Congress has settled a long-standing dispute between
an Indian tribe, the federal government and private landowners over
the western face of the Sandia Mountains (HCN, 11/9/98: Who
controls the sandias?).
Starting in 1976, Sandia Pueblo
fought to reclaim about 10,000 acres of private and national forest
land. Citing a 1748 Spanish land grant, the tribe says that a
mid-19th century federal survey incorrectly drew the
reservation’s boundary in the foothills of the Sandias,
instead of at the crest of the mountains. The tribe ran up against
not only the federal government, but also an alliance of homeowners
and recreationists, who feared losing clear title to their land,
access for utilities, and public use of the mountains.
In
February, Congress tried to find some middle ground. Passed in an
omnibus spending bill, the T’uf Shur Bien Preservation Trust
Act, sponsored by New Mexico Senators Jeff Bingaman, D, and Pete
Domenici, R, keeps the disputed lands in the national forest. The
pueblo will gain permanent rights to use the land for religious and
hunting purposes, however, and has the right to veto new uses of
the land. The homeowners are pleased. “We’re having a
big party,” says Anita Miller of the Sandia Mountain
Coalition.
Sandia Gov. Stuwart Paisano says the pueblo had
to concede the most by giving up its claim to ownership, but he
says, “we can live with it.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Tribes, residents find a solution in the Sandias.
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