Content Objectives
This four week curriculum unit will be designed for sixth graders who will consider past research, ask questions of their elders and come up with solutions about how they would create a farm, utilizing data of today and the ideas or solutions that their elders once used. I would like my students to learn about innovative ways they could help in sustaining the traditional Navajo foods they grow. Students will focus about how other cultures worldwide are dealing with climate change and the effect it is having on their agriculture. This new learning is to help them find solutions and gain knowledge about how to farm in their environment and to compare farming techniques. With this knowledge they will gain an insight into other ways of farming and identify plants the Navajo people could grow based on their environment to help preserve their cultural foods. Students will research the weather and climate changes and how it has affected the Navajo way of planting.
This unit will incorporate added math and science skills. From the science standards, life science standards will be used. Students will be using evidence to explain how human activities are positive or negative to the environment. In math students will be using ratios to interpret data on water sources. The majority of regular self-contain class learning is focused on reading, math and writing. Students do take the end of year state assessment and that becomes a main priority. In my content, I can incorporate other subject areas. In doing so, I believe I am helping like an intervention teacher would do when students need that extra help. As I stated above, I will be able to incorporate math and science standards along with the Navajo Nation standards and the Arizona State Foreign and World language standards.
Water Shortages
Chinle Water
The Navajo Nation is one of the biggest Native American tribes in the United States. The tribe is located in parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. They are located near the Four Corners of the Southwest in a 17,544,500 acres. The population of the Navajo is about 173, 667. 5
Figure 1: A GridMET Palmer Drought Severity Index. NASA Earth Observatory6
Part of the Navajo Nation gets their drinking water source from a tribally owned company that was established in 1959, called Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) and the other part of the Navajo Nation obtain water from wells or water is transported to the home.7 NTUA currently provides electric, natural gas, water, wastewater treatment, solar energy, communication services and other related services. They are currently in talks about wind energy. They have five district offices on the Navajo Nation with four sub-offices. Navajo Tribal Utility Authority maintains and operates ninety two water systems through-out the Navajo Nation. They test water systems to ensure safe drinking water.8 The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority annually informs their customers where their water comes from. The report informs Chinle residents, the water they use come from different types of water source like ground water, surface water, streams and spring water. The report informs Chinle their water comes from one ground water source. The water is treated to become potable water. NTUA follows the Safe Water Drinking Act.
The rainfall in the desert is focused on two areas of land, the lowest lands and the higher lands. The rainfall average is three to five inches per year in the lowest lands where as in the highest lands, it is ten to fifteen inches per year.9 The monsoon season generally happen around the months of June to September and it brings much needed moisture to the Navajo Nation. The monsoon occurs when the moisture from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico create a stream that combines with the heat and forms rising air or low pressure. Chinle, Arizona, is located in the northern part of Arizona and is located in the central part of the Navajo reservation. The Navajo name for Chinle is Ch’inili, which means where water flows out. Chinle is located near a national park called Canyon DeChelly. From this canyon, water flows out during monsoon season in the summer and when snow melts from the nearby mountains of the Chuska, Tsaile, Ft. Defiance and Lukachukai in the spring. According to the United States Environment Protection Agency, the community of Chinle receives their drinking water from a watershed that stores ground water. The ground water that is stored in the watershed comes from the streams and runoffs of the melted snow of the mountains. 10
“MegaDroughts”
The Southwestern US is going through a “Megadrought.” (Figure 1).This megadrought is seen in the states of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, California and Colorado. Recorded data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), used in a Southwest Drought Forum, states for 18 months from January 2020 to June 2021 it was recorded that these states were experiencing historic continuation of drought with low precipitation along with high temperatures. It was noted that Arizona was also experiencing the second season of having the hottest season.11 Hot air can hold more water vapor and this reduces low level cloud formation.
Droughts cause natural hazards like wildfires, heatwaves, low river flow, dust storms and negatively impact agriculture. It is causing Southwest states to create recommendations that get state and local plans to look at their agricultural priorities. They also recommend relief programs, incentives for conservation activities, green infrastructures, disaster aid and recovery programs. The drought in the Southwest has also had water managements began seeking partners with other larger water utilities in the United States.
