WINDOW ROCK — Bertha Nez grew up herding sheep on pristine lands not yet touched by the uranium boom.
Nez was born in a hogan in 1946, near the area now known as Red Water Pond Road, which is north of Church Rock, New Mexico.
For about nine years, Nez remembers living a happy life that consisted of herding sheep, moving to the top of the mesa to their summer camp every summer, collecting medicinal herbs along the hills and hillside, and attending boarding school. Then one day, they heard the sound of trucks.
“We were only kids when it started. Óondáʼniilkáádóó, nléíó chidi ndáájééh, exploration or something. Áko, they go all over the place in the woods,” said Nez. “That’s how it started.”
Before mining companies like United Nuclear Corporation and Kerr-McGee began ripping the lands apart and excavating, Bertha enjoyed the freedom of the seemingly endless eminence she called home: Łichii Dééz Áhí….