on the north boundary of sections 31–36, inclusive, in Township 40 South, ranges 24 and 25 east, and sections 31–34 inclusive, Township 40 South, range 26 east to the Colorado State line; thence south along the Colorado State line to the San Juan River; thence down the San Juan River to the meander corner to fractional sections 31 and 36, on the range line between ranges 23 and 24 east; thence north on said range line to the place of beginning: Provided, That any tract or tracts within the region of country described as aforesaid, which are settled upon or occupied, or to which valid rights have attached under existing laws of the United States prior to the date of this order, are hereby excluded from the reservation.

T. ROOSEVELT
White House
May 15, 1905

History

Repealed Executive Order. Executive Order No. 302A of March 10, 1905, which was cancelled by this Executive Order of May 15, 1905, provided:

“It is hereby ordered that the following described lands situated in the State of Utah, be, and the same are hereby, withheld from sale and settlement and set apart for Indian purposes, as an addition to the Navajo Indian Reservation, viz: Beginning at the mouth of Montezuma Creek (in Utah); running thence due east to the Colorado State line; thence south along the Colorado State Line to the San Juan River; thence down the San Juan River to the place of beginning: Provided, That any tract or tracts within the region of country described as aforesaid, which are settled upon or occupied, or to which valid rights have attached under existing laws of the United States prior to the date of this order, are hereby excluded from the reservation.”

1907 E.O. No. 709 - Set aside 3 million acres Ganado and Crownpoint-Chaco

(add 3 million acres south of Ganado AZ and Crownpoint-Chaco area, NM)

It is hereby ordered that the following-described tract of country in the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico, viz:

Commencing at a point where the east line of the Navajo Indian Reservation, as at present constituted, intersects the north boundary of township twenty-three north, range thirteen west, New Mexico Meridian; thence due east to the northeast corner of township twenty-three north, range five east; thence south to the southeast corner of township seventeen north, range five east, New Mexico Meridian; thence west to the first guide meridian; thence south on the said guide meridian to the southeast corner of township fifteen north, range nine west; thence west to the southwest corner of township fifteen north, range fourteen west; thence north to the northwest corner of township fifteen north, range fourteen west; thence due west to the boundary line between the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico; thence south on the boundary line between the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico to the northeast corner of township twenty-three north, range thirty-one east; thence west to the northwest corner of township twenty-three north, range twenty-nine east; thence south to the northwest corner of township twenty-one north, range twenty-nine east; thence west to the northwest corner of township twenty-one north, range twenty-two east; thence west to the northwest corner of township twenty-one north, range twenty-six east; thence south to the southeast corner of township twenty-one north, range twenty-five east; thence west to the southwest corner of township twenty-one north, range twenty-two east; thence due north to the southern boundary of the Navajo reservation, as at present constituted, be, and the same is hereby, withdrawn from sale and settlement and set apart for the use of the Indians as an addition to the present Navajo Reservation: Provided, That this withdrawal shall not affect any existing valid rights of any person.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The White House
November 9, 1907

1908 E.O. No. 744 - Add 1.8 million acres across southern reservation

(withdraw 1.8 million acres near Jicarilla to correct boundary mistake)

Whereas it is found that the Executive Order of November 9, 1907, setting apart certain lands in Arizona and New Mexico as an addition to the Navajo Indian Reservation, conflicts in part with Executive Order of November 11, 1907, setting apart certain lands as an addition to the Jicarilla Indian Reservation, New Mexico, said Executive Order is hereby so amended that the description of the tract of land set apart as an addition to the Navajo Reservation shall read as follows:

Beginning at a point on the eastern boundary of the Navajo Reservation where it intersects what would be, if extended, the township line between townships 23 and 24 north; thence east along said township line between townships 23 and 24 north to the northeast corner of township 23 north, range 6 west, New Mexico Meridian; thence south to the northeast corner of township 21 north, range 6 west; thence east to the northeast corner of township 21 north, range 5 west; thence south to the southeast corner of township 17 north, range 5 west; thence west to the first guide meridian west; thence south on said guide meridian to the southeast corner of township 15 north, range 9 west; thence west along the township line between townships 14 and 15 north to the northwest corner of township 15 north, range 14 west; thence west along the township line between townships 15 and 16 north to the boundary line between the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico; thence south on said boundary line to the northeast corner of township 23 north, range 31 east, Gila and Salt River Meridian, Arizona; thence west on the township line between townships 23 and 24 north to the northwest corner of township 23 north, range 29 east; thence south to the northwest corner of township 21 north, range 29 east; thence west on the township line between townships 21 and 22 north to the northwest corner of township 21 north, range 26 east; thence south to the southeast corner of township 21 north, range 25 east; thence west on the Fifth Standard Parallel north to the southwest corner of township 21 north, range 22 east; thence north on the range line between ranges 21 and 22 east to its intersection with the south boundary of the Hopi (Moqui) Indian Reservation, Arizona; thence east to the southeast corner of said Hopi (Moqui) Reservation; thence north on the one hundredth and tenth degree of longitude west to the south boundary of the Navajo Reservation, Arizona; thence east along the said south boundary to the boundary line between Arizona and New Mexico; thence continuing east along the boundary line of the Navajo Reservation, New Mexico, to the southeast corner of said reservation; thence north along the east boundary of said Navajo Reservation to the place of beginning.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The White House
January 28, 1908

Act of Mar 29, 1908 - Allow fee patents and surplus sales AZ and NM

May 29, 1908, ch. 216, § 9, 25, 35 Stat. 444, 447, 457

CHAP. 216. An Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue patents in fee to purchasers of Indian lands under any law now existing or hereafter enacted, and for other purposes.

* * *

SEC. 9. That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to issue a patent to “The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People,” a charitable corporation organized under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, for and covering the following described lands, amounting to approximately two hundred and eighty acres, now and for many years occupied by the said “The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People” as an Indian school, to wit: The southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of southwest quarter of section thirteen, the south half of the northeast quarter of section fourteen, and the east half of the northwest quarter and the south half of the northeast quarter of section twenty-four, all in township twenty-six north, range thirty east, Gila and Salt River meridian, on the Navajo Indian Reservation, in Arizona Territory.

* * *

SEC. 25. That whenever the President is satisfied that all the Indians in any part of the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico and Arizona created by Executive orders of November ninth, nineteen hundred and seven, and January twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and eight, have been allotted, the surplus lands in such part of the reservation shall be restored to the public domain and opened to settlement and entry by proclamation of the President.

Approved, May 29, 1908.

1908 E.O. No. 1000 - Restore land for sale and white settlement

(eliminate certain unalloted lands except 110 unapproved allotments)

It is hereby ordered that the unallotted lands in Townships seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, and twenty-one North, Ranges five, six, seven and eight West, and Townships twenty-two and twenty-three North, Ranges six, seven and eight West of the New Mexico Principal Meridian, withdrawn from sale and settlement, and set apart for the use of the Indians as an addition to the Navajo Reservation by Executive Orders dated November nine, nineteen hundred and seven, and January twenty-eight, nineteen hundred and eight, be, and the same are hereby, restored to the public domain, except the following-described lands embracing one hundred and ten unapproved allotments, namely:

The Southwest quarter of Section twenty-three, Township seventeen North, Range five West; the South half of Section thirty-five, Township eighteen North, Range five West; Section twenty-three and the North half of Section twenty-five, Township nineteen North, Range five West; the West half of Section five and the East half of Section six, Township twenty North, Range six West, unsurveyed; the Northwest quarter of Section three, the Northeast quarter of Section four, the South half of Section five, the Northwest quarter of Section eight, Section seventeen, the North half of Section nineteen, Section twenty and the Southeast quarter of Section thirty-one Township twenty-one North, Range six West; the West half of Section thirty-three, the South half of Section thirty-four, and the West half of Section thirty-five, Township twenty-two North, Range six West; the North half of Section three, Section four, the West half and the Southeast quarter of Section seven, the Southeast quarter of Section eight, Section nine, the West half of Section sixteen, Sections seventeen and eighteen, the North half and the Southeast quarter of Section nineteen, Section twenty, the West half of Section twenty-one, the East half of Section twenty-two, Section twenty-three, the Northwest quarter of Section twenty-eight, the North half of Section twenty-nine and the Northeast quarter of Section thirty, Township twenty North, Range seven West; the West half of Section six, the Southeast quarter of Section nineteen, the Southwest quarter of Section twenty, the North half and the Southeast quarter of Section twenty-four, the East half of Section twenty-five, the Southwest quarter of Section twenty-six, the South half of Section twenty-seven, the Southeast quarter of Section twenty-eight, the Northwest quarter of Section twenty-nine, the Northeast quarter of Section thirty, the East half of Section thirty-three, Section thirty-four and the West half of Section thirty-five, Township twenty-one North, Range seven West, and Sections one and twelve and the Southeast quarter of Section eleven. Township twenty-one North, Range eight West of the New Mexico Principal Meridian.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The White House
December 30, 1908

1911 E.O. No. 1284 - Restore land for sale and white settlement

(eliminate from Navajo reservation lands added in 1907-08 and not yet allotted)

It is hereby ordered that all lands not allotted to Indians or otherwise reserved within the townships in New Mexico added to the Navajo Reservation by Executive Orders of November nine, nineteen hundred and seven, and January twenty-eight, nineteen hundred and eight, lying west of the first guide meridian west, be and the same hereby are restored to the public domain.

WM. H. TAFT
The White House
January 16, 1911

1911 E.O. No. 1359 - Recognize white settler land claims

It is hereby ordered that the following-described lands in New Mexico, being a part of the lands restored to the public domain by Executive Order of January 16, 1911, be, and the same hereby are, reserved from entry, sale, or other disposition, for Indian purposes:

Sec. 6, of T. 22 N., R. 9 W.; NW. 1/4 of sec. 20, T. 14 N., R. 12 W.; 1/4, E. 1/2 W. 1/2, and SW. 1/4, SW. 1/4, sec. 31, T. 23 N., R. 9 W.; W. 1/2, sec. 20, all of sec. 30, and W. 1/2 of sec. 32, T. 17 N., 9 R. 12 W.; N. 1/2 of sec. 20, T. 16 N., R. 15 W. of the New Mexico principal meridian; Provided, That nothing herein shall affect any valid existing rights of any person.

