Project area 4

I first met Lucy A. Willie in November of 2004.  Stories of health problems, social justice issues regarding mining rights, desecration of ceremonial and burial sites, with the losses of grazing permits and homes had drawn my attention to the area.  Lucy and Sarah with Molly became the voice of Dooda Desert Rock.  Lucy's homesite is located near Burnham, NM in what is designated as Area 4.  Over the years I have documented birth, death, joy, and sorrow in the Willie family.  I have viewed, experienced, and documented a way of life, which is quickly vanishing in 21st Century America.  Lucy and her husband Ambrose have walked on.  Her family continues to live on the original homesite.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ~ Carlan

Once again in 2026, the Willie homesite, including Lucy’s gravesite, are endangered by new proposed Area 4 coal mining operations.  Many additional community members will be affected.  They are without a visual voice. These homelands and surrounding territory hold great sacred significance and stories for the Navajo.  They hold the stories about the origins and correct pursuit of the ways of Navajo life.  There are sacred Chaco sites located within the area which would be destroyed.