To ‘iina ‘at’e, Water is Life
To’ iina ‘at’e, water is life. This saying is plastered in many regions of the Navajo Nation, on windmills and posted on local news bulletins in communities. The importance of knowing where Chinle’s water source comes from will be of importance for the projects students will be creating. The Navajo People hold water, as a sacred entity, To ’ ei ‘iina/ To’ iina ‘at’e. This Navajo word means, “Water is life.” It is utilized in many ways just like other countries do. In the past couple of years, the topic of water has become one of the issues the Navajo People are trying to solve. Water covers overs a majority of Earth and in our own bodies, we need at least three liters of water each day.12 Water is essential in all living things. It is a substance made up of hydrogen and oxygen. It exits in gases, liquids and solids.13 On the Navajo Nation, there are people who still do not have access to water. They drive miles with different sizes of barrels to get water from either groundwater with pumps driven by windmills or their local chapter government to get water. The water is used for personal use and for livestock.
It is observed there is a change happening to the environment because of climate change. This observation has the Navajo Nation creating plans for better management, development and secure resources for the present and future generation. The Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources have noted the southwest is experiencing a drought since 1999.14 They are working collaboratively with other agencies to develop a strategy to meet the water needs of the Navajo Nation.
According to the Climate Science Special report, since 1950’s, the global pattern has shown that much of the global land has become wetter and in other areas the land has become drier.15 The report also states that this trend is human caused global warming. The East coast to Midwest of the United States is getting more precipitation causing intense storms. The heavy rainfall causes more precipitation in the air and when it is warm, it can hold more moisture. From the Midwest to the West coast, the land is becoming drier causing concerns of how water can be attained. (Figure 2.)
Figure 2: Source is NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. Change in annual average precipitation in the last 30 years. 16
Navajo Culture Stories
Native American cultures are spoken of as having a holistic and interrelatedness with everything surrounding them. The Earth, the sky and all elements are interconnected and they effect one another. In the Navajo culture, the People who are traditional maintain a way of life that balances them with everyone, animals, nature and the universe. Through having this respect, the Navajo People know how to be respectful of all things and to not waste any resource or there would be an imbalance of all things with consequences.
A story will be shared with students to have an understanding of why our People value water. The Navajo story of how water came to be for the Navajo Deities is through the help of Snail Girl. Snail Girl did a very tedious job that required her to return to a previous world they had come from to have fresh water. She was given a shell like bottle container that was placed on her back. In her return and tiredness, she did not realize that the container sprung a small leak. The First Woman of the People had a dream of Snail Girl’s return and managed to save some of the water that was still in the container and planted the water seeds which created rivers and streams. Snail Girl was honored and given the container that she brought the water back in. It was to represent her great journey. She was also told that everywhere she went, there would be a trail of moisture to indicate that water is precious and we must take care of it.17
Stories presented like this help students to see that in the past the People always found solutions and they found a way to overcome obstacles. Students will also need to know current facts about the region they live in, the Southwest.
Climate, Water and Drought on the Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation relies not only on ground water/ aquifers but also on snowpack from the Chuska Mountains and Defiance Plateau for their water. They also rely on direct capture of precipitation and surface water. The snowpack is monitored by the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources. They collect data that gives them information about how much water will be available for the communities, the vegetation, the wildlife animals and the livestock. The data shows there are increased drought, heavy downpour and decreased snowpack. The rise in temperature causes snow melt to happen earlier and causing a disruption in stream water volume, water temperature and runoff timing.18 Observation has also shown that snow is coming down as rain rather than snow. This results in a decrease in snowpack and there not being enough water resource when it was supposed to be the time for the snow to become a water runoff.
The Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources uses the data to plan for what to do if there is not enough water runoff. The Navajo Nation has four aquifers that has about 700 million acres of storage.19 They also rely on surface water from the Colorado River, Little Colorado River, San Juan River, washes and other nearby rivers. Not all Navajo People have access to these treated water. The water is used for agriculture in irrigating farms, used in dry farming and ranching and for consumption.
