Navajo Administrative History

New patterns of administration also followed the approach road to Navajo National Monument. One primary change was the transfer of responsibility for Rainbow Bridge National Monument to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in 1964. Since 1909, Rainbow Bridge had been the responsibility of the custodian or superintendent of Navajo National Monument. This resulted from John Wetherill's position as the ostensible "discoverer" of both places. As an inveterate traveler and the sole outfitter in the region, he was an excellent choice. Until the 1930s, few people visited either Navajo or Rainbow Bridge without John Wetherill. But after the construction of the hogans for visitors at Shonto, Wetherill's control ended. In effect, Shonto opened the monument to others, limiting Wetherill's effectiveness as a custodian of two places. But because of the historical precedents, Rainbow Bridge remained under the jurisdiction of Navajo. Custodians and superintendents from James W. Brewer to Art White and their rangers made a semi-annual trip to Rainbow Bridge.

Most of the time their trip was an overnight stay, during which they performed rudimentary maintenance. Most visits consisted of some minor trail work and replacement of the visitors' register with a new one. Visitation remained low; in 1952, 552 people visited the bridge, 394 of whom came by boat, 124 by horse, and 34 on foot. [21] Without resources and labor, the position of Rainbow Bridge was even worse than that of Navajo. Only its remote location protected it from depredation and misuse.

But changes in the demands on the park system and the response of Congress and Park Service made the existing system impractical. Along with an aggressive program to dam western rivers, the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area was authorized in 1958. The construction of the dam led to the creation of a large recreational lake. The new administrative entity, Glen Canyon NRA, had its own headquarters, superintendent, and staff, all of which were closer to Rainbow Bridge than Navajo.

Rainbow Bridge was also part of a number of proposals to include it in a national park that would encompass a large part of the area. In support of this project, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and his entourage visited Rainbow Bridge. The group came in a helicopter, offering a spectacular view of the bridge and the surrounding country. Rainbow Bridge had become a constant issue. Navajo lacked the resources to adequately administer another monument, and the same forces that spurred changes at other remote parks affected Rainbow Bridge. Clearly something had to be done. A change in responsibility seemed imminent. [22]

The point was driven home to the staff at Navajo in a dramatic fashion. During one inspection trip in the early 1960s, Art White and Bud Martin went beyond the bridge and met a crew from Glen Canyon NRA there to sink anchors for a floating marina on the new lake. The water level had not yet risen, yet there was a symbolic quality to this figurative moment of transfer. "If it's going to have water under it," Martin recalled White opining, "it might as well be managed by the boating rangers." Later, at a dedication for Rainbow Bridge, Mike's Boy, who took the Cummings party in 1909, was brought back to the bridge. Old and frail, he had to be carried in. It was emotional moment that spanned six decades. [23]

Another administrative innovation of the era was initiation of the Navajo Lands Group, a support entity for the parks in Navajoland, in 1968. During the 1960s, the Park Service sought to link numerous small areas in administrative groupings that centralized some responsibilities and added an additional layer of management between individual parks and the regional. Following a concept first developed by Frank Pinkley with the Southwestern National Monuments group and followed with a similar group in the Southeast headed by Herbert Kahler, the Navajo Lands Group was designed to provide archeological, interpretive, and maintenance support for the parks in and near the Navajo reservation. Included in the group were Navajo, Canyon de Chelly, Chaco Canyon, El Morro, Hubbell Trading Post, and other areas. John Cook, a former ranger at Navajo and superintendent at Canyon de Chelly, became the first general superintendent of the group; Art White succeeded Cook. Charles B. Voll recalled that he "presided over the demise" of the group in the 1980s. Each of the general superintendents had vast experience with the Navajo Nation, and provided strong leadership. Located in Chinle, Arizona, from 1967 to 1970, and then moved to Farmington, New Mexico, the Navajo Lands Group augmented the regular budget of park areas by pooling resources for joint administration of many of the functions of the parks in the region. It centralized skilled people in a number of specialized fields, making these resources available to more than one park or monument. [24]

In its fourteen years of existence, the Navajo Lands Group provided a range of services to a number of park areas. Because most of the parks in the region had small staffs, the Navajo Lands Group developed specialized functions that parks could not fulfill. For Navajo National Monument, archeological stabilization programs, for many years headed by Charlie Voll, provided essential service. The group also had equipment for use in a range of projects. It also provided periodic inspections of the various parks and analysis of situations.