WM. H. TAFT
The White House
May 24, 1911

1912 E.O. No. 1482 - Restore parts of Zuni National Forest to reservations

(creating Zuni national forest)

ZUNI NATIONAL FOREST
Arizona and New Mexico

Under authority of the Act of Congress of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat., 11 at 34 and 36 [16 U.S.C. § 473 et seq.]), and upon recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, it is hereby ordered that on and after March 1, 1912, the boundaries of the Zuni National Forest, Arizona, and New Mexico, as proclaimed March 2, 1909, and modified by subsequent Proclamation of July 1, 1910, be further modified by excluding therefrom those parts of the Zuni and of the Navajo Indian Reservations included in said Zuni National Forest by the said Proclamation of March 2, 1909, except those parts of the said Navajo Indian Reservation described in Executive Order No. 1284 of January 16, 1911, and included in said Zuni National Forest by said Proclamation of March 2, 1909, which are hereby retained as National Forest land.

The purpose of this exclusion is to restore in all respects the Zuni Indian Reservation and that part of the Navajo Indian Reservation not affected by Executive Order No. 1284 of January 16, 1911, to the status existing prior to the said Proclamation of March 2, 1909, as though the inclusion of the lands within the Zuni National Forest had not been ordered, and said Indian Reservations are hereby fully recreated and restored to that status, with the exception above mentioned.

WM. H. TAFT
The White House
February 17, 1912

1912 E.O. No. 1483 - Restore reservation land eliminated in 1911

(restore certain areas eliminated from Navajo reservation in 1911, excluding Zuni forest)

It is hereby ordered that the following-described lands in New Mexico, being a part of the lands heretofore set aside as an executive reservation for the Navajo Indians and eliminated from said reservation by Executive Order of January 16, 1911, be, and the same are hereby, restored to the status existing before said order of January 16, 1911, the purpose being to admit of the consummation of an exchange under the act of April 21, 1904 (33 Stats. at Large, page 211 [43 U.S.C. § 149]), initiated prior to said elimination, viz: all odd-numbered sections in townships 22 north of ranges 11 and 12 west, New Mexico principal meridian; and it is further ordered that upon completion of said exchange and after allotment to the Indians, any remaining lands shall be opened to disposition by the Secretary of the Interior in such manner and after such notice as he may prescribe.

WM. H. TAFT
The White House
February 17, 1912

1913 E.O. No. 1699 - Set aside areas except land claimed by settlers

(add land in AZ east of Gila and Salt River meridian)

It is hereby ordered that the Lots 1 (39.48 acres) and 2 (39.48 acres) and the S. of the NE. of Section 2, Township 21 North, Range 28 East of the Gila and Salt River Meridian in Arizona, be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from settlement, entry, sale, or other disposition and set aside for use of Navajo Indians: Provided, that the withdrawal hereby shall be subject to any prior valid existing rights of any persons to the lands described.

WM. H. TAFT
The White House
February 10, 1913

1913 E.O. No. 1700 - Set aside NM tract except as claimed by settlers

(add land in NM west of NM Principal Meridian)

It is hereby ordered that the SE. 1/4 of Section 18, Township 18 North of Range 10 West, of the New Mexico Principal Meridian be, and the same hereby is, withdrawn from all forms of settlement and entry and set apart as a reservation for use of the Navajo Indians in common: Provided that the withdrawal hereby made shall be subject to any valid prior rights of any persons to the land described.

WM. H. TAFT
The White House
February 10, 1913

Act of Mar 4, 1913 - Acknowledge allottee rights on railroad land grants

March 4, 1913, ch. 153, 37 Stat. 1007, 1008

CHAP. 153. An Act For the relief of Indians occupying railroad lands in Arizona, New Mexico, or California.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized in his discretion to request of the present claimant under any railroad land grant a relinquishment or reconveyance of any lands situated within the States of Arizona, New Mexico, or California passing under the grant which are shown to have been occupied for five years or more by an Indian entitled to receive the tract in allotment under existing law but for the grant to the railroad company, and upon the execution and filing of such relinquishment or reconveyance the lands shall thereupon become available for allotment, and the company relinquishing or reconveying shall be entitled to select within a period of three years after the approval of this Act and have patented to it other vacant nonmineral, nontimbered, surveyed public lands of equal area and value situated in the same State, as may be agreed upon by the Secretary of the Interior, provided that the total area of land that may be exchanged under the provisions of this Act shall not exceed three thousand acres in Arizona, sixteen thousand acres in New Mexico, and five thousand acres in California.

Approved, March 4, 1913.

History

Amendment and extension. Act April 11, 1916, ch. 65, 39 Stat. 65, provided: “That all of the provisions of an Act entitled ‘An Act for the relief of Indians occupying railroad lands in Arizona, New Mexico, or California,’ approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, be, and the same are hereby, extended for a period of two (2) years from and after the fourth day of March, nineteen hundred and sixteen: Provided, That there may be exchanged under the provisions of the Act named herein a total area not exceeding ten thousand acres in Arizona and twenty-five thousand acres in New Mexico.”

The appropriation act of June 30, 1919, ch. 4, 41 Stat. 9, provided: “That all of the provisions of an act entitled ‘An act for the relief of Indians occupying railroad lands in Arizona, New Mexico, or California,’ approved March 4, 1913 (Thirty–seventh Statutes at Large, page 1007), as extended by the act approved April 11, 1916 (Thirty–ninth Statutes at Large, page 48), be, and the same are hereby, extended for a period of one (1) year from and after the 4th day of March, 1919.”

1913 E.O. 1774 - Set aside NM tract excepting coal land claimed by settlers

(add more land in NM west of NM Principal Meridian)

It is hereby ordered that Section 10 of Township 17 North, Range 13 West, of the New Mexico Principal Meridian in New Mexico, be, and the same is hereby reserved from all forms of settlement, entry or other disposal, and set aside for use of Navajo Indians living in the vicinity of Crownpoint, New Mexico, provided that this withdrawal is subject to any prior valid right or claim of any persons to the land withdrawn, and to New Mexico coal land withdrawal No. 6, by Executive Order of May 18, 1911.

WOODROW WILSON
The White House
May 6, 1913

1913 E.O. No. 1864 - Carve out tract for San Juan Indian boarding school

(withdraw certain land west of NM Principal Meridian for boarding school)

Fractional section 21, Township 30 North of Range 16 West of the New Mexico Principal Meridian in New Mexico, is hereby reserved from all forms of entry or other disposal, and set aside for administration purposes connected with the San Juan Indian boarding school on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico.

Executive Order dated July 9, 1910, New Mexico coal land withdrawal No. 1, is hereby modified so as to eliminate therefrom the fractional section described herein.

WOODROW WILSON
The White House
December 1, 1913

1914 E.O. No. 1995 - Carve out military rifle range

(withdraw small AZ tracts for military rifle range)

Executive Orders of November 9, 1907, and January 28, 1908, setting aside certain townships in the State of Arizona as additions to the Navajo Indian Reservation, are hereby modified so as to release from the said withdrawals all of the unappropriated tracts in Sec. 10, T. 24 N., R. 29 E., of the Gila and Salt River Meridian in Arizona, which tracts are hereby reserved as a rifle range for use of Company G, First Infantry, Organized Militia of the State of Arizona: Provided, That the lands shall revert to their former status as Indian reservation when no longer used or needed for the purpose reserved.

WOODROW WILSON
The White House
July 23, 1914

1915 E.O. No. 2138 - Carve out military rifle range for AZ National Guard

(withdraw 640 acre AZ tract for military rifle range)

It is hereby ordered that sec. 10, T. 24 S., R. 28 E., G. & S. R. M., Arizona, containing according to the official plat on file in the General Land Office, approved October 25, 1902, 640 acres, be, and the same is hereby, reserved for military purposes for use of the National Guard of Arizona as a rifle range.

It is also hereby ordered that sec. 10, T. 24 N., R. 29 E., G. & S. R. M., Arizona, reserved by Executive Order No. 1995, dated July 23, 1914, for use of Company G, First Infantry, Organized Militia of the State of Arizona, be released from such reservation, so that the lands shall revert to their former status as part of the Navajo Indian Reservation in said State.

WOODROW WILSON
The White House
19 February, 1915

Act of Aug 11, 1916 - Recognize limited white homestead claims

August 11, 1916, ch. 315, 39 Stat. 504

CHAP. 315. An Act Authorizing the adjustment of rights of settlers on a part of the Navajo Indian Reservation in the State of Arizona.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all lands which were occupied by settlers or persons who were entitled to make entries thereof, and submit final proof under the provisions of the general homestead law of the United States prior to the hereinafter mentioned Executive order and upon the making and approval of the public surveys of such lands, said Executive order being of date January eighth, nineteen hundred, and withdrawing from sale and settlement a tract of country lying west of the Navajo and Moqui Reservations in Arizona, and which lands were included in the said Executive order, are hereby excepted from the operations thereof, and such settlers are hereby granted authority at any time within ninety days from the approval hereof to make homestead entry of not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres of such land, and submit final proof of the existence of their rights at the date of such Executive order of extension, and patents therefor shall issue upon payment to the United States of the legal fees and purchase price.

Approved, August 11, 1916.

1917 E.O. No. 2513 - Set aside NM tracts for allotments

(set apart from settlement and sale certain NM tracts for possible allotments)

It is hereby ordered that the following described lands situated in the State of New Mexico, which belong to or may hereafter be acquired by the United States, are hereby withdrawn from settlement and sale and are set apart for the use and occupancy of the Navajo and such other Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to settle thereon:

Township 15 N., Range 10 W.
S. 1/2, Sec. 1; W. 1/2 and SE. 1/4, Sec. 3; all of Sec. 11; E. 1/2, Sec. 15; N. 1/2 and SW. 1/4, Sec. 21; W. 1/2 and SE. 1/4, Sec. 31.

Township 16 N., Range 10 W.
W. 1/2, Sec. 7; N. 1/2 and SW. 1/4, Sec. 19.

Township 15 N.R. 11 W.
All of Sec. 5; W. 1/2 and SE. 1/4, Sec. 7; SW. 1/4, Sec. 15; all of Sec. 17; SW. 1/4, Sec. 23; all of Sec. 27; all of Sec. 35.

