Traditional Impact
Land grant owners want say in Mount Taylor designationJames Martinez works with a water tank used for measuring evaporation rates while his son Amadeo stands by and Bob Powell of Class One Technical Services in Albuquerque takes notes. Martinez and his family are part of the Marquez land grant, which lies east of Mount Taylor, and are planning on continuing mining uranium on their property when they receive a permit, but a Traditional Cultural Property designation is making it harder for them to do so. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kevin Killough
Staff writer

LAGUNA — Like many landowners in and around the boundaries of state and federal traditional cultural property designations, James Martinez feels the state and federal government are placing a greater importance on Native American religions than his own heritage. Martinez is on the board of the Cebolleta Land Grant, which holds some 4,500 acres around the town of Marquez. The land has been in his family’s possession since the 1700s.

Native American Tribes, including the Navajo Nation and Pueblo of Acoma, are pushing to have temporary traditional cultural property designations made permanent. Even though their current listing is temporary, landowners are still held to the traditional cultural property regulations, which require any state or federal permits to go through the tribes before approval.

This means that, in and around the traditional cultural property boundaries, any private or commercial activity will face delays that can last months or even years, depending on any concerns raised by the tribes. This even applies to private landowners trying to prosper off their land.

“We’ve lived here since the 1700s, and we never heard of no traditional cultural property,” Martinez says.

Martinez’s great, great grandfather was among the first homesteaders on the land. They left paintings of Catholic saints on the walls of caves around the area. As Martinez points out, most of the area names are Spanish.
“They’re not mentioning anything about Spanish people here,” he says.

The traditional cultural property includes some 200,000 acres of land within its boundaries, but regulations apply to land around the boundaries as well. The state and Forest Service never made any attempt to notify or consult with landowners before making the temporary designations. The tribes requested them after uranium companies began seeking permits to do exploratory drilling to update old data.

Like most landowners, Martinez only learned about it after the fact. The designation was made early this year, but the attorney general threw out the decision after it was determined the Cultural Properties Review Committee had not properly publicized the meeting that made the designation, which violated the state’s Open Meetings Act. The committee had another meeting last June, which some 700 people attended.

Martinez says that despite the many landowners who spoke out against the designation, the whole meeting was a sham. The committee showed little interest in hearing any other side of the issue and rubber-stamped the traditional cultural property designation.

“The committee had already decided,” Martinez says. “I respect everybody’s religion, but this is important to me too.”

For years, the Martinez family has been leasing the land to uranium mining companies, who want to mine and mill uranium on the Martinez’s land. It’s uncertain just how much the traditional cultural property designation will delay or if it will stop the family from proceeding with their plans.

But Patricia Martinez, James’s wife, says that the companies have been very good to her family and her, including giving her children college scholarships.

“I’d welcome them with open arms,” she says.

She says they see their land as a way to prosper for their family and the community. The mining will bring jobs and incomes, she says. Most importantly, it can go back into the community of Marquez. James and Patricia’s hope is that the community will prosper and their children can come back and live there.

“We want the same opportunity (the Native Americans) have. We want our people to come back and prosper from the land ... Nobody gave me a say when they decided to build a casino,” James Martinez says.