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In the 1930s, the United States government forced the Navajo Nation to dramatically reduce the size of their livestock herds, a policy that would become one of the most devastating acts of federal overreach in Native American history. The story of the Navajo and their animals began generations earlier, when Spanish colonizers introduced sheep and horses to the Southwest as part of the Columbian Exchange. By the 18th century, the Navajo had embraced these animals, developing their own prized flocks of Navajo-Churro sheep and building a pastoral economy centered around wool and weaving. After signing a treaty with the U.S. government in 1868, the Navajo were returned to their homeland and given sheep to restart their herds. They proved to be exceptional shepherds, growing their flocks from 15,000 in the 1870s to over 500,000 by the 1920s. Livestock was not just an economic resource to the Navajo — it was sacred, believed to be a gift from the Holy People, and deeply woven into their identity, culture, and spiritual life. By 1931, the Navajo owned roughly 2 million animals, and sheep alone provided half of all cash income for individual families. Federal officials, concerned about overgrazing and soil erosion — and motivated in part by protecting the newly constructed Hoover Dam from silt runoff — decided dramatic action was needed. In 1933, President Roosevelt appointed John Collier as Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Collier quickly championed a sweeping livestock reduction program. What began as a so-called voluntary program in 1933 became mandatory by 1935, with government agents purchasing, slaughtering, and removing animals on a massive scale. The Navajo referred to these events as the Second Long Walk, drawing a painful comparison to their forced removal in the 1860s. Many animals were shot on the reservation and burned in pits, and families were made to watch as their sacred herds were destroyed before their eyes. Women were particularly devastated, as they had traditionally owned and managed the herds, and now found themselves stripped of their only source of income. Navajo who resisted were arrested, and opposition to the program was suppressed by force. Historians have since noted that the federal government's analysis of the land's carrying capacity was flawed, and that Navajo land management practices — which accounted for seasonal and climatic variation — were ignored entirely. The Navajo Livestock Reduction left deep and lasting scars on the Navajo Nation that stretched far beyond the 1930s. The destruction of the herds wiped out the primary source of income for tens of thousands of families, forcing many into poverty and dependence on government welfare programs. The traditional matriarchal structure of Navajo society was undermined, as women who had owned and managed the herds lost their economic power and authority. The cultural connection between the Navajo people and their animals — a bond rooted in spiritual belief and centuries of tradition — was permanently fractured. The program also fueled deep distrust of the federal government and created strong opposition to other elements of federal Indian policy for decades to come. Poverty generated by the reduction persisted long after the program ended, contributing to cycles of underdevelopment on the reservation that continued well into the 20th century and beyond. #archaeohistories