Following the implementation
of the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974, “over 10,000 Navajo and 100 Hopi
who lived on the ‘wrong side of the fence’ had to be moved” (Tamir, 1991, p.174).
In 1977, the relocation process continued to commission the relocation of
Navajos without a concrete relocation plan and with no added provisions for the
communities in which the people were relocated to. The Relocation Commission
has basically moved people “household by household…it has thus ignored the
common Navajo subsistence and residential unit of a co-residential kin-group
composed of several related households” (Tamir, 1991, p.174). In total the
Navajo-Hopi land dispute has resulted in the “relocation of 2,940 households, more
than 10,000 Navajo people, with another 440 households certified but not yet relocated” (Tamir, 1999,p.71).
The
Navajo people who have been relocated receive monetary bonuses and are given
replacement homes in their replacement communities, which are equipped with
modern day amenities. Tamir (1999) states that "replacement
homes and cash bonuses constitute the principle incentives available to relocates”( p.79). There were also other mitigating factors besides monetary
values that were important to the Navajo in the relocation process. These were
aspects concerning accessibility to water, natural resources, firewood,
availability of jobs; access to bus routes, schools and the list of requirements
continues. In addition, the amount of grazing land available for animals was also
an important factor.
