To remain consistent with traditional Diné principles, such as hózhó, or balance, states with competing claims to water from the Colorado River must work in good faith with the Navajo Nation to ensure that access be maintained in a holistic and sustainable manner, considering not only access for humans, but also the needs of the river itself, and all the flora and fauna species that rely upon the river's water.

The 1850 Treaty established the relationship of the United States with the Diné and provided for an agency office, forts, and trading posts. The forts and trading posts brought in the colonial system of frontier trade. The United States promised the Tribe protection and "permanent prosperity and happiness." Navajo Treaty of 1868. However, Fort Defiance soldiers stood by as settler militia, coming from all directions, attacked Diné homes. In this period, Diné families began forced movement, erecting temporary shelter while continuing to plant and raise livestock. See Nancy C. Maryboy & David Begay, The Navajos of Utah, in The History of Utah's American Indians 280 (Forrest S. Cuch ed., 2000). In 1863, soldiers joined the militia to clear out all Diné, and other area tribes, in a brutal scorched-earth campaign, torching homes and farms, destroying all waterholes, and taking all livestock "when every living being became an enemy that finished in death." Id. After near-starvation and a promise that they would be safer and well-fed under U.S. Army protection, thousands of Diné surrendered at Fort Defiance in the winter of 1863 and were force-marched over 300 miles to a makeshift "reservation" at Bosque Redondo near Fort Sumner. Id.

The Navajo Nation is the largest reservation in the United States, with more than 170,000 Diné living on the reservation, which spans more than 17 million acres across the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Id. at 559. A significant number of households in the Navajo Nation do not have access to potable water. See, e.g., About the Bennett Freeze, Navajo Thaw Implementation Plan. Drought has devastated the Navajo Nation, with ranchers being particularly hard hit. Many sheep ranchers must now remove sheep from the range more frequently than in earlier years to allow ecosystems to restore themselves. Other ranchers have transitioned to cattle ranching, which is harder on grass and requires the introduction of nonnative plants for feed, resulting in further ecological disruption. See., e.g., N. Ariz. Univ., Navajo Nation: Dune Study Offers Clues to Climate Change Impacts (2008). In light of this ruling, the Diné will be forced to continue to deal with the extreme drought on the reservation, being exacerbated by climate change, without any additional assistance from the U.S. federal government.

Then in 1966, the Bennet Freeze threw up another significant roadblock to electrification. To force negotiation between the Navajo and Hopi Tribes over a land-ownership dispute, the then commissioner of Indian affairs, Robert Bennet, imposed a development ban on 1.6 million acres of Navajo Nation land claimed by both tribes. The Bennet Freeze prevented development of homes, schools, businesses, roads, and utility infrastructure (water wells excepted). It even disallowed maintenance of structures and infrastructure on contested lands.

Many Navajo Tribal members, some 13,000 households, living on the Nation’s reservation still lack access to electricity services.

It’s common for people to begin a project with one research question in mind only to abandon it once they learn that question has been asked countless times or is too broad to be meaningfully pursued.

Researchers are driven by a desire to solve personal, professional, and societal problems.

outright fabricating is not.