The Navajo Forest

The capital of the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona sits nearly astride the boundary line with our neighbor to the east, New Mexico. Just to the northeast of that community lies an area towering to 9000 foot elevation known as the Navajo Forest. It's an area that holds one of the largest stands of ponderosa and western pine, Colorado blue spruce, and aspen in our state. The natural resources of timber, watershed, grazing, wildlife, and recreation are boundless; under the scrupulous management of the Navajo Tribal Council, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Navajo Forest Products Industries (NFPI), these renewable resources are cultivated and nurtured so that they will last indefinitely. Navajo Forest Products Industries, wholly owned and operated by the Navajo tribe, was financed by a 1958 Tribal Council appropriation of $7.5 million. This large Indian undertaking manages the timber production of the Navajo Forest, which brings each year a considerable net profit to the Navajo treasury. More than $35 million over the past ten years has entered directly into the Navajo economy through stumpage payments, wages paid to Navajo employees, and capital returns to the Tribal general fund. Additional millions of dollars have entered the Navajo economy through indirect means, because of Forest Prod-ucts's development of assets valued today at more than $20 million, including reserves in working capital, equipment, plant expansion, and a new sawmill. Nearly 600 Navajo support themselves and their families by working for NFPI. The extensive and modern operations help make this tribal enterprise one of the most modern and efficient lumber facilities in the West. The thriving and planned community of Navajo, New Mexico, has been built for employees of a new lumber mill. The town boasts of more than 400 new homes, a full-service trailer park of 50 units, schools, churches, a community recreation center, and library. More than 1600 miles of forest roads have been built in the area, opening up some of the most primitive and exciting recreational land in Arizona. Visitors avoiding the crowds of more popular recreation areas are surprised to find in Navajoland pristine lakes and streams abounding with fish; there seems to be there a perfect harmony with nature, seemingly untouched by civilization. Standing beneath the huge perforation or "window" in the reddish sandstone cliff formation called Window Rock, one is awed by a tremendous opening to the tur-quoise sky. Spreading out from the base of the naturally-carved window are the man-made structures comprising the administrative complex of the Navajo Nation capitol in a town also called Window Rock. It's from here that permission for fishing and camping on the reserva-tion can be obtained. To the west, on the other side of the high, forested Defiance Plateau, is the world-famous Canyon de Chelly. In this magnificent canyon complex (now a National Monument) were the homes of the Anasazi, "The Ancient Ones," who lived and built here prior to leaving the area circa A.D. 1300. The Canyon is also the ancestral home of the Navajo People, who continue to farm and graze stock in the sandy canyon bottoms. Awesome, steep canyon walls house many prehis-toric Indian cliff dwelling ruins. Navajo herdsmen, whose life style has not changed for the past 200 or more years, may be seen with their sheep and goats in the shadows of the towering cliffs. The paved South Rim Drive to Junc-tion, White House, and Sliding Rock Overlooks is always passable for automo-biles, but the unpaved five-mile section to Spider Rock Overlook can be messy and slick after rains. The Drive leads six and a half miles from the excellent free campground near Monument headquarters giving easy access to the 11/4-mile hiking trail to White House Ruin. A guide or supervisor isn't required for this self-guiding walk, but the 500-foot climb at the 6000 foot elevation can lead to much puffing on the walk back to the parking area. The famous and handsome ruin is named for its prominent white-plastered wall.

Early summer among the pines in the Navajo Forest in northeastern Arizona. Josef Muench Logging trucks wind their way toward the Navajo-operated sawmill in the Chuska Mountain region. Josef Muench

Other famous ruins in the area that shouldn't be missed are Mummy Cave Ruin in the Canyon del Muerto which includes a spectacular three-story tower house; in the same canyon is Antelope House Ruin, named for the colorful pic-tographs of antelope painted there by an unknown Navajo artist more than 150 years ago.

Pictographs are found all through these moody canyons, leaving a silent and still-untranslated message from the past. On the cliff face at Standing Cow Ruin is a Navajo painting of a Spanish cavalry unit accompanied by a missionary; another painting (attributed by some to the same artist) is of a blue-and-white cow, which gives the site its name.

Traveling east from Chinle, past the ruins on Navajo Route 7, the improved road curves south and east through an area of extreme and beautiful contrasts. High plateau and barren mesa, bits of meadowland and virgin forest await the venturesome traveler.

From Fort Defiance, located at the junction of Navajo Routes 7 and 12, a graded road leads north to the picnic-area and campgrounds of Wheatfields Lake and to the cool, green forest.

