Now that the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline is all but lost, a hardy group of Navajos are hoping rebels still without a cause will lend them a hand in their four-decade struggle.

Their battle started more than 40 years ago, when a 1974 presidential executive order removed traditional, non-English speaking Navajos from their homes on Big Mountain, Ariz.

Located near the Four Corners area, Big Mountain is part of the Joint Use Area (JUA) involving the Navajos and Hopis. It encompasses most of the northern portion of the Hopi Partitioned Lands.

The executive order was part of the Navajo-Hopi Relocation Act, which sought to mediate a longstanding dispute over land ownership between the two tribes.

Since that time, nearly 14,000 Navajos and 600 Hopi have been relocated from Big Mountain and other communities; like Coal Mine Mesa, Jeddito, Sands Springs, and Star Mountain.

In all, some 22,000 Navajos lost rights to their ancestral range.

Tensions still run deep, resulting in occasional clashes between traditional sheepherders and federal law enforcement officers.

Federal regulations are strict when it comes to water access, firewood gathering, animal husbandry and any type of social or ceremonial gatherings in the area.

Meanwhile, the Peabody Energy Co., which has exhausted a 70,000-acre coal mining lease at Kayenta Mine, is pondering expansion southward into the heart of Big Mountain.

Navajo protesters are continuing their resistance, which began in 1977.

Back then resistance leaders stated their purpose: the protection of the dwelling places of the deities in the Big Mountain Summits and the defense of the central Altar of the Diné Universe, Black Mesa.

The Navajo hope protesters from other tribes will come to support their efforts.