Climate change has raised concerns as to how the Navajo Nation will continue their lifestyle pertaining to water. Methods such as using precipitation gauges have been placed and are continued to be reinstalled each year. Tipping buckets, rain gauges, snow courses and stream gauges have also been placed. Surveys are done manually to measure the precipitation of rain and snow. However, there is no consistent study done yet on how climate is specifically changing water supply in the Navajo Nation.
The Navajo People have endured different hardships since returning from the Long Walk. Along with dealing with drought, the Navajo People have also had to fight for their water. In 1964, the Navajo Nation signed a contract with Peabody Western Coal Company to allow mineral rights and the use of aquifer on the Navajo and Hopi reservation.20 The Navajo People along with the Hopi tribe agreed to these contracts in exchange for jobs. The Peabody Western Coal Company strip mined two areas in Black Mesa to extract coal that would be used to power neighboring states. The aquifers were used to wash coal and transport coal from a pipeline to a power plant located in Laughlin, Nevada. It is estimated 3 million gallons of water was used every day for this process. This water source was a main source for the Navajo and Hopi tribes. The pumping of the groundwater affected the Navajo and Hopi tribe. It caused a decline in ground water and natural springs. The tribes demanded an end to the use of the water being used this way. The tribes demanded things to change and set a deadline due to the concerns of the water decline. 21 Peabody Western Coal Company finally shut down the mines completely in 2019 but the depletion of the aquifers remains.
Soil erosion
“Soil is the Earth’s fragile skin that anchors all life on Earth.”22
Soil erosion is the loss of topsoil that is caused by wind, water and other forces. In addition to erosion, soil can either become compacted, loses structure, lose nutrients and gain soil salinity. When this happens, it becomes a very severe issue and the land may no longer fertile. The land becomes useless and its water holding capacity is diminished. There are historical reasons for the degradation of soil on Navajo land.
As mentioned before, the Navajo Nation land is 17,544,500 acres located in parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. In 1868, following the failure of imprisoning the Navajo in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, the Navajo People signed a treaty with the United States government to return to their homeland. In this treaty 3,500,000 square miles was allocated to the Navajo People.23 This treaty also granted any male over the age of 18 to be able to cultivate on the assigned land they were given. They would also be given tools and seeds to rebuild their crops that were destroyed by the US soldiers at the beginning of the removal.
Before the removal, the Navajo people had summer and winter camps. They were able to move from one place to another with their livestock, thus giving the land time to recuperate from planting and grazing from the livestock.24 Through elder stories of how the People migrated with the animals, they believe because we are allocated to a certain area by the government, “the Plant People were not able to spread anymore.”25 We are stuck to an area, just like the Plant People. The People knew when to migrate with their flock, going to the lower elevations in the winter and going to upper elevations in the summer. This gave time for each area to replenish in water, vegetation and for soil to recover.26
The loss of winter and summer ranges has also led to overgrazing of livestock. Traditionally sheep were the only main livestock of the People. The wool from the sheep produces traditional Navajo rugs. Goats were raised for meat and milk. During the time when the Navajo were forced to Fort Sumner, livestock were taken or slaughtered from them. Upon return, they were given a set amount of livestock to restart their flocks. As time went on, Navajo people began to exceed the amount of sheep and goats they had. The Bureau of Indian Affairs did a land survey and saw there was overgrazing that was causing soil erosion. This forced the Navajo people into a historic traumatic event in 1933 and in 1934 of livestock reduction.27 The first event was hard on livestock owners who had little flock and in the second event, the livestock was meant for meat packing but the packinghouses could not keep up with amount of livestock that came in. A group of livestock were taken to canyon area where they were slaughtered and left to rot. Navajo matriarchs of families, who were and still are the head of household made decisions. They were concerned as to how they would provide for their families due to their flocked being depleted. The findings of the soil measurement created an equivalent chart that is used in today’s grazing permit. The topsoil was losing soil nutrients making it hard for vegetation to grow. The chart tells how much livestock are permitted in a grazing area. There is a certain amount of sheep, goats, horses and cows that can graze on the land that is being given.
Many Navajo families own livestock grazing permits that state how much livestock one can own in a said area they are given to graze on, but there are many who do not have these permits and still have livestock grazing on land that does not have enough vegetation.
