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Tó Łání Lifeways
(Tó = Water, Łání = Abundant)
The oral stories of our people teach us that the
Diné, or the Navajo, lifeway is deeply rooted in the
land between the four sacred mountains. Finding and
keeping balance amongst the water, plants, animals, and
everything located within this space between the sacred
mountains and between the Earth and sky is a holistic,
spiritual journey that encompassed every aspect of the
lives of the Diné people. This life journey to balance was
violently disrupted by European contact, and over the
past 200 years, the Diné have struggled to return to the
old ways while also attempting to adapt to a changing
world that insists the Diné change along with it.
The changing world brought about an increase
in the world’s energy consumption and along with it
devastating impacts to the world’s natural systems, and
is arguably the primary catalyst of Climate Change.
As indigenous peoples, we know we hold the key to
building drought resiliency in the American South West.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), encompasses
the stories and knowledge our grandparents told our
parents when they were little, it turns out, is very
valuable and could very well provide the knowledge to
build resiliency to our region’s increasing temperatures
and decreasing rain and snow fall. It is only recently
that world leaders are acknowledging TEK.
Like many Native-based grassroots organizations,
we at Tó Łání Enterprises (TLE) adapted our mission
from one of primarily economic development to one
that also emphasizes developing water and food security
on indigenous lands in the Little Colorado River Valley
utilizing traditional philosophy, TEK, and building the
leadership capacity of our youth. This year, TLE along
with many partnering organizations, celebrated many
victories and accomplishments. The most significant of
these accomplishments is the solidarity formed between
the young and the elders, the governmental officials and
the grassroots organizers, the intertribal groups, and the
Natives and the non-Natives. It is this solidarity that
gives us hope and continues to fuel the passion to heal
and restore our land, our water, our food, our animals,
and our people.
Thank you,
Stephanie Hall,
Secretary/Treasurer,
Board of Directors
Our mission is to:
healthy, safe, and prosperous communities by strengthening food, water, and economic systems for our
Native communities in the lower Little Colorado River Valley, empowering our youth, and promoting
Native cultural knowledge. Our vision is for a future where all our relations thrive in sustainable, economically viable, and
environmentally responsible native communities.
Our mission and programs are interwoven with a common theme of working in partnership to heal the land. Through
healing the land, the people heal.
This report is a glimpse of what we do and an invitation to join us.
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 2
OUR PROJECTS - Positive Relationship - K’e’
At the foundation of our work is helping Navajo ranchers, farmers and communities restore the health of the
land through culturally grounded stewardship that holds on to the precious water and soil that supports all life in this high
desert region. Because strong communities need strong people, helping build local capacity is an essential part of our work.
Conservation Planning –
Nitsakees/Nihatsakees
R
relies on renewing and
strengthening relationships between the people and
the land, with all its elements - water, soil, plants, animals,
and the changing conditions of place.
estoring the health of the land
Conservation planning looks beyond the built environment
to the land the people depend on. Working with agencies,
communities and individuals toward a common vision for the
land requires a planning process that blends traditional
knowledge with Western science (see sidebar ).
Nitsáhákees
N
itsáhákees, a Navajo planning process,
roots conservation planning in place and
cultural values. Planning through this cultural
lens meets agency management objectives,
honors Navajo stewardship practices, and
brings tangible benefits to the land.
Planning starts with a vision of an ideal future,
an idea to be planted. Fully understanding
present conditions—both strengths and
weaknesses—is essential to identify what
is needed for the idea to take root. Once the
present is well understood, potential courses
of action can be laid out and decisions made.
Action brings the seeds of ideas to life. Tending
ideas as they grow allows for adjustments and
revisions as conditions change. This brings the
process full circle to begin anew.
With support from Christensen Fund, Colorado Plateau
Foundation, and First Nations Development Institute, we took
the first steps to build a corps of Navajo conservation planners. Our goal was to build local capacity to
meet the backlog of conservation plans needed to access federal funding for on-the-ground conservation
work. Together we trained xx planners, 20 are Navajo speakers.
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 3
Building a Grassroots Coalition –
Diné K’é biníká ‘Ahíiłghah
Na’anish
Over the past two years we have helped build a
grassroots coalition across the Little Colorado River
watershed in the southwest corner of Navajo Nation to
conserve precious water and restore the health of the
land.
