{"id":23135,"date":"2022-04-12T17:19:49","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T21:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=23135"},"modified":"2022-04-12T17:19:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T21:19:50","slug":"cronkite-news-navajo-nation-works-to-address-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/04\/12\/cronkite-news-navajo-nation-works-to-address-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Navajo Nation works to address climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Navajo<\/a>
Last summer, officials with the Resources and Development Committee of the 24th Navajo Nation Council, Bureau of Indian Affairs staff and community members toured the Navajo Nation looking at the impact of drought and overgrazing on the land. Photo by Nicholas Chischilly<\/figcaption>\r\n
Time, tradition and trust: The Navajo Nation takes on climate change<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, April 12, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Fiona L.Q. Flaherty<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nPHOENIX, Arizona — For many years, Tsegi Canyon on the Navajo Nation struggled: Its dry walls and streambanks were eroding, exposing crumbling red soil to the desert sky. Its springs were drying up; native plants were few and far between on the canyon floor, often replaced by invasive weeds.

<\/P>\r\nThis land, beautiful and remote, was tired, said Nicholas Chischilly, a wildlife technician with the Navajo Nation Climate Change Program<\/a>, which operates under the tribe\u2019s Department of Fish and Wildlife.

<\/P>\r\nThere\u2019s a lot of history there, he said, and secluded Tsegi Canyon, \u2013 13 miles from Kayenta near the Navajo National Monument \u2013 is one of the few places on the reservation where water flows year round.

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<\/P>\r\nChischilly recalls hearing elders tell stories about days long past, when knee-high grass kept sheep and cattle healthy and fat across the vast nation.

<\/P>\r\nBut in recent years, he said, entering Tsegi Canyon was like going into another world.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThe stream banks were collapsing. Plant life was barely holding on. The families who live there told us about thousand-pound sections of cliff that fell off,\u201d Chischilly said. \u201cWe\u2019ve also heard that the canyon has been eroding so fast that a lot of people thought that if their elders were to come back to the area, they would not recognize it.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nBut in a place where \u201cthe land makes the people,\u201d that is changing despite a host of challenges, from language barriers to decades of broken promises.

<\/P>\r\nStarting in 2018, the exhausted canyon was finally allowed to rest, and a pilot project by Fred Phillips Consulting started restoration work. Fences were erected and livestock relocated. Native plants were reintroduced to restore the riparian area.

<\/P>\r\nTwo years later, Fred Phillips Consulting and volunteers from the Navajo Nation Climate Change Program put up more fencing, and they built Zuni bowls and employed other water management techniques to redirect and preserve streamflow.

<\/P>\r\n \"Tsegi<\/a>

Volunteers from the Navajo Nation Climate Change Program and a consulting firm put up fences and built Zuni bowls like this one in Tsegi Canyon to help improve water management in the canyon. Photo by Nicholas Chischilly <\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nTsegi Canyon is just one example of how the Navajo Nation is trying to restore the land and address a climate that\u2019s relentlessly heating up and drying out the planet.

<\/P>\r\nSuch efforts can be complicated given the intersection of Indigenous knowledge, long-held traditions and a small window of time to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change.

<\/P>\r\nYet those traditional values and working with indigenous knowledge are a crucial part of limiting climate change, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its latest assessments of the world\u2019s climate.

<\/P>\r\nOn the Navajo Nation, efforts to restore Tsegi Canyon are an example of how the people can repair the land but also prepare for climate change.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cCattle occasionally break in because they see how good the grasses are and how much healthier the streamflow is,\u201d Chischilly said. \u201cOur ecological restoration work has enabled the land to heal. It\u2019s a testament to giving caring Mother Nature a chance and to rebound if you give her enough time and resources.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nIt\u2019s hard to piece together a timeline of how long the land in Tsegi Canyon has struggled, Chischilly said, but Navajo elders are the best recordkeepers in such issues.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThey are the people with the most useful and available resources in terms of knowing what happens to the land because many of them are farmers and ranchers,\u201d Chischilly said. \u201cSo just based on that knowledge, it has been the last 30 to 40 years that have most negatively affected the canyon.\u201d

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\n\t\t\n\t\t\tClimate Change on the Navajo Nation\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Navajo Nation Climate Change Program: Climate Change on the Navajo Nation<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nMany Navajo elders have the perspective that climate change is a natural cycle, said Keith Howard, another wildlife technician with the tribal Climate Change Program.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cWhen we tell the story of the Navajo Nation, there were times where the Earth was destroyed by fire or water, but it rejuvenated itself,\u201d Howard said. \u201cThe animals and people returned. But we\u2019re trying to convey that because Earth\u2019s population is growing so big and we are consuming so much energy, the human process has outstripped the natural process.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nChischilly and Howard stress that it\u2019s a challenge to communicate the idea of rapidly accelerating climate change while helping people maintain their livelihoods, including ranching, while the megadrought continues.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s a combination of cultural issues,\u201d Chischilly said. \u201cIt\u2019s a combination of traditional values, a combination of different people\u2019s perspectives, Navajo and non-native. And so it gets complicated quickly.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nFor decades, the Navajo Nation has dealt with severe drought and the ongoing threat of wildfires. With each passing year, Chischilly said, these conditions are getting worse.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cWe get verbal accounts of these things going on, like wildlife migrations out of drought-stricken areas,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re also seeing a lot of young pine and juniper tree die-offs in our nation.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nWhen Navajo work the land, it can get emotional quickly, Chischilly said, because they don\u2019t separate themselves from Nahasdz\u00e1\u00e1n \u2013 Mother Earth.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cGrowing up in a drought-stricken environment, where your parents and grandparents are concerned about feeding livestock, hauling water, and you are introduced to this at a young age, there is little room to be excited or happy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wears on the body and soul.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nChischilly said the Navajo Nation Climate Change Program aims to help with this. \u201cWe are trying to spark a lot of interest in terms of thinking and acting on climate change differently.\u201d

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Global conversations happening locally<\/strong><\/div>\r\nThe Navajo Nation, like many communities across the globe, is having conversations about how to adapt to climate change and how to stave off some of the worst effects of extreme conditions.

