Mount Taylor stewardship

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

PUEBLO OF ACOMA — On June 19, a few days after the Cultural Properties Review Committee again voted to list much of Mount Taylor in the State Register of Cultural Properties for one year, leaders from the five nominating tribes held a conference at the Sky City Hotel to commend the committee’s decision and to speak to the media about why the decision is important.

Each speaker, from Hopi, Zuni, Laguna, Acoma, and the Navajo Nation addressed assembled media representatives at length. The tribal leaders spoke of the value of the mountain not only to their cultures but to all people in the Mount Taylor’s shadow.

First Lt. Governor of the Pueblo of Laguna, Richard Luarkie, said the tribe was pleased with the decision to list the mountain for at least one year of culture oversight with the state listing and went on to address specific concerns that motivated the tribe to take part in seeking the listing.

“The area we have nominated, a cultural landscape, is integral to who we are as a people, and to our continued existence. Laguna people have known Mount Taylor as Tsibina from time immemorial. We have passed down from generation to generation the knowledge of our relationship with Tsibina and where we as a people are located in relation to thins mountain and all that it encompasses,” he began.

Luarkie said that as Laguna people, the tribe has a collective responsibility for stewardship, or taking care of, for the mountain and all it encompasses. “In this regard, we have invited other communities to join in a careful, and responsible management of the mountain, which has been entrusted to all of us for care.”

The lieutenant governor was one of the few speakers to address the rumor that outside agitators started the move to list Mount Taylor on the register. “This effort has come from our respective communities, and not, as some have suggested, from outside entities or organizations. For generations, the pueblo leadership has been charged with the protecting what is most important to our identity as a people; Tsibina is among the most important,” he said.

Flyers and gossip containing unfounded claims and misinformation circulated around Cibola County shortly after the February committee to list the mountain as a TCP. The origin of some of the material is not clear because it was not signed, and no source for the alleged information was provided. Luarkie addressed the possibility that misinformation came from organizations or groups.

He told the assembled media and tribal leaders, “We do remain concerned about the influence of outside entities and organizations on the people in Cibola County. There was evidence of companies and organizations that appear to have spread misinformation about this process (the listing), with the object of dividing the people in the county. These organizations have little or no vested interest in the well-being of all people in the county. Unfortunately, we are too familiar with the divide-and-conquer strategy, and in the end it hurts all the people,” he said.

Luarkie was perhaps the clearest of the speakers on the heart of concern behind asking for the TCP listing — uncontrolled development.

He told the audience, “... we believe in sustaining life on the mountain. This means protecting water resources. We have great concerns that unimpeded development could affect the water resources. The headwaters for several of our communities are located within the TCP area for which we seek designation. Without healthy water sources, many forms of life will cease to live.”

Luarkie said the tribe has learned the lessons of unimpeded development and what it has cost the environment. “And, like the situation with contaminated wells near a former mill site, we have grappled with these issues for decades.”

Of the five nominating tribes, the Laguna and Acoma have land closest to the mountain. Their pueblos, like the town of Grants and the villages of San Mateo, Bibo, Cubero, Seboyeta and others, directly abut the mountain and are the first to be affected by changes to the mountain’s environment.

Luarkie joined other tribal leaders in inviting the community to join the effort to oversee development on the mountain and to make the issues widely understood. “We would like to invite the county leadership to join us in providing accurate information to the people of Cibola County and working towards mutual understanding and respect as this process unfolds.”