Township 16 N., Range 11 W.
E. 1/2 and SW. 1/4, Sec. 1; all of Sec. 5; all of Sec. 7; all of Sec. 9; all of Sec. 13; all of Sec. 15; all of Sec. 17; SW. 1/4, Sec. 19; N. 1/2, Sec. 21.

Township 17 N., Range 11 W.
All of Sec. 25.

Township 18 N., Range 11 W.
All of Sec. 17.

Township 15 N., Range 12 W.
All of Sec. 5; all of Sec. 7; all of Sec. 9; all of Sec. 19; all of Sec. 21; all of Sec. 25; all of Sec. 27; all of Sec. 29; all of Sec. 31.

Township 16 N., Range 12 W.
S. 1/2, Sec. 1; E. 1/2, Sec. 11; N. 1/2 and SE. 1/4, Sec. 13; W. 1/2 SE. 1/4, and E. 1/2 SW. 1/4, Sec. 15; N. 1/2 NW. 1/4, Sec. 21; all of Sec. 31; NW. 1/4 and SW. 1/4, Sec. 35.

Township 17 N., Range 12 W.
S. 1/2, Sec. 21; all of Sec. 27; E. 1/2, Sec. 29; all of Sec. 33; NW. 1/4, Sec. 35.

Township 19 N., Range 12 W.
All of Sec. 25.

Township 15 N., Range 13 W.
All of Sec. 7; all of Sec. 15; all of Sec. 17; all of Sec. 23.

Township 17 N., Range 13 W.
NE. 1/4, Sec. 1; SE. 1/4, Sec. 7; all of Sec. 9; all of Sec. 11; W. 1/2 and SE. 1/4, Sec. 13; all of Sec. 15; all of Sec. 17; all of Sec. 21; all of Sec. 23; N. 1/2, Sec. 25; N. 1/2, Sec. 27; NE. 1/4, Sec. 29.

Township 19 N., Range 13 W.
All of Sec. 5; all of Sec. 7; N. 1/2 and SW. 1/4, Sec. 9; all of Sec. 17; N. 1/2, Sec. 23;N. 1/2 and SE. 1/4, Sec. 27; all of Sec. 31.

Township 15 N., Range 14 W.
All of Sec. 1; NE. 1/4, Sec. 7; all of Sec. 11; NW. 1/4, Sec. 19; E. 1/2, Sec. 21; all of Sec. 23; N. 1/2, Sec. 31; N. 1/2, Sec. 33.

Township 16 N., Range 14 W.
S. 1/2, Sec. 15; E. 1/2, Sec. 31; SE. 1/4, Sec. 33.

Township 16 N., Range 15 W.
W. 1/2, Sec. 13; SW. 1/4, Sec. 17; NE. 1/4, Sec. 19; all of Sec. 25; E. 1/2 and SW. 1/4, Sec. 27.

Township 16 N., Range 16 W. NE. 1/4 and SW. 1/4, Sec. 15; all of Sec. 23; SE. 1/4, Sec. 35.

Township 17 N., Range 16 W.
S. 1/2, Sec. 31.

Township 16 N., Range 17 W. All of Sec. 5; all of Sec. 17; E. 1/2, SW. 1/4 and E. 1/2 NW. 1/4, Sec. 23; all of Sec. 25; all of Sec. 27; all of Sec. 29; W. 1/2, Sec. 33; all of Sec. 35.

Township 16 N., Range 18 W. N. 1/2, Sec. 3; W. 1/2 and SE. 1/4, Sec. 17; NW. 1/4, Sec. 29.

Township 17 N., Range 18 W.
SE. 1/4, Sec. 33.

Township 16 N., Range 19 W.
W. 1/2 and SE. 1/4, Sec. 3; NE. 1/4, Sec. 25.

WOODROW WILSON
The White House
15 January, 1917

1917 E.O.(2) - Set aside 94,000 acres in Coconino County AZ for allotment

(add 94,000 acres in Coconino County AZ near Tusayan forest)

It is hereby ordered that the following-described lands in the State of Arizona be, and they are hereby, reserved from all forms of disposal and set aside temporarily until allotments in severalty can be made to the Navajo Indians living thereon, or until some other provision can be made for their welfare:

Beginning at a point on the Little Colorado River where it intersects the eastern boundary of the Tusayan National Forest as set aside by the proclamation of June 28, 1910; thence up the Little Colorado River to where it crosses the 40-mile limit of the Santa Fe R.R.; thence west to the eastern boundary of the Tusayan National Forest; thence north along the eastern boundary of said Tusayan National Forest to place of beginning, which when surveyed will cover fractional parts of Ts. 31, 32, and 33 N., R. 6 E.; Ts. 29, 30, 31, and 32 N., R. 7 E.; Ts. 29, 30, and 31 N., R. 8 E.; and T. 29 N., R. 9 E., Gila and Salt River meridian, Arizona, containing approximately 94,000 acres.

This withdrawal is subject to all prior valid and existing rights and claims of any persons, and to all prior orders establishing or creating water-power designations and power-site reserves.

This order supersedes and takes the place of order number 2612, dated May 7, 1917, and is made for the sole purpose of correctly describing the lands intended to be withdrawn by that order.

WOODROW WILSON
The White House
May 7, 1917

(Amended on Jan 19, 1918 to remove text marked in red which had been a mistake)

Act of Apr 12, 1924 - Authorize Trust Fund deposit from allotment sale w/o heirs

April 12, 1924, ch. 88, 43 Stat. 91

CHAP. 88. An Act To authorize the deposit of certain funds in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of Navajo Tribe of Indians and to make same available for appropriation for the benefit of said Indians.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of $995 derived from the sale of land allotted to Pete Coberly, a Navajo Indian, who has been adjudged by the Secretary of the Interior to be legally dead and to have died without heirs, may be deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Navajo Tribe of Indians and is hereby made available for appropriation by Congress for the benefit of said Indians.

Approved, April 12, 1924.

Act of March 3,1925 - Set aside 40 acre tract in NM for reservation

March 3, 1925, ch. 432, 43 Stat. 1114, 1115

CHAP. 432. An Act To provide for the permanent withdrawal of a certain forty-acre tract of public land in New Mexico for the use and benefit of the Navajo Indians.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following described tract in the State of New Mexico, temporarily withdrawn from settlement, entry, sale, or other disposition until March 5, 1927, by presidential order dated October 24, 1924, in aid of proposed legislation, be, and it hereby is, permanently withdrawn for the use and benefit of Navajo Indians residing in that immediate vicinity: Southeast quarter southeast quarter, section 8, township 11 north, range 3 west, New Mexico principal meridian, New Mexico.

Approved, March 3, 1925.

Act of Mar 3, 1925 - Allow exchanges to consolidate AZ checkerboard

March 3, 1925, ch. 433, 43 Stat. 1115

CHAP. 433. An Act To provide for exchanges of Government and privately owned lands in the additions to the Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona, by Executive orders of January 8, 1900, and November 14, 1901.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, in his discretion, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by him, to accept reconveyance to the Government of privately owned and State school lands, and relinquishments of any valid filings under the homestead laws, or of other valid claims within the additions to the Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona, by Executive orders of January 8, 1900, and November 14, 1901, and to permit lieu selections within the boundaries of the said reservation additions by those surrendering their rights, so that the lands retained for Indian purposes may be consolidated and held in a solid area so far as may be possible: Provided, That the title or claim of any person or company who refuses to reconvey to the Government shall not be hereby affected.

Approved, March 3, 1925.

Act of May 23, 1930 - Add Tusayan Nat'l Forest areas to reservation

May 23, 1930, ch. 317, 46 Stat. 378, 379

CHAP. 317. An Act To eliminate certain land for the Tusayan National Forest, Arizona, as an addition to the Western Navajo Indian Reservation.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following described land be, and the same is hereby, eliminated from the Tusayan National Forest, Arizona, and added to and made a part of the Western Navajo Indian Reservation, subject to all valid rights and claims of individuals initiated prior to the approval of this Act: All that part of the Tusayan National Forest lying east of the Colorado River and north of the Little Colorado River, unsurveyed, but which will probably be when surveyed in townships 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 north, ranges 5 and 6 east; all lands in township 31 north, range 6 east, which are now a part of the Tusayan National Forest; sections 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10 to 14, inclusive, east half section 23, sections 24 and 25, east half section 26 and sections 35 and 36, township 30 north, range 6 east; sections 27 to 34, inclusive, township 30 north, range 7 east; sections 1, 2, and 11 to 14, inclusive, sections 23 to 26, inclusive, sections 35 and 36, township 29 north, range 6 east; sections 3 to 10, inclusive, and sections 15 to 36, inclusive, township 29 north, range 7 east; section 1 and north half section 12, township 28 north, range 6 east; sections 1 to 23, inclusive, and sections 29 to 32, inclusive, township 28 north, range 7 east; Gila and Salt River base and meridian, Arizona: Provided, That all unappropriated and unreserved public lands in sections 24 to 28, inclusive, and sections 33 to 36, inclusive, in township 28 north, range 7 east, Gila and Salt River base and meridian, Arizona, be, and the same are hereby, added to and made a part of the Western Navajo Indian Reservation, subject to all valid rights and claims of individuals initiated prior to approval of this Act.

SEC. 2. That upon conveyance to the United States of a good and sufficient title to any privately owned land within the areas described in this Act, the owners or their assigns thereof are hereby authorized under regulations of the Secretary of the Interior, to select at any time within fifteen years after the approval of this Act, from the surveyed, unappropriated, unreserved, nonmineral public lands of the United States, in the State of Arizona, lands approximately equal in value to the lands thus conveyed, such values to be determined by the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to issue patents for the lands thus selected: Provided, That the lands conveyed to the United States under authority of this Act shall thereupon become a part of the Western Navajo Indian Reservation.

SEC. 3. That before any exchange of lands as above provided is effected, notice of such exchange describing the lands involved therein shall be published once each week for four consecutive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation in the county or counties within which the selected lands are situated.

SEC. 4. That the State of Arizona shall have the right to select other public lands in lieu of sections 2, 16, 32, and 36 within said addition to the Western Navajo Indian Reservation, in the same manner as is provided in the Enabling Act of June 20, 1910 [36 Stat. L. 557].

