Dear HCN,
Maria Mondragon-Valdez
wrote in your March 7 issue about the contentious issue of who
should own the 121-square-mile Taylor Ranch in southern Colorado.
She questioned whether a corporation or state entity should be able
to “dominate and exploit resources at the expense of a community
which considers the landscape part of its traditional homeland.”
I respect and support Mondragon-Valdez’s
attempts to keep her corner of the world free of “amenity
development” for hunters and RVers. However, I respectfully suggest
that before she wraps herself too tightly in the cloak of defending
her “homeland,” she remember that it was her ancestors who moved
into the San Luis Valley only 200-300 years ago, dominating and
exploiting the area’s resources at the expense of the Indians they
pushed out or subdued, often by force – Indians who undoubtedly
considered the landscape part of their traditional
homeland.
Scott Graham
Tijeras,
New Mexico
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Whose traditional homeland?.
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