Livestock a threat on roadways despite rules

Nearly five years ago, Leah Keyonnie, 24, was driving back from Dilkon, Ariz., to her house in Teesto, Ariz., when she collided with a cow on the roadway.

"I just froze," she said, recounting the moment when she realized she was about to run into a cow in the summer of 2005. "I didn't press my brakes in time and I just hit it."

The accident cost her about $1,500 in repairs.

With the Navajo Nation Division of Transportation reporting that livestock numbers on the reservation exceed 500,000, and livestock caused more than 100 collisions on Navajo roads in 2007, the problem is well established.

But concrete solutions to keep livestock off the roads are few and far between.

According to the Navajo Nation Code, the primary responsibility for keeping animals off the roadways lies with their owners. An owner can be fined up to $1,000 and sentenced to labor of up to 90 days if his or her animal wanders into the roadway and gets hit by a vehicle.

So that would seem to make it clear that livestock owners are responsible in case of a crash. However, depending on which road the animal is on, their responsibility may be limited.

In Keyonnie's case, she was at fault because she was driving in open range country, where there are no fences and cattle guards to keep livestock off the roads.

One of the first issues in this complicated problem is right of ways and which agency is responsible for the road and the area that parallels the road. For roads on the Navajo Nation, the right of way belongs to the state or the BIA.

When it comes to the right of way, Julius Pete, senior right-of-way agent for NNDOT, said the Navajo Nation doesn't have any. However, the state and federal agencies are asking the tribal agency for help addressing that issue.

"The reason we are getting involved is because the state is asking us for assistance. One of the very important hot issues will be animals in the right of way," Pete said, adding that his office and others have scheduled a public hearing regarding the right of way.

Irvin Bekis, head road engineer for the BIA, said livestock owners are responsible for their animals and it's up to the tribe to make sure they help keep the roads safe.

"After road construction, we don't have any enforcement (capabilities). It's a law enforcement issue," he said.

But when the road is in open range, the responsibility of driver safety falls into the hands of the driver, he added.

"A majority of the reservation is open range," noted Leonard Butler, director of resource enforcement for the Division of Natural Resources.

Butler's office is responsible for ensuring the livestock regulations are obeyed and that includes writing citations for owners whose animals are in violation, such as trespassing in highway right-of-way areas.

"If we see a violation, we issue a citation," Butler said.

He added that some of his staff recently removed some horses that were on State Route 264 west of Window Rock.

Though his office does remove animals at times, when an animal is hit, sometimes the police are called.

"It just ties up a lot of time," said Sgt. Terry John of the Window Rock Police District.

An officer can spend up to three hours, not including travel time, responding to a call about an animal hit on a roadway, he said.

The work includes taking statements, writing a report (the insurance company will insist on it), and finding the animal's owner - an often-fruitless task where so many animals are unbranded.

Sgt. Louis Anderson of the Window Rock District agrees with John that an officer can work a single car accident with one driver involving livestock in about three hours. However he said that if there are more cars or people it might take even more time.

Anderson said a simple solution would be to build fences along all Navajo Nation highways.

Bekis noted that when new roads are constructed the BIA almost always installs a fence and maintains fence lines.

However, fences sometimes get cut, Butler said.

And some livestock owners intentionally let their animals roam in the right of way because that's where the grass is - often the only grass for miles around.

"They migrate to the grass," he said.

Pete said NNDOT and other agencies are seeking solutions to resolve the issues, but other than memorandums of understanding that agencies will work together, nothing concrete is in the works.

Butler said he tries to enforce grazing regulations and hold animal owners responsible, but hasn't really seen the rules upheld in Navajo Nation courts.

Keyonnie, who owns livestock, said owners need to be more responsible for their animals.

"People need to keep their animals in corrals," she said, adding that when she feeds her animals other livestock comes nosing around in hopes of getting in on the food.

She chases them away but, she said, "It's annoying."

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