Church Rock hosts a scattered community of families who survive by herding cattle, goats, and sheep. The 350 families who water livestock in the Rio Puerco rely on their small herds as their only form of income. Most are Diné [Navajo], with incomes in the range of two thousand dollars per year.

Teddy Nez, a Diné Vietnam veteran lives sandwiched between two abandoned uranium mines — to the south 500 feet on one side is the unreclaimed UNC mine, now an EPA superfund site, to the north is the reclaimed Kerr McGee mine burial cell. Seven generations of the Nez family have lived on this land. Four generations of the family currently live there — and each has their own manifestation of symptoms the family believes is related to the uranium contamination, including skin rashes and respiratory problems. Every family in the area has lost relatives due to illnesses they believe are associated with the radioactive residue.