2016 Challenge Grant: Update on King Gold Mine Spill Project

During Fall of 2016, our team continued to collaborate with the community in many different ways in order to address their continued concerns one year after the Gold King Mine Spill. In October, Dr. Jani Ingram (Northern Arizona University) and Janene Yazzie (Tó Bei Nihi Dziil) along with undergraduates from the Northern Arizona University and Navajo Technical University and graduate students from New York University and University of Arizona talked with the community at the Northern Navajo Nation Fair in Shiprock, NM.  The Fair is the oldest on the Navajo Nation, attended by thousands to celebrate tradition, food, culture, and games. The Shiprock area is known as the ‘bread basket’ of the Navajo Nation, but was greatly impacted by the Gold King Mine Spill last year. Many farmers and gardeners could not plant due to a number of issues since the Spill. During the Fair, we talked with community members about the quality of river water and crops grown with the water. Many were curious about the results from environmental sampling and if they could test their own soil and water for contaminants. We also spoke to Navajo Nation President Russell Begay, who let the team know he appreciated their commitment to the study of environmental health in the area.

In November, another Haury team leader, Dr. Rebecca Clausen (Fort Lewis College), hosted Duane “Chili” Yazzie, the Shiprock Chapter President and founder of the Yellow River Alliance, at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. Mr. Yazzie also attended a lunch sponsored by the Fort Lewis College Native American Center and had dinner with community members. He spoke to 125 undergraduate students about his work in raising awareness of the social and cultural impacts of the spill on Navajo communities downstream of Durango. Steven Chischilly, Jr., was one student who heard Mr. Yazzie speak. Soon after at the start of December, Steven, Dr. Clausen’s undergraduate student, presented his undergraduate capstone project, “Socio-Emotional Effects of the Gold King Mine Spill on Shiprock, NM, Navajo Nation.” Steven used data we collected from teach-ins held in Spring 2016 that supported our team’s Haury application. In an interview, Steven reflected on his experience, saying, “My time this year with the Navajo Gold King Mine Spill Project was very memorable. The introduction to the Yellow River Alliance was quite empowering. I felt liberated as I sat at the table with native people that had such a high caliber of knowledge and willingness to mitigate environmental issues on Dinétah (the Navajo Nation).”

Later in December, Mae-Gilene Begay, another Haury team leader and head of the Navajo Nation Community Health Representatives (CHRs), talked with University of Arizona graduate student Corinna Sabaque, who grew up in Shiprock, NM, and Verna Begay, CHR head for the Shiprock area, about how the CHRs have worked with the Haury team. They discussed how Haury team leader Dr. Paloma Beamer and graduate student Yoshira Ornelas Van Horne (University of Arizona) worked with CHRs to recruit and collect soil, water, and dust samples and urine and blood samples from about 60 homes throughout Shiprock, NM, Upper Fruitland, NM, and Aneth, UT in August 2016.  In 2017, the Haury team and the CHRs will collaborate to find the best ways of giving results of this sampling back to the residents themselves, as well as to the communities. With all of the various ways we worked with community in Fall 2016, we are looking forward to many more opportunities in 2017 and beyond.