This is an area that represents a promise kept! It is a forested area that represents a tremendous opportunity for the Navajo People. Because of proper management, it has become a renewable resource capable of indefinitely providing economic, environmental, and recreational benefits.

Nature regenerates forests by removing old trees through fire, disease, insect damage, or storm; re-seeding is done by the remaining trees. This method takes years and wastes untold amounts of valuable timber potential.

The proper forest management of the Navajo Forest Products Industries results in more than just giving nature a helping hand. Harvesting in accordance with a thoroughly-researched scientific program not only produces a consistent timber harvest year after year, but a better timber crop as well. Over-aged and diseased trees are selectively removed and all dead trees and snags cut out, reducing the competition among younger and healthier trees for nutrients, water, and sunlight. This allows the remaining trees to grow more vigorously and maintain their healthy condition. These trees mature and reach maximum growth more quickly.

In the original, un-managed Navajo forest, dead and diseased trees were literally strangling the forest to death. The periodic harvesting of mature trees has encouraged the growth of grasses and shrubs, thereby providing additional food and habitat for livestock and wildlife. The new forest roads that have been constructed in recent years have, instead of tearing up the environment, allowed for early detection and effective combatting of forest fires and insect infestation, thus preserving the forest from two of its most devastating enemies.

Although natural re-seeding is encouraged, one of the most noteworthy events in the history of the forest during the past 25 years has been the growth of the tree farm system. Initiated in 1941 and sponsored by the American lumber industry, tree farms give public recognition to those taxpaying timberland owners and lessees who have dedicated their lands to the growing of repeated forest crops for commercial purposes. There are tens of thousands of certified tree farms throughout the country, embracing millions of acres. The merits of an Indian forest farm have been studied, and may be the source of an additional 51/2 million acres of Indian-owned commercial forest lands in the United States. This would be a source of pride and satisfaction to the owners, as well as providing a channel of informa-tion on sound forest management and procedures for the tribes involved.

Visiting the forest is a sharing experience.

The American Forest Institute reports that publicity about the natural environ-ment has done for forestry what a half-century of hard work in the woods could not do: It has made our forests a subject of popular concern.

Sound forestry practices are far ahead of current events, not the result of recent pressures. The Navajo Forest is an excellent example of far-reaching goals and rewards. Good forest management has for centuries ensured thriving timberlands in Europe, and guided America's forest owners since the turn of this century. Locking up our timberlands in order to preserve them can, in fact, destroy them. Trees, like other plants, respond to normal agricultural practices such as fer-tilization, thinning, irrigation, and insect control. The added benefits to man and wildlife are bonuses!

Few people realize that our forests are natural anti-pollution devices. Humans and wildlife share the air with the earth's plant life. Animals consume oxygen and give off carbon dioxide; plants consume carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.

According to the American Forest Institute, an old forest filled with over-mature trees consumes as much oxygen as it creates and contributes no net gain in wood fiber. It becomes stagnated, as the Navajo's forest had begun to do. An acre of vigorously growing young trees in a commercial forest may consume five or six tons of carbon dioxide a year and give off four tons of pure, fresh oxygen, as well as producing four tons of new wood.

That makes the growing commercial forest a better anti-pollution device than anything man has come up with so far.

The forests are also the basic underpinning of the world's food, as well as its principal "air conditioner." An air conditioner that does more than purify the air, but cools and humidifies also.

The net cooling effect of a young healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-sized air conditioners operating 20 hours each day. Air may be as much as twenty degrees cooler under a canopy of trees.

Transpiration is the process a tree uses to pour moisture through its leaves or needles into the surrounding air, and the combined cooling and humidifying activity of a forest It is roughly equal to the same area of ocean surface. A journey to the Navajo Forest may be as relaxing and invigorating as a journey to the seashore!

Visiting the forest is a sharing experience. The sharing of the environment, the communion with nature, and the sharing of a spirit common to all those who love the great outdoors. But do not forget when on the reservation that this is the land of the Navajo; respect his privacy and get his permission before picnicking or camping on his land.

Remember, too, that there are hazards when wandering off the beaten paths. Quicksand, deep dry sand, and flash floods can make the area dangerous. In most Navajo canyon areas you are allowed to travel only when accompanied by a park ranger or authorized guide.

Even in the magnificent forests of the Lukachukai, Chuska, and Carrizo Mountains, finding water can often be a problem. Be prepared with adequate supplies and know in advance where you are going.

For additional information and details of traveling in Navajoland, write the Navajo Parks and Recreation Department, Post Office Box 418, Window Rock, AZ 86515. They will be pleased to send you maps for the area and a fee schedule.