Support from the Christensen Fund and long, hard
work by committed grassroots community-based and
elected leaders have led to an exciting new watershed
organization and funding from Navajo Nation to
complete a yearlong community-based conservation
planning and capacity building project. The Little
Colorado Watershed Chapters Association (LCRWCA),
a group of 25 Chapters, will work over the next year to
increase community capacity in conservation planning,
conduct community visioning sessions to identify
priority projects, and work with Chapters to develop
shovel-ready proposals to
take to funding partners
for implementation.
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 4
Pumping Water with the Sun –
Shá bitł’óól tó bee hahal’oodí
Most producers on Navajo Nation are rural and
beyond the reach of the grid, so must choose from
diesel-generated power or renewable energy options
for pumping water. Tó Łání Enterprises received a
Conservation Innovation Grant from the USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Services
in 2012 to conduct a three-year national
pilot project to demonstrate the benefits
of solar photovoltaic (PV ) systems for
pumping irrigation-quantities of water in
the arid and semi-arid Southwest.
Leupp, Arizona on Navajo Nation. The second system
is designed to pump a small well to serves community
farmers near the Hopi village of Kykotsmovi. The
system will fill a tank that will allow local farmers to
haul supplemental irrigation water to their traditional
dryland farms. The third system will serve a 75-acre
surface irrigated community farm in Dinnehotso
Chapter on the Navajo Nation. The latter two systems
are scheduled for completion in 2015.
We are working with many partners
to design, install, operate, and evaluate
three systems—two on Navajo Nation
and one on Hopi land. The first, a
relatively large (21.2 KW ) PV direct
water pumping system, was installed at
North Leupp Family Farms, Inc. in 2013.
The system serves a surface irrigated
100-acre farm about five miles north of
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 5
Adding Value to Navajo Beef and Corn –
Ch’iyáán Naaschíín
Over the past two years, we have worked with
A key part our mission is to revitalize traditional
Navajo food systems and the wisdom and values
embedded within them. Capacity building grants
from the Colorado Plateau Foundation, Christensen
Fund, and Honor the Earth are helping us work with
area farmers and ranchers to increase the quality of
and economic return from Navajo beef and traditional
varieties of corn.
14-R Ranch, a community ranching operation on
Nahata D’zhil (New Lands) near Sanders, Arizona,
to develop their quality beef program. At the core of
our work has been to help 14R build organizational
capacity to sustain a successful beef business and create
a replicable model for other Navajo ranchers. We are
moving into a new phase of evaluating the feasibility
of value-added infrastructure that could expand both
the supply and the demand sides of the business in this
region of Navajo Nation.
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 6
Bringing the Land Back to Life Káyah Náhilnaah
uilding on the restoration work beautifully
demonstrated in small projects on Black
Mesa and on expansive ranches of Valer Austin
(Cuenca Los Ojos Foundation) and others in
Southern Arizona, Tó Łání Enterprises will join
forces to replicate this effective restoration
work in community-based demonstration
projects in the Little Colorado River watershed.
B
Black Mesa Water Coalition is working
to bring water to dryland fields. Austin,
Borderlands Restoration and Waterrock L3C
are bringing perennial waterways back to life
through strategically placed erosion control
structures. We are facilitating work projects
that will engage communities and their youth
to relearn old ways to look at the land and work
together to hold on to precious soil `and water.
Strengthening Communities
Capacity Building
with
Tó Łání Enterprises has grown significantly over the past
few years. Our annual budget increased from $47,981 in 2011
to $365,532; we have fiscally sponsored three community-based
organizations/projects, with combined budgets of $209,000. We
work efficiently with a committed part-time workforce and a
dedicated board of directors. Capacity building for ourselves and
the communities we serve is a key part of our mission.
We are building organizational capacity through management
and fundraising workshops. We also build local capacity through
fiscal sponsorships of community-based organizations, helping
new organizations with complementary missions grow to selfsufficiency. A partnership with Navajo Nation Workforce
Development has helped us facilitate community projects that train
and employ local people and to develop new training programs that
support our vision and build needed job skills and experience in the
local workforce.
