IUP will host Lynnea Smith, a member of the Navajo nation from Crownpoint, N.M., to discuss uranium mining on the Navajo Indian reservation.
Smith's presentation, free and open to the community, will take place November 10, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. in Pratt Auditorium.
Smith is a community educator on the issue of uranium mining and its impact on the Navajo (Diné) communities in Crownpoint and Church Rock, N.M.
She began educating herself on the environmental and health effects of uranium mining at age seventeen and, in the ten years since, has spoken to community groups, churches, educational institutions, politicians, lobbying groups, and the Indigenous Environmental Network.
Her interest in the issue emerged as she sought to help her community confront corporate uranium mining in New Mexico. The site of a proposed uranium processing plant is visible from her mother's home at the edge of Navajo land in Crownpoint.
Smith formerly worked for the Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining organization as an administrative assistant, then as the political liaison/executive director.
She currently consults for that group while attending classes at the University of New Mexico Gallup. She has also previously worked with Indian Health Services.