<\/P>\r\nThese conversations are in line with the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment, which confirms that more extreme weather events are ahead if greenhouse gas emissions aren\u2019t drastically reduced.

<\/P>\r\nFrom 2010 to 2019, average annual greenhouse gas emissions were at their highest level in human history, according to the IPCC report.

<\/P>\r\nLimiting temperature rise to 2.7 degree Fahrenheit is nearly impossible, report authors say, unless greenhouse gas emissions peak before 2025 and emissions are cut by 43% by 2030.

<\/P>\r\nIf that isn\u2019t achieved, then it will be impossible to go back, said Kathy Jacobs, who directs the Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions at University of Arizona. Cronkite News talked with Jacobs in February after the first report came out.

<\/P>\r\nThe IPCC assessment includes solutions and adaptation strategies for climate change. But it also encourages the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge and lived experiences into the efforts.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cBut if you\u2019re trying to bring the knowledge of the ancestors and the people who have known this land to bear on this topic, while the species that they know may be leaving, that\u2019s a pretty big challenge,\u201d Jacobs said.

<\/P>\r\n\"Tuba<\/a>

A series of turquoise signs along southbound U.S. 89 near Tuba City proclaims the Navajo Nation’s resiliency. “Resiliency is who we are. But we also need to reclaim it,” said Keith Howard, a wildlife technician with the tribal Climate Change Program. File photo by Sierra Alvarez \/ Cronkite News <\/figcaption>\r\n

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The toll of climate change<\/strong><\/div>\r\nIndigenous people across the globe are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change, despite contributing very little to the emissions that cause some of its most extreme effects, Jacobs said.

<\/P>\r\nThe effects of climate change are being felt in different ways across the 27,673 square mile Navajo Nation, which includes 110 chapters \u2013 each one unique, Chischilly said.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cA lot of people are becoming aware of climate change,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2019s so unique here on the reservation because every community has their different issues. In one area, it would be totally devastated by drought and overgrazing. Other areas in the higher elevations are experiencing trees dying off.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nThe Navajo Nation released its first climate adaptation plan in 2018, after long talks with elders and community members to identify such priorities as addressing drought, pollution and overgrazing.

<\/P>\r\nFor the past several years, Howard said, the Navajo Nation Climate Change Program has tried to get on the same page as members about climate change, especially elders and some of the older generations, by bringing awareness about the issue. This process is complicated, especially because many elders only speak Navajo.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThe concept of climate change, ecological restoration and so forth is hard to communicate, especially when there\u2019s a language barrier,\u201d Howard said. \u201cMany of the concepts, like carbon footprints and greenhouse gasses, are not easily translated into the Din\u00e8 Navajo language.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nTrust building is at the core of much of the climate program\u2019s work.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cA lot of these new techniques, even though they might be relatively low technology and low cost, like just simple erosion control, require buy-in from communities and the acceptance that these techniques work before we can start any implementation at all,\u201d Chischilly said.

<\/P>\r\nBut despite the sensitivity and challenges, progress is being made.

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\n\t\t\n\t\t\tNavajo Nation Climate Change Program Website Intro Video\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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Greetings, This is our introduction video to our website, navajoclimatechange.org. Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife’s director, Gloria Tom, give…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Navajo Nation Climate Change Program: Navajo Nation Climate Change Program Website Intro Video<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>

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Drought tour leads to progress<\/strong><\/div>\r\nIn 2019, Chischilly and Howard began visiting several chapters across the reservation to discuss and educate community members about the impacts of climate change.

<\/P>\r\nThey had reached a handful before the COVID-19 pandemic set in, and the Navajo Nation closed. Now, Chischilly said, the tribe is taking its first steps toward restoration projects, based on feedback from a reservation tour last July by Navajo resource and development officials to gauge the effects of drought and overgrazing.

<\/P>\r\nOne of the stops was Tsegi Canyon, where the positive impacts of ecological restoration techniques were demonstrated.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cWe wanted to educate people about climate change with this tour, but we also wanted to show people tools they can use to adapt,\u201d Chischilly said.

<\/P>\r\nBut he and Howard said uneasiness remains between the calls from scientists to take immediate action on climate change and the historical trauma Native people have suffered when the government dictates how their lands should be used.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cNot just the Navajo Nation, but native people in general across the United States, we all suffer from transgenerational trauma,\u201d Howard said. \u201cIn the 1930s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs forcibly removed livestock from our nation. This really impacted our people because that was our way of life. Our elders and our people loved their herds of sheep, cows and horses.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nThis history, Howard said, makes it hard to bring up the Western scientific concept of a \u201cpoint of no return\u201d requiring immediate action.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cMany people still carry that experience and trauma with them,\u201d he said.

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