Approved, May 23, 1930.

History

Amendments–1931. See Act February 21, 1931, ch. 269, 46 Stat. 1204.

Act of Feb 14, 1931 - Establish Canyon de Chelly National Monument

February 14, 1931, ch. 188, 46 Stat. 1161, as amended; 16 U.S.C. §§ 445–445b

16 U.S.C. § 445. Canyon De Chelly National Monument; establishment; boundaries

With the consent of the tribal council of the Navajo Tribe of Indians, the President of the United States is authorized to establish by presidential proclamation the Canyon De Chelly National Monument, within the Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona, including the lands hereinafter described.

All lands in Del Muerto, De Chelly, and Monument Canyons, in the canyons tributary thereto, and the lands within one-half mile of the rims of the said canyons, situated in unsurveyed townships 4 and 5 north, range 7 west; townships 4, 5, and 6 north, range 8 west; townships 4 and 5 north, range 9 west; and in surveyed townships 4 and 5 north, range 6 west; townships 3, 6, and 7 north, range 7 west; township 6 north, range 9 west; and township 5 north, range 10 west, embracing about eighty-three thousand eight hundred and forty acres, all of the Navajo meridian, in Arizona. (February 14, 1931, ch. 188, § 1, 46 Stat. 1161; March 1, 1933, ch. 161, 47 Stat. 1419.)

16 U.S.C. § 445a. Same; rights and privileges of Navajo Indians therein

Nothing in section 445 or 445b of this Title shall be construed as in any way impairing the right, title, and interest of the Navajo Tribe of Indians which they now have and hold to all lands and minerals, including oil and gas, and the surface use of such lands for agricultural, grazing, and other purposes, except as defined in section 445b of this Title; and the said tribe of Indians is granted the preferential right, under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, of furnishing riding animals for the use of visitors to the monument. (February 14, 1931, ch. 188, § 2, 46 Stat. 1161.)

16 U.S.C. § 445b. Same, administration by National Park Service; powers and duties

The National Park Service, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, is charged with the administration of the area of said national monument, so far as it applies to the care, maintenance, preservation and restoration of the prehistoric ruins, or other features of scientific or historical interest within the area, and shall have right to construct upon the lands such roads, trails, or other structures or improvements as may be necessary in connection with the administration and protection of the monument, and also the right to provide facilities of any nature whatsoever required for the care and accommodation of visitors to the monument. (February 14, 1931, ch. 188, § 3, 46 Stat. 1161.)

History

Amendments–1933. Amended description of land.

Act of Feb 21, 1931 - Valuation of private property exchanges for reservation

amendment February 21, 1931 ch. 269, 46 Stat. 1204

CHAP. 269. An Act To amend the Act of May 23, 1930 (46 Stat. 378).

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1 of the Act of May 23, 1930 (46 Stat. 378), entitled “An Act to eliminate certain lands from the Tusayan National Forest, Arizona, as an addition to the Western Navajo Indian Reservation,” be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to include the following-described lands subject to all the conditions and provisions of said Act: Sections 10 to 15, inclusive, sections 22 to 27, inclusive, sections 34 to 36, inclusive, township 27 north, range 6 east, all of township 27 north, range 7 east; sections 4 to 9, 16 to 21, 29 to 32, all inclusive, in township north, range 8 east; sections 1 and 2, the east half of section 3, the east half of section 10, sections 11 and 12, township 26 north, range 7 east; sections 5 to 8, inclusive, township 26 north, range 8 east, Gila and Salt River meridian,

SEC. 2. That for the purpose of arriving at the values and areas of lieu lands to which private landowners are entitled under the Act of May 23, 1930 as hereby amended, the value of the improvements on all privately owned lands to be conveyed or relinquished to the United States for the benefit of the Indians shall be taken into consideration and full credit in the form of lands shall be allowed therefor: Provided, That the State of Arizona may relinquish such lands as it sees fit, acquired pursuant to the Enabling Act of June 20, 1910 (36 Stat. L. 557), which may be desired as lieu land, and the State shall have the right to select other unreserved and undisposed of nonmineral public lands within the State of Arizona equal in area to that relinquished, the lieu selections to be made by the State in the same manner as is provided for in said Enabling Act.

Approved, February 21, 1931.

Act of Mar 1, 1933 - Set aside San Juan County UT areas

March 1, 1933, ch. 160,47 Stat. 1418,1419

May 17, 1968, Pub. L. 90–306, 82 Stat. 121.

AN ACT

To permanently set aside certain lands in Utah as an addition to the Navajo Indian Reservation, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all vacant, unreserved, and undisposed of public lands within the areas in the southern part of the State of Utah, bounded as follows: Beginning at a point where the San Juan River intersects the one hundred and tenth degree of west longitude; thence down said river to its confluence with the Colorado River; thence down the Colorado River to a point where said river crosses the boundary line between Utah and Arizona; thence east along said boundary line to the one hundred and tenth degree of west longitude; thence north to the place of beginning; also beginning at a point where the west rim of Montezuma Creek or wash intersects the north boundary line of the Navajo Indian Reservation in Utah; thence northerly along the western rim of said creek or wash to a point where it intersects the section line running east and west between sections 23 and 26, township 39 south, range 24 east, Salt Lake base and meridian in Utah; thence eastward along said section line to the northwest section corner of section 26, township 39 south, range 25 east; thence south one mile along the section line between sections 25 and 26 to the southeast section corner of section 26, township 39 south, range 25 east; thence eastward along the section line between sections 25 and 36, township 39 south, range 25 east, extending through township 39 south, range 26 east, to its intersection with the boundary line between Utah and Colorado; thence south along said boundary line to its intersection with the north boundary line of the Navajo Indian Reservation; thence in a westerly direction along the north boundary line of said reservation to the point of beginning be, and the same are hereby, permanently withdrawn from all forms of entry or disposal for the benefit of the Navajo and such other Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to settle thereon: Provided, That no further allotments of lands to Indians on the public domain shall be made in San Juan County, Utah, for the health, education, and general welfare of the Navajo Indians residing in San Juan County. Planning for such expenditures shall be done in cooperation with the appropriate departments, bureaus, commissions, divisions, and agencies of the United States, the State of Utah, the county of San Juan in Utah, and the Navajo Tribe, insofar as it is reasonably practicable, to accomplish the objects and purposes of this Act. Contribution may be made to projects and facilities within said area that are not exclusively for the benefits of the beneficiaries hereunder in proportion to the benefits to be received therefrom by said beneficiaries, as may be determined by the State of Utah through its duly authorized officers, commissions, or agencies. An annual report of its accounts, operations, and recommendations concerning the funds received hereunder shall be made by the State of Utah, through its duly authorized officers, commissions, or agencies, to the Secretary of the Interior and to the Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the information of said beneficiaries.

SEC. 2. That the State of Utah may relinquish such tracts of school land within the areas added to the Navajo Reservation by section 1 of this Act as it may see fit in favor of the said Indians, and shall have the right to select other unreserved and nonmineral public lands contiguously or noncontiguously located within the State of Utah, equal in area and approximately of the same value to that relinquished, said lieu selections to be made in the same manner as is provided for in the Enabling Act of July 16, 1894 (28 Stat. L. 107), except as to the payment of fees or commissions which are hereby waived.

Approved, March 1, 1933; approved May 17, 1968.

History

The proviso in first sentence of § 1 of this Act appears in 25 U.S.C. § 337a and 43 U.S.C. § 190a.

Amendments–1968. Amended Act by deleting all of that part of last proviso of section 1 after the word “Utah” and inserting new provisions.

Arizona Boundary Act of June 14, 1934

June 14, 1934, ch. 521, 48 Stat. 960–962

AN ACT

To define the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Indian Reservation, in Arizona, be, and they are hereby, defined as follows: Beginning at a point common to the States of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, thence west along the boundary line between the States of Arizona and Utah to a point where said boundary line intersects the Colorado River; thence down the south bank of that stream to its confluence with the Little Colorado River; thence following the north bank of the Little Colorado River to a point opposite the east boundary of the Grand Canyon National Park; thence south along said east boundary to the southeast corner of section 5, township 30 north, range 6 east, Gila and Salt River base and meridian, Arizona; thence east to the southeast corner of section 4; thence south to the southwest corner of section 10; thence east to the southeast corner of section 10; thence south to the southwest corner of section 14; thence east to the northwest corner of the northeast quarter section 23; thence south two miles to the southeast corner of the southwest quarter section 26; thence west one half mile to the southeast corner of section 27, township 30 north, range 6 east, Gila and Salt River base and meridian, Arizona; thence south 7 miles to the southwest corner of section 35, township 29 north, range 6 east; thence east one mile; thence south one and one half miles to the southwest corner of the northwest quarter section 12, township 28 north, range 6 east; thence east through the center of section 12 to the range line between ranges 6 and 7 east; thence south along said range line five and one half miles to the southeast corner of section 1, township 27 north, range 6 east; thence west 3 miles to the southwest corner of section 3, township 27 north, range 6 east; thence south 5 miles to the southeast corner of section 33, township 27 north, range 6 east; thence east along township line between townships 26 and 27, six and one half miles, to the northeast corner of the northwest quarter section 3, township 26 north, range 7 east; thence south two miles to the southeast corner of the southwest quarter section 10, township 26 north, range 7 east; thence east four and one half miles to the southeast corner of section 8, township 26 north, range 8 east; thence north four miles to the northwest corner of section 28, township 27 north, range 8 east, Gila and Salt River base and meridian; thence east one mile to the southeast corner of section 21; thence north four miles to the northeast corner of section 4, township 27 north, range 8 east; thence east along township line between townships 27 and north to its intersection with the Little Colorado River; thence up the middle of that stream to the intersection of the present west boundary of the Leupp Extension Reservation created by Executive order of November 14, 1910; thence south along the present western boundary of said extension to where it intersects the fifth standard parallel north; thence east along said standard parallel to the southwest corner of township 21 north, range 26 east, Gila and Salt River base and meridian; thence north six miles to the northwest corner of township 21 north, range 26 east; thence east 12 miles to the northeast corner of township 21 north, range 27 east; thence south 2 miles; thence east 12 miles; thence south four miles; thence east along the township line between townships 20 and 21 north to the boundary line between the States of New Mexico and Arizona; thence north along said boundary line to the point of beginning. All vacant, unreserved, and unappropriated public lands, including all temporary withdrawals of public lands in Arizona heretofore made for Indian purposes by Executive order or otherwise within the boundaries defined by this Act, are hereby permanently withdrawn from all forms of entry or disposal for the benefit of the Navajo and such other Indians as may already be located thereon; however, nothing herein contained shall affect the existing status of the Moqui (Hopi) Indian Reservation created by Executive order of December 16, 1882. There are hereby excluded from the reservation as above defined all lands heretofore designated by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to section 28 of the Arizona Enabling Act of June 20, 1910 (36 Stat. L. 575), as being valuable for water-power purposes and all lands withdrawn or classified as power-site lands, saving to the Indians, nevertheless, the exclusive right to occupy and use such designated and classified lands until they shall be required for power purposes or other uses under the authority of the United States: Provided, That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed as authorizing the payment of proceeds or royalties to the Navajo Indians from water power developed within the areas added to the Navajo Reservation pursuant to section 1 of this Act; and the Federal Water Power Act of June 10, 1920 (41 Stat. L. 1063 [16 U.S.C. § 791a et seq.]), and amendments thereto, shall operate for the benefit of the state of Arizona as if such lands were vacant, unreserved, and unappropriated public lands. All valid rights and claims initiated under the public land laws prior to approval hereof involving any lands within the areas so defined, shall not be affected by this

SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized in his discretion, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by him, to accept relinquishments and reconveyance to the United States of such privately owned lands, as in his opinion are desirable for and should be reserved for the use and benefit of the Navajo Tribe of Indians, including patented and nonpatented Indian allotments and selections, within the counties of Apache, Navajo, and Coconino, Arizona; and any Indian so relinquishing his or her right shall be entitled to make lieu selections within the areas consolidated for Indian purposes by this Act. Upon conveyance to the United States of a good and sufficient title to any such privately owned land, except Indian allotments and selections, the owners thereof, or their assigns, are hereby authorized, under regulations of the Secretary of the Interior, to select from the unappropriated, unreserved, and nonmineral public lands of the United States within said counties in the State of Arizona lands approximately equal in value to the lands thus conveyed, and where surrendered lands contain springs or living waters, selection of other lands taken in lieu thereof may be of like character or quality, such values to be determined by the Secretary of the Interior, who is hereby authorized to issue patents for the lieu lands so selected. In all selections of lieu lands under section 2 of this Act notice to any interested party shall be by publication. Any privately owned lands relinquished to the United States under section 2 of this Act shall be held in trust for the Navajo Tribe of Indians; and relinquishments in Navajo County, Arizona, excluding Indian allotments and selections, shall not extend south of the township line between townships 20 and 21 north, Gila and Salt River base and meridian. The State of Arizona may relinquish such tracts of school land within the boundary of the Navajo Reservation, as defined by section 1 of this Act, as it may see fit in favor of said Indians, and shall have the right to select other unreserved and nonmineral public lands contiguous or noncontiguous, located within the three counties involved equal in value to that relinquished, said lieu selections to be made in the same manner as is provided for in the Arizona Enabling Act of June 20, 1910 (36 Stat. L. 558), except as to the payment of fees or commissions which are hereby waived. Pending the completion of exchanges and consolidations authorized by section 2 of this Act, no further allotments of public lands to Navajo Indians shall be made in the counties of Apache, Navajo and Coconino, Arizona, nor shall further Indian homesteads be initiated or allowed in said counties to Navajo Indians under the Act of July 4, 1884 (23 Stat. L. 96 [43 U.S.C. § 190]); and thereafter should allotments to Navajo Indians be made within the above-named counties, they shall be confined to land within the boundaries defined by section 1 of this Act.

SEC. 3. Upon the completion of exchanges and consolidations authorized by section 2 of this Act, the State of Arizona may, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, relinquish to the United States such of its remaining school lands in Coconino, Navajo, and Apache Counties as it may see fit; and shall have the right to select from the vacant, unreserved, and nonmineral public lands in said counties lieu lands equal in value to those relinquished without the payment of fees or commissions.

SEC. 4. For the purpose of purchasing privately owned lands, together with the improvements thereon, within the boundaries above defined, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, from any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $481,879.38, which sum shall be reimbursable from funds accruing to the Navajo tribal funds as and when such funds accrue and shall remain available until expended: Provided, That title to the land so purchased may, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, be taken for the surface only: Provided further, That said funds may be used in purchasing improvements on any land within said boundaries or on leased State school land within the boundaries above defined, provided the State of Arizona agrees to the assignment of said leases to the Navajo Tribe of Indians on a renewable and preferential basis, and provided the Legislature of said State enacts such laws as may be necessary to avail itself of the exchange provisions contained in section 2 of this Act, and disclaim any right, title or interest in and to any improvements on said lands.

Approved, June 14, 1934.

I.R.A. June 18, 1934 - Establish checkerboard consolidation fund

June 18, 1934, ch. 576, § 5, 48 Stat. 985; 25 U.S.C. § 465

25 U.S.C. § 465. Acquisition of lands, water rights, or surface rights; appropriation

The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in his discretion, to acquire, through purchase, relinquishment, gift, exchange, or assignment, any interest in lands, water rights, or surface rights to lands, within or without existing reservations, including trust or otherwise restricted allotments, whether the allottee be living or deceased, for the purpose of providing land for Indians.

For the acquisition of such lands, interests in lands, water rights, and surface rights, and for expenses incident to such acquisition, there is authorized to be appropriated, out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, a sum not to exceed $2,000,000 in any one fiscal year: Provided, That no part of such funds shall be used to acquire additional land outside of the exterior boundaries of Navajo Indian Reservation for the Navajo Indians in Arizona, nor in New Mexico, in the event that legislation to define the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico, and for other purposes, or similar legislation, becomes law.

The unexpended balances of any appropriations made pursuant to this section shall remain available until expended.

Title to any lands or rights acquired pursuant to sections 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466–470, 471–473, 475, 476–478, and 479 of this title shall be taken in the name of the United States in trust for the Indian tribe or individual Indian for which the land is acquired, and such lands or rights shall be exempt from State and local taxation. (June 18, 1934, ch. 676, § 5, 48 Stat. 985.)

Indian New Deal 1934

By general legislation in 1919, later specifically affirmed on March 3, 1927, Congress banned further Indian reservation expansion by the President by precluding the enlargement of any Indian reservation from the public domain except by Act of Congress. The bans ended Presidential power over reservation boundaries. Congress was now in charge over Indian lands and congressional legislation would control Indian affairs.

Beginning with the General Allotment Act of 1887, Congress set unique management conditions on nearly all legislations affecting Navajo and other tribal reservation land. Intended to break up tribal reservations and reduce Indian Agency administrative costs, allotments ultimately greatly increased costs when the program was curtailed in 1934, with enactment of the Indian Reorganization Act (I.R.A.) also known as the Wheeler-Howard Act, which began the “Indian New Deal.”

Responding to the deplorable findings of the 1928 Meriam Report, the I.R.A. provided the Secretary of the interior limited powers and funds to buy up plots to consolidate the Navajo checkerboard. The I.R.A. began an ambitious multi-pronged Indian policy: to conserve and develop Indian lands and resources; to extend to Indians the right to form business and other organizations; to establish a credit system for Indians; to grant certain rights of home rule to Indians; to provide for vocational education for Indians; and for other purposes. At the same time, the I.R.A. imposed profound restrictions on conservation and grazing that mirrored new restrictions on non-tribal federal public lands to avert a second Dust Bowl, the environmental catastrophe that, throughout the 1930s, destroyed the farmlands of the Great Plains and turned prairies into deserts. The new policies and restrictions, in combination, have permanently disrupted tribal collaborative stewardship practices. The ambitious new policies, new land restrictions, plus the lasting effects of allotments, rang in multiple new federal programs and regulations that have attempted to manage land, and support tribal governing, but not govern.

The Indian New Deal, as with all previous dealings with the federal government, was a failed experiment followed by remedial measures. The Navajo Livestock Reduction program decimated local livestock-based economy, including weaving, and is remembered as a communal nightmare that severed stewardship and ended self-sufficiency. To remediate and provide some semblance of an economy, the same drivers of livestock reduction brought employment to men aged 18-25 through the Civil Conservation Corp, Indian Division (CCC) administered by the BIA, which graded roads, made trails, earthen dams, troughs, windmills, and fences. According to the Navajo Times, “Ask someone over 70 (about such structures) and the almost invariable response is, ‘Oh, that’s probably from the CCC.’ The Civilian Conservation Corps employed 3 million jobless men (and a few women), including my grandfather, and quite possibly, yours.” The CCC Indian Division employed 85,000 Native Americans across all reservations. The CCC gave an impression of government, but lasted only from 1933-1942, ending with WWII.

Long afterwards, Diné would talk about the dependable CCC which, one day, just disappeared.

Utah Navajo Trust Land (Aneth) 1933

On March 1, 1933, the Aneth Extension, a very small strip of land located in southeastern Utah, was added to the Navajo Reservation with royalty-sharing terms between the Tribe and Utah. See Act of March 1, 1933, ch. 160, 47 Stat. 1418, 1418-19 (as amended by Pub. L. No. 90-306, 82 Stat. 121 (1968)). At the time an oil prospecting area, the Aneth Extension now has heavy oil industry development. Also permanently added was the 431,160 acre Pauite Strip.

Trust Responsibilities of the State of Utah:

Under the 1933 Act and a 1968 amendment, the State of Utah would serve as trustee of the Utah Navajo Trust in which 37.5% of all oil and gas royalties from the area would be placed and out of which the State of Utah has a fiduciary or trust responsibility to use to provide for the health, education, and general welfare of Navajos residing in the Aneth Extension and throughout San Juan County, Utah. (The Navajo Nation treasury takes 62.5%). Between 1960-1990, Utah received $61 million in royalties but has not been able to account for $51 million. In spite of this, Utah Navajos have tried to ensure that the State of Utah, not the Navajo Nation, continues to control and administer the trust out of fear that the Tribe would spend few dollars on Utah Navajos. Largely Mormon, area Navajos are a minority within and have unique cultural and political experiences from other Navajo Nation areas. They are the most impoverished residents in Utah and the Navajo Nation.

