Navajo Hopi group plans revitalization

Now that a decades-old land dispute between the Navajo and Hopi nations is over, some 20,000 residents are looking for federal help in revitalizing the area.

Members of the Navajo Hopi Land Commission were in Washington this week to seek support for reconstruction of the former Bennett Freeze in western Navajo lands. The freeze had for 40 years halted development, including refurbishment of homes, in the area.

"This isn't rebuilding. This is new building," said Roman Bitsuie, executive director of the commission. "In that respect we are 40 years behind the times. Roads are probably 100 years behind the modern age."

Commission members anticipate a House of Representatives bill that would address reconstruction and development of the area, and also retask the federally funded Navajo Hopi Relocation Office to focus on survey, development and building projects in the freeze area.

The commission is also working with federal agencies on new methods for boosting home construction in the area.

The Bennett Freeze had been the result of a 1966 administrative order amid a land dispute, in which the Hopi claimed ancestral and religious ties to the land.