One of these inspections in 1969 led to the development of new administrative practices at the monument. In December 1969, an appraisal team headed by Charlie Voll and including John Cook, Richard B. Hardin, Albert Schroeder, and Rodney E. Collins visited the monument. While generally impressed with the condition of the monument, they recognized a number of problems. In the view of the team, the park was "misstaffed." Navajo had too many staff members with high General Schedule (GS) ratings, and an insufficient number to perform technical and non-professional duties. The need for a "competent" administrative assistant was also apparent. At the time of the visit, the superintendent handled much of the routine paperwork that could have been done by a lower grade employee. The master plan for the monument was outdated, while public relations were "just adequate." Although the team did not perceive these problems as insurmountable, they suggested ways to rectify the situation. [25]

The appraisal team had recognized major problems associated with the rapid transformation of the monument. As a result of the approach road and the MISSION 66 development, Navajo had become an easily reached modern park area. The new responsibilities associated with more comprehensive management altered the pattern of staff activities. There were many more clerical-type functions that had to be accomplished, and most of the personnel at the monument were rangers with a penchant for the outdoors. Clearly a modern monument required more attention to administrative detail. A superintendent could no longer mimic Art White's tactic of making noises into the telephone receiver to convince superiors that there was so much static on the line that orders could not be understood. [26]

In part as a consequence of the presence of the Navajo Lands Group, a more comprehensive planning process emerged. With guidance from Farmington, the maintenance staff at the monument learned to handle minor ruins rehabilitation. Navajo National Monument also received the kind of planning documents that became the basis for growth in the park system. A backcountry management plan for the monument was approved in 1974, followed by a statement for management the following year. Navajo developed the infrastructure and support typical of park areas.

Despite the many advantages it offered, the Navajo Lands Group had inherent limitations. If fully implemented, it required major changes in the structural management of park areas. It created a level of management between a park and the regional office, and sometimes it seemed to park officials that the Regional Director never heard their thoughts. Some park superintendents resisted the program, and as long as the regional director supported the idea, it worked well. If he did not, the program floundered, as superintendents tried to circumvent it by taking their issues directly to the regional office. One former general superintendent recalled that the weakest superintendents, the ones perceived as not doing their job, resisted the group most vehemently. Under the administrations of regional directors Frank F. Kowski and John Cook, the program fared well. Under others, it was not as successful. [27]

For Superintendent Frank Hastings, the group was a mixed blessing. The access to a support network was critical for Navajo. Hastings could summon a working maintenance specialist who understood how to get funding out of the regional office, an archeologist, an administrative officer, and a general superintendent who had some influence on local Navajos. "The Group did some really great things," Hastings remembered. But there were drawbacks. The administrative officer of NALA was an extremely important person to each of the parks in the group. Some administrative officers played favorites, capriciously advocating the programs of their friends regardless of merit or justification. The group meant more paperwork within a shorter time, as every piece of work had to be reviewed at the NALA level before it went to the regional office, and to Hastings it sometimes seemed an indirect way to address issues. [28]

Navajo returned to direct relations with the Southwest Regional Office following the termination of the Navajo Lands Group in 1982. This gave the monument a kind of parity with other parks in the Southwest Region. No longer did Farmington filter the needs of the monument. Superintendents could present their case directly to the regional office. But conversely, Navajo and the other parks in the group lost much of their infrastructural support. Again they had to provide all their own services, a strain on the budget that caused much duplication from park to park.

Early in its tenure, Navajo superintendent Bill Binnewies offered a fitting epitaph for the Navajo Lands Group. It offered a genuine benefit, he remarked, for it absorbed a significant portion of the administrative workload as well as the management of maintenance of the ruins and helped address any emergency situations that occurred at the park. This allowed a park with a small staff to concentrate on its visitor service. Subsequent superintendents agreed, and a close relationship with Navajo National Monument was the rule throughout the existence of the Navajo Lands Group. [29]