Dear Big Mountain Supporters,
On Wednesday, June 16, Alice Begay will travel to Valley Livestock
auction in
Holbrook Arizona with family members and Marsha Monestersky, their
Consultant, to bid for her cow at public auction. Proceeds from
the sale of
her cow will go to the BIA, not Alice, but the cost is expected
to be
substantially less than the BIA charges for animals to be released
from the
impoundment yard. Alice is hopeful that she will be able to return
home with
her cow. But once home, she will have to corral her cow to make
sure the BIA
does not confiscate it again. The reason is because the BIA refuses
to grant
her an interim grazing permit.
On Tuesday, June, 8, when Alice went to the BIA to plead for
the return of
her cow, Robert Carolin, Supertindent of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, Hopi
Area Agency, he told her “If you want your cow you can pay
for its release
from the impoundment yard or buy it back from the public auction.”
As of
Tuesday, June 8, the BIA still refused to issue her an interim
permit. All
of Alice’s animals remain subject to massive impoundment.
However, under the terms of an existing court injunction and
according to
Hopi Tribal Grazing Ordinance #43, the BIA is the sole agency
with
jurisdiction over range management. They have the power to issue
interim
grazing permits for all non signers of the Accommodation Agreement
(AA) known
as “those awaiting relocation” but refuse to do so.
Alice, a great grandmother says, “I was born here and
have lived here all my
life. My family, all of them were born here and my grandmother
and mom
before me, since before the Long Walk to Fort Sumner. We have
5 girls, 3
boys, and more than 50 grandchildren. I am illiterate and do
not speak, read
or write English. How can the BIA tell me I am not eligible for
a permit to
graze my animals and then continue to steal my animals from me?
Doesn’t that
just make them cattle rustlers, stealing my animals then keeping
the money
they make when they are sold at public auction? Both me and my
husband are
sick from the stress. I can't eat and I can’t sleep thinking
about my cow in
the impoundment yard. I don't want my cow sold at public auction.
I want the
BIA to give it back to me."
The US government program is being executed by the Bureau
of Indian Affairs
(BIA) and plans to remove all animals for which valid permits
are not
obtained as in the case of Alice Begay. People who either have
refused or
were ineligible to sign leases under terms of the 1996 law with
the
government are not allowed permits for their livestock. People
who signed
leases are eligible for permits and are not threatened with eviction,
but
even they have found that many of their livestock will be taken,
as the
number of permits issued is less than needed to cover their livestock.
Under the lease (Accommodation Agreement), the Dineh were granted
2,800 SUYL
(sheep-units-year-long), which is substantially less than the
5,000 SUYL
estimated as being needed for current herd sizes. The Dineh object
to this
quota system because the number requires the reduction of current
herds and
because the distribution of available permits among the Dineh
unfairly
rewards a small number of families who have cooperated with the
authorities.
The range management system also prohibits traditional methods
of range
conservation such as the use of summer/winter camps which would
enhance
carrying capacity. The BIA currently has jurisdiction over range
management
on HPL, but this authority will be transferred to the Hopi Tribe
on February
1, 2000. The range management issue also reflects the discrimination
affecting Dineh who would remain on HPL under terms of the Accommodation
Agreement.
The 2,800 SUYL allocated is less than a fair quota. The 1996
range inventory
used by the BIA establishes a carrying capacity of 12,547 SUYL
on HPL. In
compensation for their allowing Dineh to remain on HPL for 75
years, the US
government is giving the Hopi Tribe 500,000 additional acres of
additional
land. The Hopi will also receive grazing fees from the Navajo
Tribe for the
use by Dineh on HPL. Under these circumstances, restricting the
Dineh to 20%
of available permits is not an appropriate share, especially when
this limit
will require a substantial reduction in the livestock of traditional
subsistence herders.
Range management jurisdiction will be transferred to the Hopi
Tribe on
February 1, 2000, and their proposed range regulations discriminate
against
the Dineh. Dineh must apply for annual permits, while the Hopi
receive 5-year
permits. If an SUYL allocation is not used one year by the Dineh,
such as
because of the death of an animal, the Dineh loses the right to
the
allocation. When new allocations are required, such as for the
birth of new
animals, the Dineh only receive permits if no Hopi ranchers request
permits.
The natural fluctuation in herd sizes can be expected to erode
the 2,800 SUYL
available to the Dineh families over the 75 year period of the
leases.
Glenna Begay who got back 3 cows and 3 calves that were impounded
on Monday,
May 18 says, “The BIA is just backing us into a corner and
even though I got
my cows, I am forced to have my sheep exiled on the other side
of the fence
(on Navajo Partitioned Lands-NPL). How can I live like this?
When we were at
the impoundment yard just finishing loading up my cows into the
trailer to
bring them home the BIA Rangers and Hopi police just brought in
2 bulls and 1
Heifer impounded on HPL. They were just standing there laughing,
happy that
they could impound our cattle. How could the US government be
allowed to
make us starve?”
Glenna Begay continues, “I know that the BIA has already
been found guilty of
having 3 billion in tribes trust funds with no record of either
deposits or
withdrawals. Haven’t they stolen enough of Indigenous peoples
money? The
excuse that the BIA has for stealing our animals is the condition
of the
rangeland. If this rangeland is endangered why don’t they
just provide hay
and feed to supplement the range. This would be the humane solution
to
handling grazing management concerns but all they want to do is
make us
suffer and starve so we will give up and just leave our land.
We are just
like the people in Kosovo, refugees on our land with no choice
but to leave.
We are being told that we must leave our land empty handed and
leave all our
animals behind. I fear for the end of my ways of life and my
ability to
survive.”
Carlos Begay says, "For too long, the BIA has been abusing
elders and
violating our civil and constitutional rights. It is time now
for us too get
out from under the BIA and go under theState department. This
is who we
signed a treaty with."
Many of the others on HPL share his concern. Many believe
that the use of
livestock confiscation is not being conducted as a mechanism for
range
management, rather, it is intended to impose hardship upon subsistence
herders whose options are different from those of commercial ranchers,
and
typically results in the loss of livestock without compensation.
The Dineh
lacking sufficient permits live in constant fear, not knowing
each day if
they will be targeted by the impoundment squadrons which will
confiscate
their primary means of survival.
We need your help to stop the BIA from committing elder abuse.
Please keep
the pressure up.
Thank you for your help.
Posted by: Marsha Monestersky
Consultant to Sovereign Dineh Nation
E-mail: dinetah29@aol.com
Web sites: http://www.solcommunications.com
and http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/welcome.html