Shortly before Lucille Daniel’s father died, he told her: “Take care of the land. Take care of the livestock.”
This land, a patch of remote desert not far from the Grand Canyon on the western Navajo Nation, has been in the Daniel family for six generations. Lucille, 85, was born and grew up here.
“We have a beautiful land here. We just want to keep it that way,” she said.
Aside from the addition of solar panels and a wind turbine to service her home, Daniel’s land is the same as it was generations ago. She still keeps sheep, goats, horses and cows on the property, as do her few neighbors nearby. When it rains – a rare occurrence in a part of the US that has been in a drought for decades – the animals flock to a canyon that transforms into their drinking water source.
The canyon, however, as well as the regions nearby and the Native culture they sustain, could be altered permanently, if a duo of developers get their way...