Continuing Pandemic Weighs On Native American Economies

TUBA CITY, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 17: A Navajo Nation volunteer collects coal to distribute to Native Americans in need at a free wood collection site on December 17, 2021 in Tuba City, Arizona. The wood at the site, which is located in the Navajo Nation town of Tuba City, was accessed through a partnership with the National Forest Foundation and their 'Wood for Life' initiative. Most of the wood was thinned from unhealthy forests in areas that pose significant risks to communities from fire and post fire flooding. Thousands of members of Indigenous nations throughout northern Arizona are facing a crisis of home heating resulting partly from the closure of a coal mine that supplied free coal for heating homes and cooking. Navajo, and other Native American's who depend on wood to heat their homes, increasingly look to outside groups to help supply them with wood. Wood collection has been further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely impacted Native American reservations. Within the Navajo Nation, 35.8% of households have incomes below the federal poverty threshold. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)