Act of March 1, 1933 - Aneth and Paiute Strip; Utah Navajo Trust

March 1, 1983, ch. 160,47 Stat. 1418,1419

May 17, 1968, Pub. L. 90–306, 82 Stat. 121.

AN ACT

To permanently set aside certain lands in Utah as an addition to the Navajo Indian Reservation, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all vacant, unreserved, and undisposed of public lands within the areas in the southern part of the State of Utah, bounded as follows: Beginning at a point where the San Juan River intersects the one hundred and tenth degree of west longitude; thence down said river to its confluence with the Colorado River; thence down the Colorado River to a point where said river crosses the boundary line between Utah and Arizona; thence east along said boundary line to the one hundred and tenth degree of west longitude; thence north to the place of beginning; also beginning at a point where the west rim of Montezuma Creek or wash intersects the north boundary line of the Navajo Indian Reservation in Utah; thence northerly along the western rim of said creek or wash to a point where it intersects the section line running east and west between sections 23 and 26, township 39 south, range 24 east, Salt Lake base and meridian in Utah; thence eastward along said section line to the northwest section corner of section 26, township 39 south, range 25 east; thence south one mile along the section line between sections 25 and 26 to the southeast section corner of section 26, township 39 south, range 25 east; thence eastward along the section line between sections 25 and 36, township 39 south, range 25 east, extending through township 39 south, range 26 east, to its intersection with the boundary line between Utah and Colorado; thence south along said boundary line to its intersection with the north boundary line of the Navajo Indian Reservation; thence in a westerly direction along the north boundary line of said reservation to the point of beginning be, and the same are hereby, permanently withdrawn from all forms of entry or disposal for the benefit of the Navajo and such other Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to settle thereon: Provided, That no further allotments of lands to Indians on the public domain shall be made in San Juan County, Utah, for the health, education, and general welfare of the Navajo Indians residing in San Juan County. Planning for such expenditures shall be done in cooperation with the appropriate departments, bureaus, commissions, divisions, and agencies of the United States, the State of Utah, the county of San Juan in Utah, and the Navajo Tribe, insofar as it is reasonably practicable, to accomplish the objects and purposes of this Act. Contribution may be made to projects and facilities within said area that are not exclusively for the benefits of the beneficiaries hereunder in proportion to the benefits to be received therefrom by said beneficiaries, as may be determined by the State of Utah through its duly authorized officers, commissions, or agencies. An annual report of its accounts, operations, and recommendations concerning the funds received hereunder shall be made by the State of Utah, through its duly authorized officers, commissions, or agencies, to the Secretary of the Interior and to the Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the information of said beneficiaries.

(Later amended May 17, 1968)

Arizona Land Consolidation 1934

On June 14, 1934 Congress enacted the Arizona Boundary Act as part of land consolidation, addressing reservation boundaries and authorization to exchange and purchase private lands for new lands in Apache, Coconino and Navajo counties. The Act added 1,000,000 acres to the reservation’s southern boundaries and over on the Little Colorado River. Excluded were lands important to the State of Arizona for water power development. (This Act served as the basis for purchase of New Lands and the creation of Nahata Dzil chapter in 1991 in Apache County, as part of the 1974 Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act).

The Act added no new trust conditions.

Arizona Boundary Act of June 14, 1934

June 14, 1934, ch. 521, 48 Stat. 960–962

AN ACT

To define the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, and for other purposes.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized in his discretion, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by him, to accept relinquishments and reconveyance to the United States of such privately owned lands, as in his opinion are desirable for and should be reserved for the use and benefit of the Navajo Tribe of Indians, including patented and nonpatented Indian allotments and selections, within the counties of Apache, Navajo, and Coconino, Arizona; and any Indian so relinquishing his or her right shall be entitled to make lieu selections within the areas consolidated for Indian purposes by this Act. Upon conveyance to the United States of a good and sufficient title to any such privately owned land, except Indian allotments and selections, the owners thereof, or their assigns, are hereby authorized, under regulations of the Secretary of the Interior, to select from the unappropriated, unreserved, and nonmineral public lands of the United States within said counties in the State of Arizona lands approximately equal in value to the lands thus conveyed, and where surrendered lands contain springs or living waters, selection of other lands taken in lieu thereof may be of like character or quality, such values to be determined by the Secretary of the Interior, who is hereby authorized to issue patents for the lieu lands so selected. In all selections of lieu lands under section 2 of this Act notice to any interested party shall be by publication. Any privately owned lands relinquished to the United States under section 2 of this Act shall be held in trust for the Navajo Tribe of Indians; and relinquishments in Navajo County, Arizona, excluding Indian allotments and selections, shall not extend south of the township line between townships 20 and 21 north, Gila and Salt River base and meridian. The State of Arizona may relinquish such tracts of school land within the boundary of the Navajo Reservation, as defined by section 1 of this Act, as it may see fit in favor of said Indians, and shall have the right to select other unreserved and nonmineral public lands contiguous or noncontiguous, located within the three counties involved equal in value to that relinquished, said lieu selections to be made in the same manner as is provided for in the Arizona Enabling Act of June 20, 1910 (36 Stat. L. 558), except as to the payment of fees or commissions which are hereby waived. Pending the completion of exchanges and consolidations authorized by section 2 of this Act, no further allotments of public lands to Navajo Indians shall be made in the counties of Apache, Navajo and Coconino, Arizona, nor shall further Indian homesteads be initiated or allowed in said counties to Navajo Indians under the Act of July 4, 1884 (23 Stat. L. 96 [43 U.S.C. § 190]); and thereafter should allotments to Navajo Indians be made within the above-named counties, they shall be confined to land within the boundaries defined by section 1 of this Act.

SEC. 4. For the purpose of purchasing privately owned lands, together with the improvements thereon, within the boundaries above defined, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, from any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $481,879.38, which sum shall be reimbursable from funds accruing to the Navajo tribal funds as and when such funds accrue and shall remain available until expended: Provided, That title to the land so purchased may, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, be taken for the surface only: Provided further, That said funds may be used in purchasing improvements on any land within said boundaries or on leased State school land within the boundaries above defined, provided the State of Arizona agrees to the assignment of said leases to the Navajo Tribe of Indians on a renewable and preferential basis, and provided the Legislature of said State enacts such laws as may be necessary to avail itself of the exchange provisions contained in section 2 of this Act, and disclaim any right, title or interest in and to any improvements on said lands.

Approved, June 14, 1934.

Agreements to Lease Mineral Lands to Industry

June 29, 1947 Act - Authorizing agreements on helium land rights

June 27, 1947, ch. 158, 61 Stat. 189, as amended

July 29, 1954, ch. 617, 68 Stat. 580–582

AN ACT

Authorizing certain agreements with respect to rights in helium-bearing gas lands in the Navajo Indian Reservation, New Mexico, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Mines, and the Navajo Tribe of Indians are authorized to enter into an agreement dated December 1, 1945, entitled “An agreement serving certain formations from oil and gas leases and substituting new leases as to those formations” and an “Amending agreement”, affecting lands in the Navajo Indian Reservation, New Mexico, copies of which are published in House of Representatives Document Numbered 212, Eightieth Congress, first session; and said agreements are ratified and approved. If said Navajo Tribe of Indians shall, after investigation, deem the total consideration payable to it by the United States pursuant to such agreement dated December 1, 1945, as amended, to be in any respect less than reasonable, fair, just, and equitable, said tribe shall be entitled within three years after the date of enactment of this Act to institute suit against the United States in the Court of Claims for the recovery of such additional sum, if any, as may be necessary to compensate said tribe for the reasonable, fair, just, and equitable value of all right, interest, and property passing from said tribe to the United States under such agreement, as amended. Jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the Court of Claims to hear and determine any suit so instituted and to enter final judgment against the United States therein for such sum if any, in excess of the total consideration payable pursuant to such agreement, as amended, as such court may determine to be necessary to provide consideration in all respects reasonable, fair, just, and equitable: Provided, That interest shall be allowed on such sum at the rate of 4 per centum per annum from October 20, 1947, to the date of payment and no offsets shall be deducted by the court from any sum determined by the court to be a reasonable, fair, just, and equitable consideration for the right, interest, and property passing to the United States under and pursuant to said agreement of December 1, 1945, as amended, and the interest thereon: Provided further, That the foregoing provision relating to interest and offsets shall not extend to any other claim or claims asserted in any such suit, whether or not the same arise out of the subject matter of said agreement, but such other claim or claims, if any, shall be governed by the law relating to actions brought pursuant to title 28, United States Code, section 1505. Appellate review of any judgment so entered shall be in the same manner, and subject to the same limitations, as in the case of claims over which the Court of Claims has jurisdiction under section 1491 of Title 28, United States Code. Notwithstanding any contract to the contrary, not more than 10 per centum of the amount received or recovered by said tribe in satisfaction of any claim asserted under this section shall be paid to or received by any agent or attorney on account of services rendered in connection with such claim. [June 27, 1947, ch. 158, § 1, 61 Stat. 189, as amended July 29, 1954, ch. 617, § 1, 68 Stat. 580, 581.]

SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Mines, is authorized to enter into an agreement dated September 19, 1946, with Continental Oil Company and Santa Fe Corporation entitled “Agreement for assignments of interests in oil and gas leases and for operations on the leaseholds” and two agreements supplemental thereto, affecting lands in the Navajo Indian Reservation, New Mexico, copies of which are published in House of Representatives Document Numbered 212, Eightieth Congress, first session; and said agreements are ratified and approved. [June 27, 1947, ch. 158, § 2, 61 Stat. 189.]

