Navajos seeks full control of national monument

The Navajo Nation is seeking full control of one of the only national monuments entirely on reservation land, the majestic Canyon de Chelly and its hundreds of ancient rock carvings and paintings.

Since 1931, the National Park Service has been charged with preserving thousands of artifacts and ruins within the monument's towering red sandstone walls, while the land revered by the Navajos as sacred remained tribally owned.

Now the Tribal Council wants full control of the 131-square-mile monument in northeastern Arizona and the more than $1.8 million in federal funding that goes with it.

Doing so would strengthen the tribe's sovereignty and demonstrate its expertise and competence in administering tribal land and resources to benefit Navajo people, supporters say.

Canyon de Chelly, near Chinle, in the heart of the Navajo Nation, has been inhabited for some 2,000 years.
Artifacts and cliff dwellings lining the canyon walls date from the 4th to 14th centuries.
The Navajo call the canyon "tsegi," which means "within the rock."