Traditional farming methods
The Navajo people have farmed for many generations. Agriculture has been seen as a source of survival. It was a means to feed oneself and the community. The land the Navajo People lived on was occupied as free roaming, gathering of plants and berries and hunting. Upon return to the Navajo Nation after the signing of the Treaty of 1868, the western concept of having a settlement changed the idea of moving freely. Some Navajo people still farm for survival for oneself and relatives while for some use it is their source of income.
Some Navajo people use dry farming, while others plant as a community near a water source or utilize a drip farming method. Dry farming allows farmers to use less water and plant crops that are prone to the heat and the drought. In planting as a community, farmers help one another and it helps economically. They are saving money and it is not going to off reservation purchases.28 In drip farming, farmers are making sure the plants are receiving the water, that there is less water wasted and more land can be utilized.
One of the traditional practice of farming is using the constellation, Dilyehi/ Pleiades, to plant. In the spring time Dilyehi goes down with the sun and cannot been seen anymore. When this happens it is time to prepare for planting. During the winter, Dilyehi can easily been seen. Dilyehi has four traditional stories. One of the stories is the seven stars are a representation of seven boys who were impish and followed planters and picked the seeds back out of the ground. In another story they are a mother who carries a buckskin bag who follows her boys. The third story of the stars is, they are a group of young warriors who are healers of summer ceremonies. The fourth story is they are a mother with her children who were traveling back to Earth on a rainbow who were left behind because they were too busy playing. The deity, Black God/ Haashch’eshzhini, was the one who decided and placed these stars. In the Navajo culture stories, every star/stars was/were placed to have a purpose.29
Through the songs and prayers of farming, it is mentioned that the Navajo people use to plant in a spiral. This trace of history are pictured on petroglyphs. In the ceremonial songs, the planting soil tells of hearing the whisper of corn stalks coming up and the moisture that comes from the dark clouds.
When planting, the Navajo people use the “gish”, the planting stick, to dig in the soil to plant seeds. A gish, planting stick, is made by a selected Greasewood tree. The seeds are placed in the wet dirt then dry dirt is placed on top of it. The planting stick is used to dig four holes. After the fourth dig, the farmer sings the planting songs. When planting is completed, the gish is put away before the last quarter of the moon.
The Navajo people plant corn, squash and beans. These plants are known as the “3 Sisters” with tobacco known as one of the three sisters. The Three Sisters are used in some Native American culture planting. They have found they work well together when planted together. The corn stalk lets bean vines climb them so they do not compete with squash vines. Beans give nitrogen to fertilize soil that plants need as a nutrient for their roots. The big leaves of squashes give shade to help with keeping the soil moist and keep weeds away. The three Sisters, provide complete balance diet with corn giving carbohydrates, beans providing protein and squash giving vitamins and minerals. 30
Through the oral traditional stories, the Holy People (Deities) migrated through three worlds. In each world, an event happened that caused them to move from one place to the next. Each time the Deities emerged from one world to the next, they took certain things to utilize in the next world. When the Deities emerged in the final world, the Turkey was the animal that gave watermelon, cantaloupe and pumpkin seeds to the people that fell from both of his armpit feathers. Today the Navajo people still farm these vegetables and fruits.
There are songs and prayers about farming. Harvest God, one of the deities of the Navajo people, dances in the Nightway Ceremony with his “gish” because he is the planter and cultivator. A “gish” is a cane that he uses to dig in the ground to plant seeds. Harvest God in Navajo is called Ghaa’ask’idii, meaning ghaa’, a hump and ask’idii, a hill. He is hunched over as if working in a field. On his back, in his hump, he has a rainbow that has drops of water and in his feathers he has bolts of lighting, clouds, water, dew and light. In another story he carries seeds on his back. Harvest God dances for a good harvest in the ceremony.
During a Nightway Ceremony, there are four main plants used. They are corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. Three of these plants are considered the three sisters of planting. They are corn, beans and tobacco. Corn is never used until it has harvest. Beans are considered to take care of your blood cells. Squash can be reseeded and when eaten it refreshes your family and your roots. Squash can be used to make gourds that are used in ceremonies. Tobacco is used only during ceremonies. It is used to make offerings to the Diyin Dine’e, the Deities.
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