"Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. has stated many times that "This is the people's government."

Navajo rancher Justin Yazzie seems to have the same problem with that statement as we do.

Yazzie will have to move his herds off grazing land this month in response to a new bidding process introduced last year by the Navajo Nation Department of Agriculture.

Despite having signed a previous agreement under old terms that would allow him to keep the land for at least several more years, the new terms meant to bring top dollar with disregard to everything else unfairly have changed the game in mid-stream.

Yazzie and his family have leased the land in Whitehorse Lake Chapter for five generations only to be outbid in a new closed-bid process.

This new bidding process also jeopardizes the livelihood of at least 27 other long-term ranchers.

The process allows individuals to bid above the grazing capacity for the land.

Yazzie bid $4 per head per month and limited his count to fewer than 40 cattle based on his knowledge of the drought conditions in the area.

He was outbid by a rancher who, unfamiliar with the land, bid $12 per head and promised to graze 60 cattle. Yazzie said grazing more than 40 will deplete resources and ruin the land in less than two years."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Navajo Nation policy threatens livelihoods (The Farmington Daily Times 6/10)

Earlier Story:
Moving out after generations (The Farmington Daily Times 6/8)