WINDOW ROCK, AZ – Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren announced the Nation’s plans to partner with the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise (NNGE) to develop a gaming facility on newly acquired trust land along U.S. Highway 89 near Flagstaff. The land was placed into trust at a recent signing of a General Warranty Deed, officially placing 13.8 acres of land into trust. The project will provide significant economic benefits and create approximately 100 new jobs.
“The Navajo Nation appreciates the BIA’s efforts to work with us to get this application approved,” said President Nygren at the signing ceremony. “These lands that are taken into trust for the Navajo Nation are part of the federal government’s obligations to provide support for Navajos in Arizona who were forcibly relocated by the federal government through the 1974 Settlement Act.”
“NNGE’s employees are 85% Navajo and 5% other tribal members,” said President Nygren. “Rents collected by the Navajo Nation through leasing to NNGE will go directly to the Diné Relocatee Fund to support relocated Navajos under the Settlement Act.”
President Nygren was joined for the warranty deed signing by Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, BIA Director Bryan Mercier, BIA Navajo Regional Director Deborah Shirley, Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley, Delegates Nathan Notah and Eugenia Charles-Newton, and Navajo Nation Washington Office Executive Director Justin Ahasteen. Also attending was BIA Deputy Director Bart Stevens, BIA Director Bryan Mercier, and BIA Staff Assistant Dan Galvan.
Assistant Secretary Newland and other federal representatives reaffirmed their commitment to support the Navajo Nation’s efforts to improve economic opportunities and uphold federal trust responsibility.