The partnership with Workforce Development has resulted in
a new Organic Growing Certificate Program, a xx week hands-on
course based in Tolani Lake that will blend traditional and organic
growing practices. This course will train xx new and experienced
farmers every year to effectively grow food in our region using
organic practices. A Solar Energy Technician curriculum is in the
planning stages. Funding for organic farming funded by Office of
Navajo-Hopi Land Commission.
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 7
NEXT STEPS – Navajo word?
Much of our watershed work will move ahead
under leadership of the newly formed Little Colorado
River Watershed Chapters Association. This new
collaborative is ideally positioned to help communities
move the priorities they identify during this year’s
planning process to reality. We will continue to partner
with the Association to support this work.
2. Traditional Foods
We will continue our work with farmers and
ranchers, including 14 R, to revitalize traditional food
systems by increasing the quality of and economic
return from Navajo beef and traditional varieties of
corn. In 2015, we will evaluate the feasibility of locally
processing Navajo beef for Navajo and regional offreservation markets and support Navajo farmers to
grow traditional corn to meet a strong local and regional
demand.
We will continue to strategically leverage resources
through new partnerships and to integrate Ntséekees
and traditional knowledge into everything we do during
the years ahead. Our priorities are as follows.
1. Native Youth Conservation Corps
3. Capacity Building
We are building strong partnerships and capacity
for a Native Youth Conservation Corps in the Little
Colorado River watershed. The vision is for teams of
Native youth working together in every community
to heal the land and strengthen each other through
applying traditional knowledge to physical work,
building a practice of living in positive relationship. By
summer 2015, we envision teams of young people in 20
of the 110 Navajo Chapters working together to heal
the land in their communities.
Tó Łání Enterprises will build our partnership
with Workforce Development to continue offering local
job skills training in organic gardening. We will expand
course offerings to include solar energy technician
training in 2015.
A priority is to continue to fiscally sponsor
community-based groups and offer management and
fundraising workshops to meet local needs. We will
continue to leverage resources to work efficiently and
will seek project-based funding as opportunities arise.
Our vision for 2015 is to secure $75,000 in general
funds to support half-time year round salaries for
three key organizational positions to support capacity
building and community needs beyond funded project
deliverables.
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 8
The Legacy of
Mining – Łeetsoii
Uranium
Past decades of uranium mining and milling
have left a legacy of contaminated soils and water and
public health impacts potentially affecting hundreds of
families across the region.
We are working with six Little Colorado River
communities to strengthen community capacity
to understand and deal effectively with uranium
contamination of surface and groundwater. Over the
yearlong project funded by the US Environmental
Protection Agency, we are working with partners to
inventory local water sources, sample water quality in as
many as possible, share results and inform local people
through bilingual public education, and complete
culturally-based strategic plans that help communities
address impacts and guide future policy decisions on
uranium development.
A short film on the 1979 Kerr-McGee uranium
spill into the Puerco River (funded by the Western
Mining Action Network )will look in detail at the
impacts of this industrial incident on one area of Navajo.
In the film, we will share potential impacts of a new
technique for in-situ uranium mining proposed near
Church Rock despite a Navajo Nation ban on uranium
mining.
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 9
Gathering Knowledge from the Elders –
Nihadahhastóí dóó Nihasáanii Binat’a’
E
ssential to healing the land is understanding the
traditional relationships between people and the land.
A project funded by the Arizona Humanities Council and Seventh
Generation Fund, led by Johnson Dennison and the Diné Medicine
Men Association, is gathering traditional knowledge to inform our
work and share broadly with the people.
Interviews with elders over 70 years old are exploring two
main areas of Navajo philosophy:
K’é Bee Alhaa’akohwiindzin: Understanding the Teachings
of respect between the people and the environment through the
Navajo practice of K'é, positive relationship; and
Alhahodilzin: How we will teach restoration of K’é, positive
relationship between people and the environment.
Interviews are still underway, but highlights include how to
integrate the old ways of raising a family into modern life, practices
of self-sufficiency through helping and sharing, the Navajo Corn
Stalk philosophy as a beautiful spiritual practice for an agricultural
society, and a description of the pre-settlement style of Navajo
leadership. What we learn in this project will be integrated into
future projects and will made broadly available online and in
presentations.
