Navajo County, Arizona
Navajo County offers not only the Monument Valley, but Keams Canyon, part of the Petrified Forest National Park, and one of the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in North America. Navajo County has of federally designated Indian reservation within its borders, the third most of any county in the United States (neighboring Apache County and Coconino County are first and second). In descending order of territory within the county, the reservations are the Navajo Nation, Hopi Indian Reservation, and Fort Apache Indian Reservation, all of which are partly located within Navajo County.As of the 2000 census, there were 97,470 people, 30,043 households, and 23,073 families residing in the county. The population density was 10 people per square mile (4/km²). There were 47,413 housing units at an average density of 5 per square mile (2/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 47.74% Native American, 45.91% White, 0.88% Black or African American, 0.33% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 3.15% from other races, and 55.94% from two or more races. 8.22% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 24.77% reported speaking Navajo at home, 5.94% other Southern Athabaskan languages, 4.71% Spanish, and 3.23% Hopi.
Salazar v. Ramah Navajo Chapter
The Ramah Navajo Chapter is a political subdivision of the Navajo tribe that resides on the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation in the western part of New Mexico, just east and southeast of the Zuni Indian Reservation. This is the eastern part of the Navajo Nation, which extends westward into Arizona and Utah. The Navajo Nation is divided into five "Agencies" and further sub-divided into "Chapters", which are comparable with county governments. The Navajo Nation has approximately 300,000 enrolled members. The Ramah Chapter, due to its location, is the only Navajo Chapter with its own Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agency and a semi-autonomous government. "[T]he Ramah Navajos played a leadership role in defending indigenous self-determination efforts in the United States", beginning with the establishment of a reservation school over the protests of local non-Indians.