Navajo Administrative History

Yet there were problems that remained from the Memorandum of Agreement. It was only a temporary measure, designed to allow the NPS to develop Navajo before final resolution could be reached. But a permanent transfer of land remained elusive. Throughout the 1960s, efforts to solve numerous land and development issues surrounding Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Rainbow Bridge National Monument, and Navajo National Monument continued. By 1966, an impasse had been reached. The Navajo Nation did not want to give up any more of its land, while the Park Service could not give away its holdings without getting something in return. In 1966, the NPS offered a three-for-one swap of land at Betatakin and Rainbow Bridge for a much larger tract of federal land at Antelope Point that the tribe coveted. The Navajos rejected the exchange. "If the Tribe had its way," exasperated Regional Director Daniel Beard wrote NPS Director George Hartzog, Jr., "the 'exchange' would be one-way--all take and no give." If the Park Service backed down unconditionally, offering to take less or give more, Beard thought the Navajos might take it as a sign of weakness. This could be a prelude to further demands that Beard felt were unreasonable. [40] Park Service officials were at a loss. They felt they made more than generous offers that were rejected out of hand. But a cultural awakening had occurred, clearly changing the climate in the region in a less than decade.

During that time, the Park Service became frustrated by its dealings with the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation sought NPS land and the right to develop visitor services for places like Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, while the Park Service still wanted clear title to the land at Navajo as part of an elaborate system of exchange. A four-year effort to resolve the use of lands near Glen Canyon became an interminable burden. In one instance in 1969, an agreement "almost made it," as Regional Director Frank Kowski was informed, but was rejected by Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai as not being sufficiently favorable to the Navajo. Only when Regional Director Frank Kowski threatened to withdraw NPS support for an economic development by the Navajo aimed at serving NPS visitors did any sort of agreement become reality. On March 6, 1970, Kowski, Solicitor Gayle E. Manges, and Nakai met in Window Rock to work out the details. The result was an agreement that allowed the Navajo to develop the south shore of Lake Powell. [41] But because of the difficulty in reaching a solution, resolving issues at Navajo National Monument was forgotten.

By 1970, the Navajo had become far less likely to permanently cede any tract of land to a federal agency than they had a decade before. The late 1960s awakened the Navajo people and their political structure to two realities: their identity was threatened by encroaching mainstream culture and the land they held was their only cultural and economic protection. Demand for energy exploration of the reservation had increased, although in more than one instance, the Navajo felt that they were exploited. They looked warily at the outside world, including the Park Service. Despite a number of cooperative agreements with the Park Service that allowed the Navajo to offer concession services to visitors at a variety of parks, the NPS could not wrest free the 240 acres at Betatakin covered in the Memorandum of Agreement. As the obstacles mounted, the idea of outright acquisition faded, and the temporary agreement took on a semblance of permanence.

That temporary agreement had lasting effect. By 1962, Navajo National Monument had been transformed. The most serious obstacle to its development, the lack of roads and easy access, had been eliminated, and the monument was on the list for the ample funds derived from MISSION 66. The cocoon that had been the monument, the narrow world in which NPS people and their neighbors previously lived, had been opened up to the mass of Americans. The very values that attracted archeologists, park people, and visitors to the monument were in danger of being overwhelmed.

Between 1938 and 1962, Navajo caught up to the rest of the park system. It faced the same problems, compounded by its non-contiguous nature and its location as an outpost in Navajoland. Although the park was well managed, park staff recognized their limitations as the world around them, already beyond their control, changed rapidly. The need for more land was paramount; efforts at expanding the monument reflected this reality.

Before the Memorandum of Agreement, the agency regarded MISSION 66 for Navajo as a long-range plan rather than a program to be implemented. At higher levels, officials recognized the unique limited position of the monument and were not prepared to commit resources. MISSION 66 was aimed at parks with higher levels of visitation. Growth at the monument had to wait until the acquisition of land on which to build visitor facilities.

This made an already dire situation even more urgent. Navajo lagged behind the rest of the park system, and the development of roads and other facilities in the area around the monument accentuated the gap. By the time development occurred, it could only bring the monument up to current demand. Planning for the future would have to wait.