Planned Navajo-Hopi Land Swap Threatens to Unravel

A proposed land swap to settle a 110-year Navajo-Hopi territorial dispute has hit some serious snags, with ranch lands central to the deal no longer for sale and government officials deeply divided over terms of the transfer.

The ranch lands in question are owned by relatives of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, who is in charge of federal agencies overseeing American Indian affairs.

The proposal was announced in November by the Department of the Interior as a historic agreement to hand over 500,000 acres of federal, state and private lands in Arizona to the Hopi. Significantly, the Hopi and Navajo tribal councils agreed to the proposal, reached after 18 months of negotiations mediated by U.S. Magistrate Harry R. McCue of San Diego.

But in Arizona, the governor expressed outrage over the agreement to transfer state lands to the tribes. The plan was also opposed by property owners who would be affected by the switch of lands north and southeast of Flagstaff.

Now, the owners of the 384,000-acre CO Bar Ranch have decided not to sell their spread, which federal officials had hoped would be purchased by the Navajos for the Hopis. The ranch has been held by the Babbitt clan since 1886.

“We are in the ranching business and plan on staying in it,” said William Cordasco, manager for Babbitt ranches and a cousin of the newly appointed secretary.

Secretary Babbitt sold his shares of the ranch before being confirmed by Congress earlier this month. Ali Webb, spokeswoman for the secretary, said that even though Babbitt “is no longer in the ranching business,” he will not comment on the issue because of perceived conflict of interest.

Cliff Balenquah, governor of Bacavi Village on the Hopi Reservation, said his tribe will ask that alternative lands be located to keep the settlement afloat. He also blasted federal officials for failing to ensure that the Babbitt property would remain part of the deal.

“As usual, the federal government and the state are going to screw around with the American Indians,” Balenquah said.

Duane Beyal, a spokesman for the Navajo tribe, called the CO Bar “an essential part of the agreement” and expressed fear that its removal from the market would kill the settlement.

Relations between the tribes have been strained for centuries.

In 1974, Congress passed the Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation Act, dividing in half 1.8 million acres of designated joint-use territory between the tribes and mandating that tribe members move.

Sahagun, a Times staff writer, reported from Los Angeles; Tolan, a special correspondent, from Flagstaff.