Our Future is Our Youth
ur commitment is to help Native youth
discover their strengths and find their
voice, focusing on youth filmmaking and
a new youth conservation corps initiative.
Working with adult mentors, teams of
young local filmmakers tell the stories of
our work through their own unique lens. We
have integrated filmmaking into several of
our projects with two projects complete or
nearing completion:
Our vision for a Native youth conservation
corps is several community-based teams
across the region working together to heal the
land. We envision YCC teams building simple
erosion control structures to heal deep gullies;
surveying soils and plant communities to
inform conservation plans; building livestock
and wildlife waters to move animals to new
grass and rest tired pastures… They will work
on community priorities and see tangible
impacts of their hard work. Most importantly,
they will gain traditional ecological knowledge
and learn cultural stories from elders that will
rebuild a personal relationship with the land.
This is the heart of this developing initiative.
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 10
O
FUNDERS and PARTNERS – ’Ahxe’hee’
We are deeply grateful for all of the support that
our funders and other partners are investing in our
work. We thank you and invite everyone who sees value
in what we do to join us. We look forward to talking
with you.
Bill Edwards, President
(928) 686-6106
tle_30@frontier.com
FUNDERS
Arizona Humanities Council
Christensen Fund
Colorado Plateau Foundation
Grand Canyon Trust
Honor the Earth
The Presbyterian Foundation
Seventh Generation Fund
US Environmental Protection Agency
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Western Mining Action Network
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 11
Other Partners
14 R Ranch
Navajo Nation Council
Arizona Youth Conservation Corps
North Leupp Family Farm, Inc.
Birdsprings Chapter
Northland Pioneer College
Black Mesa Water Coalition
Northern Arizona University
Borderlands Restoration
Sixth World Solutions
Cuenca Los Ojos Foundation
STAR School
Navajo Nation Soil and Water Conservation
Districts
Diné College
Diné Medicine Men Association
Hopi Conservation District
First Nations Development Institute
Global Engineering Outreach (formerly Engineers
without Borders)
Tolani Lake Livestock Water Users Association
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Regional, State, and Field Offices
Grand Canyon Trust
The Hopi Tribe
USDI Bureau of Indian Affairs
Leupp Chapter
Waterock, L3C and
Leupp Schools, Inc.
Little Colorado River Watershed Chapters
Association
The Navajo Nation
Office of Navajo-Hopi Land Commission
Navajo Division of Natural Resources
Environmental Protection Agency
NN Department of Water Development
Workforce Development
Tolani Lake Chapter
Tolani Lake Livestock and Water Users
Association
NAADAA
To’ Nizhoni Ani
Paper Rock Productions
Out of Our Backpack Media
Paper Rock Productions,
Aboriginal Lands
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 12
FINANCIAL STATEMENT
ASSETS
Current Assets
Checking/Savings
TLE Operating
TLE Grant
Operating Savings Account
Grant Savings Account
Total Checking/Savings
June 30, 2014
3,098
173,052
2,120
2,208
180,478
Accounts Receivable
Accounts Receivable
Total Accounts Receivable
98
98
Other Current Assets
Prepaid Rent
Total Other Current Assets
75
75
Total Current Assets
180,651
Fixed Assets
Furniture and Equipment
Total Fixed Assets
TOTAL ASSETS
69,046
69,046
249,696
LIABILITIES & EQUITY
Liabilities
Current Liabilities
Other Current Liabilities
Payroll Liabilities
Total Other Current Liabilities
2,641
2,641
Total Current Liabilities
2,641
Total Liabilities
2,641
Equity
Opening Balance Equity
Unrestricted Net Assets
Net Income
Total Equity
TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY
Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 13
55,822
81,140
110,093
247,056
249,696
For all that was forgotten, let it be remembered.
Tó Łání Enterprises Inc.
HC 61 Box 320
Winslow, Arizona 86047
928-686-6106
http://tolanilake.org/
Tó Łání Enterprises, Inc., is a 501(c)3 non-profit based in Tolani Lake, Arizona, which is situated in the Western Agency of the Navajo Nation.
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Tó Łání Enterprises Annual Report | 14