SEC. 3. Jurisdiction is hereby conferred on the Court of Claims to determine, notwithstanding any statute of limitations or laches, in any suit instituted pursuant to section 1 of this Act, (1) whether the assignment dated December 1, 1942, accepted and approved December 17, 1942, of oil and gas lease 149–ind–5337, covering the lands denominated “1942 lands” in section 4 of said agreement dated December 1, 1945, as amended, should in law or in equity, taking into consideration such fiduciary relationship as may exist between the United States and the Navajo Tribe, have been accepted by the United States for the account of the Navajo Tribe instead of for its own account, and, if such assignment should have been so accepted, whether the property interest or any part thereof covered by such assignment was taken by the United States from the said tribe at any time prior to the effective date of said agreement; (2) whether, and in what amount, if any, the Navajo Tribe is entitled on the basis of such determination to compensation for the acquisition or taking, by the United States, of the property interest or any part thereof covered by such assignment; and (3) whether, and in what amount, if any, the United States is entitled to credit against such compensation for rentals on such lease or for other expenditures, borne by the United States, for the benefit of such lease prior to any such acquisition or taking by the United States; and to enter judgment in accordance with such determinations. No offsets shall be deducted by the court from any net sum, and the interest thereon, if any, that the court awards under this section. The provisions of the last two sentences of section 1 of this Act shall be applicable to any judgment entered pursuant to this section. [June 27, 1947, ch. 158, § 3, as added July 29, 1954, ch. 617, § 21, 68 Stat. 581, 582.]

History

Amendments–1954. Amended section 1 of the 1947 Act by adding the two provisos relating to interest and offsets and revising the citation of 28 U.S.C. 1491; and added section 3 to the 1947 Act.

McCracken Mesa 1958

In 1958, approximately 51,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management lands at McCracken Mesa in southern Utah became part of the Navajo Nation pursuant to the Navajo-U.S. Land Exchange Act (Pub. L. No. 85-868, 72 Stat. 1686), in exchange for tribal lands in Glen Canyon for construction of Glen Canyon Dam as part of the Colorado River Storage Project. McCracken Mesa is historically part of the Utah Navajos relocation along the San Juan River in the 1950s. It is a tiny community in a desolate region with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) only beginning electrical install in 2017.

Special Conditions:

PL 85-868 contains specific instructions and guidelines for residential and land use rights on McCracken Mesa that do not apply on Big Reservation trust land. The Navajo Nation Council has enacted procedures implementing PL 85-868 at 16 N.N.C. 1601. Mineral rights and all royalties are retained by the State of Utah.

Navajo Partitioned Lands & New Lands

In 1974, Congress passed the 1974 Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act (Relocation Act) to avert what it feared was an imminent inter-tribal war over the 2.5 million acre 1882 Executive Order Reservation which, from its inception, was settled by both Navajo and Hopi communities but controlled by neither tribe. In 1934, 700,000 acres of grazing range (District 6) within this area had been set aside exclusively for Hopi use under the Indian Reorganization Act. In 1962, a federal district court in Arizona ruled in Healing vs. Jones that both tribes would have joint and equal rights to the 1882 area outside District 6, known as the Joint Use Area, and ordered creation of a joint use plan. When no joint use plan was created, Congress intervened with the Relocation Act.

The land use terms of the Relocation Act are more strict than general federal and tribal lease and permit management laws. Lands taken into trust for the Navajo Nation under the Act must be used solely for the benefit of Navajo relocatees that at the time of the Act’s enactment had been residing on lands partitioned to the Hopi. A 2012 report of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission observed that the Act appeared “structured to allow corporate mining companies to exploit valuable subsurface minerals,” including coal mines that have depleted the Navajo Aquifer, the only source of drinking water to 50,000 Diné people in 14 communities in Black Mesa.

Navajo Partitioned Lands

The Relocation Act carved out a 900,000 acre Navajo Partitioned Lands (NPL)(Dził Yijiin) out of the Joint Use Area. The relocation of thousands of Navajos from the Hopi partitioned area (HPL) created such hardships that it has come to be known among Diné as the Second Long Walk. Lawsuits were subsequently filed by Navajo families in the HPL and the Hopi Tribe. In 1996, Congress passed the Navajo-Hopi Accommodation Agreement which gave $50.2 million to the Hopi tribe to drop its lawsuits, and required the remaining 250 Navajo families in the HPL to sign 75-year leases, called Accommodation Agreements, or be evicted. Pub. L. No. 104-301, 110 Stat. 3649 (1996).

Special Conditions:

Residents of the Navajo Partitioned Lands are restricted by federal grazing regulations specific to their area, managed by the BIA-Navajo Region. See Navajo Partitioned Lands Grazing Regulations, 25 CFR 161. NPL residents also deal with decades of stalled infractructure development, lack of water, and residual environmental harms left behind by closed mining companies.

New Lands, Nahata Dził

The Relocation Act also created the 352,000 acre New Lands (Nahata Dził) along the Arizona part of the AZ-NM border to the south of the Navajo Nation, and ordered the relocation of Navajos living on Hopi land.

Evolved Conditions:

Relocatees in the New Lands (Nahata Dził), along the Arizona part of the AZ-NM border, benefit from planned ranching communities restricted only to relocatees and their families and descendants, with the ONHIR having authority to build homes, and support local beef and industry through independent issuance of leases.

Special Note:

Office of Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation (ONHIR)

the 1974 Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act (Relocation Act) further created a 3-member relocation commission to administer the Act. In 1988, the relocation commission was abolished and the Office of Navajo Hopi Indian Relocation (ONHIR) was established in its place as a separate administrative program governed directly by the Relocation Act. The ONHIR’s unique existence and funding stream has had large consequences reservation-wide, both positive and negative.

ONHIR is separate from the BIA and answerable directly to Congress. For decades, ONHIR administered lands taken into trust under the Relocation Act for the Navajo Nation. It has been allocated immense funds (estimated $300 million) for relocation. In July 1990, ONHIR issued procedures for the leasing of New Lands, including homesite and business leases. As of 2018, ONHIR had 31 employees in 3 offices in Flagstaff, Sanders and Chambers, AZ.

Special Conditions:

While sometimes called the “BIA Phoenix office” by NPL residents, the ONHIR has no relation to the BIA and lacks BIA internal control standards. It has greater independent power and none of the BIA’s budgetary and oversight constraints. Its newness, independence, and immense budget has given the ONHIR unmatched regional influence and presence. For many years, the ONHIR displaced the BIA as the go-to office for funding for capital projects in return for a chapter’s approval of some homestes for a relocatee.To encourage existing chapters to receive relocatees, the Act heavily funded chapter infrastructure development, and ONHIR technical advisors drafted lease templates for the chapter’s use for the relocatees. Due to the trust placed in the ONHIR as a federal entity able to provide infrastructure funding without undue red tape, Navajo Nation chapters have advocated for its continued operations even though the ONHIR itself has asked for termination due to fulfillment of its mission.

Evolved Conditions–Unnecessary prohibition against keeping livestock on homesites across the reservation

To discourage relocatees from remaining on the Big Reservation where every land not used was considered “customary land” belonging to someone, the Relocation Act prohibited the raising of ivestock for relocatees who chose to relocate to existing Navajo Nation chapters on the Big Reservation.

The ONHIR drafted template homesite lease forms for chapter use for the relocatees limiting homsites to one acre and prohibiting livestock. Over time, these form s were used for all homesite leases, even for homesites of families who long lived in the area. Officials began applying the Navajo-Hope Land Settlement pohibition against livestock and limitig size of homesites, to everyone, and not just relocatees. Soon, it was forgotten that the forms originated from he ONHIR to implement a particular provision only for a small group. The forms soon came to be used reservation-wide for everyone, under a general impression that they are required by law, and that land shortage is severe.

Ramah Navajo 1957

is named for a valley south of Gallup, NM to the west of the Zuni Pueblo, “Ramah” being the name given to the area by Mormon settlers in the late 1800s. Diné have lived in the area for several hundred years and call it “Tłochiin” (wild onion). It is part of the Diné ancestral homeland but not included in the small initial Navajo reservation in 1868. After Hwéeldi, seven Diné families returned to this area rather than submit to reservation confinement. They were vulnerable to hostile Anglo settlers who pushed them off fertile areas. A cohesive band dedicated to create their own land base in Tłochiin, present-day Ramah is a checkerboard of different status lands. Its first titled land was individual allotments, later converted to trust allotments. In 1944, Picuris and Pojoaque Pueblos purchased 60,000 acres of railroad land grant and leased them to Ramah. In the 1950s, the Navajo Nation purchased the leased land for Ramah. In the 1980s, Congress enacted Pub. L. 96-333 and Pub. L. 97-434 setting aside 18,192 acres of federal trust land for Ramah. Later, privately donated land passed to Ramah through the BIA and the band also purchased fee land. Ramah is heavily checkerboarded. The final checkerboard comprises individual trust allotments, Ramah Band trust land, Navajo Nation fee land, Ramah Chapter fee land, NM state trust land and private fee land across 154,000 acres for its 3,500 members.

In addition to land base, Ramah has pursued securing services for its members, relying first on the DOI Indian Service in Crownpoint serving the Eastern Navajo Agency but distance/access were issues. More readily linked were the 19 pueblos that collectively were the United Pueblo Agency. In 1942, Ramah became part of this Agency, then part of the Zuni Agency. On Oct 31, 1957, Ramah joined the Navajo Nation’s 110 chapter system.

Dissatisfaction with both tribal and federal services continued. In 1972, Ramah attained status as a stand-alone Ramah Navajo Agency served by the BIA Southwest Regional Office in Albuquerque, a status endorsed by the Navajo Nation Council in 1995 in resolution CJY-61-94, which also recognized Ramah’s authority to independently contract with the BIA. Contracting directly with the BIA Southwest Office, in 1970 the Ramah Navajo School Board (RNSB) began 638 contracting for schools, and in 1984 the Ramah Navajo Chapter began locally governing its natural resources/agriculture, capital improvement, and most recently Roads Maintenance also as 638 programs. Ramah is recognized as a “tribal governing body.” BIA-Southwest directly operates Forestry. The Navajo Nation funds Ramah chapter services and operates the Ramah court. Ramah is its own “service unit” under the Albuquerque Area Indian Health Service.

Difference from Big Reservation:

Ramah is its own Agency served by BIA-Southwest in Albuquerque, entirely separate from the 5 Navajo Nation Agencies served by the BIA-Navajo Region in Gallup. Regarding land, it is able to independently contract and diversity land governance across its various land areas, including making full use of economic tools provided by the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, and self-determination tools from “going 638” through the RNSB. A point of contention since 2006 has been land use management of the 60,000 land grant acres purchased for Ramah by the Navajo Nation which is covered under Navajo Nation land use management regulations authorized by Congress under the Navajo Trust Land Leasing Act of 2000, which duplicate the federal leasing system but imposes further layers of tribal “red tape.”

