A new set of grazing regulations for the huge Navajo Indian Reservation of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, providing for greater Indian participation in administration and enforcement, was announced today by Acting Secretary of the Interior Clarence A. Davis.
The regulations, which were endorsed by the Navajo Tribal Council last January 27 and formally approved by Acting Secretary Davis April 25, are the culmination of nearly eight years of consultation and discussion between tribal representatives and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Under their provisions both the Central Grazing Committee of the Tribe and the district grazing committees, composed of Indians democratically selected in each of the Reservation's 16 land management districts, will have a considerable voice in the establishment of individual grazing rights, the issuance and transfer of permits, and similar matters.
Taking in all tribally owned trust land within the Reservation boundaries except Land Management District No, 6 (Hopi), the regulations apply to nearly 14,500,000 acres of range with an established grazing capacity of over 500,000 sheep units. Under the regulations one horse, mule or burro counts as five sheep units; one head of cattle as four; and one goat as one. Stocking of the Navajo range is now approximately at the capacity level.