Satellite Communities

To’Hajiilee (Canoncito) 1925

The DOI-Indian Service appears to have treated the Cañoncito Band of Navajo Indians (now To’Hajiilee) as a self-negotiating band, off and on, for years without formal acknowledgement. In 1925, Congress passed Pub. L. 68-550 allowing 40 acres west of Seboyta, NM to be “permanently withdrawn for the use and benefit of Navajo Indians residing in that immediate vicinity,” who were the Cañoncito Band. Upon this enactment, the Cañoncito area became non-contiguous “satellite” land to the Big Reservation and Cañoncito became a Navajo Nation Chapter. In 1949 following a lawsuit filed by three Cañoncito families, allotments were placed into trust which expanded To’Hajiilee to its current size of 76,000 acres in the Mt. Taylor region 30 miles west of Albuquerque. To’Hajiilee’s mixed Navajo/Pueblo bloodlines, great distance from the Big Reservation and separate histories has long created a sense of difference from the Big Reservation. It has been in the region since 1580 and has also been variously referred to as “Cebolleta (little onion) Navajos” and Diné Ana’í (renegade or enemy Navajo), who independently signed a treaty with Spain in 1786 and attempted a treaty with the U.S. in 1858. Band members were rounded up during Hwéeldi, after which they chose to return to their homeland. When they found it occupied by others, the band members migrated east to their present area.

In 2000, Cañoncito changed its name to To’Hajiilee which means “Where they pull the water up and it keeps refilling itself.” It also became a certified Local Governance Act (LGA) Chapter governed like other Navajo Nation chapters. It runs “638 contract” programs including a band-chartered school board and health clinic. It has little business development, and critically insufficient water for its 2,400 members (5 of 6 wells having failed). A water pipeline for To’Hajiilee is being pursued by the Navajo Nation. The extent of lands other than tribal trust lands in this satellite community is unclear.

Alamo 1968

Alamo is a community of 2,000 members on 63,000 acres located 220 miles east of Window Rock and 140 miles southwest from Albuquerque. The poorest Indian community in the United States, it received electricity in 1967, a paved road in 1982, and telephone service in 1987. Oral history has them settling in the area after release from Hwéeldi. While never formally acknowledging Alamo as a band, the DOI-Indian Service placed the Alamo Band of Navajo Indians in the Southern Pueblo Agency until 1968, when it was transferred to the Eastern Navajo Agency. It then became a Navajo Nation chapter.

The Alamo Navajo School Board, Inc. (ANSB), created in 1979 as a 638 contract program, represented the political birth of Alamo, with ANSB and Alamo Chapter now administering five 638 programs including natural resources. Alamo has no congressionally recognized boundaries and no water or mineral rights. 1948 Socorro County records show the majority of surface land belonging to the Alamo Navajo Band and the U.S. Government by warranty deed. In 1982, the NM Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources reported the reservation as 54% Alamo Band land, 25% Indian trust allotments, 7% “Navajo Nation-owned” land, and 14% private non-Indian land. Ownership records maintained by BLM, Forestry Service, and tribal records are conflicting.

Act of Aug 13, 1949 - Declare 76,000 acre Canoncito Navajo tribal trust land status

August 13, 1949, ch. 425, 63 Stat. 604, 605; 25 U.S.C. §§ 621–623

25 U.S.C. § 621. Portions of tribal lands to be held in trust by the United States; remainder to become part of the public domain

Title to the lands and the improvements thereon, lying and situated within the State of New Mexico, which have been acquired by the United States under authority of title II of the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 (48 Stat. 200), the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of April 8, 1935 (49 Stat. 115), section 55 of Title I of the Act of August 24, 1935 (49 Stat. 750, 781), the Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act (50 Stat. 522, 525) and subsequent emergency relief appropriation Acts administrative jurisdiction over which has heretofore been transferred by the President from the Secretary of Agriculture to the Secretary of the Interior, to be administered through the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the benefit of the Indians, by Executive Orders Numbered 7792, 7975, 8255, 8471, 8696, and 8472 and that title to the public domain lands and improvements thereon, lying and situated within the State of New Mexico, which were withdrawn in aid of proposed legislation by the Secretary of the Interior on December 23, 1938, and May 31, 1939, and now in use by Pueblo or Canoncito Navajo Indians, excepting those portions thereof used by the United States for administrative purposes, is declared to be in the United States of America in trust for the respective tribes, bands, or groups of Indians occupying and using same as a part of their respective existing reservations, subject to valid existing rights. The remainder of the aforesaid land is declared to be a part of the public domain of the United States and shall be transferred by the Secretary of the Interior to the Bureau of Land Management for administration under the provisions of the Act of Congress of June 28, 1934, generally known as Taylor Grazing Act (48 Stat. 1269, as amended). The boundaries and descriptions of the areas to become Indian lands and those which are to be transferred to the Bureau of Land Management are set out in sections III and IV, respectively, of the memorandum of information which is attached to and a part of the report of the Secretary of the Interior to the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs on sections 621–623 of this Title, and such boundaries and descriptions are adopted as part of said sections and shall be published in the Federal Register: Provided, That before said boundaries and descriptions are published in the Federal Register as provided in this section, the Secretary of the Interior may correct any clerical errors in section III of said memorandum of information and shall revise the same so as to define the areas on that portion of the lands conveyed by sections 621–623 of this Title and known as Bell Rock Mesa used and occupied respectively by the Laguna Pueblo Indians and the Canoncito Navajo Indians. (August 13, 1949, ch. 425, § 1, 63 Stat. 604.)

History

References in text. Title II of the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933, (48 Stat. 200), referred to in text, was formerly classified to 40 U.S.C. §§ 401–414. These sections were terminated by the provisions of act June 27, 1942, ch. 450, § 101, 56 Stat. 410.

The Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of April 8, 1935 (49 Stat. 115), referred to in the text, was not classified to U.S.C. Section 55 of Title I of the Act of August 24, 1935 (49 Stat. 750, 781), referred to in the text, was not classified to U.S.C.

The Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act (50 Stat. 52–2, 525), referred to in the text, is classified to 7 U.S.C. §§ 1001–1005d, 1006c, 1006d, 1007, 1008–1012, 1014–1025, and 1027–1029.

Taylor Grazing Act (48 Stat. 1269, as amended), referred to in the text, is classified to 43 U.S.C. chapter 8A.

25 U.S.C. § 622. Exchange of tribal lands; title to lands

For the purpose of consolidation of Indian lands the Secretary of the Interior is authorized, under such regulations as he may prescribe, to exchange any lands or interests therein, including improvements and water rights with the consent of the Pueblo or Navajo tribal authorities for other lands, water rights, and improvements of similar value in the area set apart for the Pueblos and Canoncito Navajos or in the areas declared to be public domain or within any public domain within New Mexico. Title to all lands acquired under the provisions of sections 621–623 of this title shall be taken in the name of the United States in trust for the respective Pueblo Indians and the Navajo Canoncito group. (August 13, 1949, ch. 425, § 2, 63 Stat. 605.)

25 U.S.C. § 623. Disbursement of deposits in the United Pueblos Agency

The funds now on deposit in the United Pueblos Agency in “special deposits” which have accrued from issuance of livestock-crossing permits and fees collected for grazing permits on the lands which have been under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior shall be expended or disbursed for the benefit of the Indians under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe. (August 13, 1949, ch. 425, § 3, 63 Stat. 605.)

Act of April 30, 1964 - Declare Alamo Navajo tribal trust land status

April 30, 1964, Pub. L. 88–303, 78 Stat. 189

AN ACT

To provide that the United States shall hold certain land in trust for the members of the Alamo Band of Puertocito Navajo Indians.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, (a) All right, title, and interest of the United States in and to those lands lying within the Alamo Navajo community area, New Mexico, more particularly described in subsection

(b) of this section and the improvements thereon, are hereby declared to be held in trust by the United States for the use of the members of the Alamo Band of Puertocito Navajo Indians, subject to the right of the United States to use said lands and improvements located thereon for administrative purposes.

(b) Lot 3 and the southeast quarter northwest quarter of section 6, township 2 north, range 6 west, New Mexico principal meridian, and improvements located thereon.

SEC. 2. The Indian Claims Commission is directed to determine in accordance with the provisions of section 2 of the Act of August 13, 1946 (60 Stat. 1050), the extent to which the value of the title conveyed by this Act should or should not be set off against any claim against the United States determined by the Commission.

Approved, April 30, 1964.

Tribal Ranches

After the federal government began recommending that the Tribe lease ranch lands off reservation to accommodate growing livestock herds, in 1954 the Navajo Nation enacted tribal land acquisition processes, amended in 2016. Between 1957-65, the Tribe purchased 8 ranches. The Navajo Nation now owns or has grazing rights to about 1.5 million acres of ranch land off the reservation which are private lands for which the tribe pays state property taxes. Navajo ranchers may lease the ranches for use only and are not allowed to live on them. Funds for land purchases are generated through the Navajo Nation’s Land Acquisition Trust Fund established in 1993. Each year, the Nation invests two-percent of its annual revenues to the trust fund to acquire properties to expand the Nation’s land base.

Land Buy Bank Program 2016

STUB: some 149,524 acres of land were returned by the Department of Interior to the Navajo Nation for tribal communal use.

Land Base Formation Timeline

Dinétah – Ancestral Homelands

Navajo Treaty of 1850 – U.S. Military Forts

Treaty Land 1868

Executive Order Lands 1878-1886

Allotments 1887-1934 and Land Consolidation

Indian New Deal 1934

Utah Navajo Trust Land (Aneth) 1933

Arizona Land Consolidation 1934

Agreements to Lease Mineral Lands to Industry

McCracken Mesa 1958

Navajo Partitioned Lands & New Lands

Navajo Partitioned Lands

New Lands, Nahata Dził

Special Note:

Office of Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation (ONHIR)

Ramah Navajo 1957

Satellite Communities

To’Hajiilee (Canoncito) 1925

Alamo 1968

Tribal Ranches

Land Buy Bank Program 2016

Mailing Address

Contact Form