TCP under microscope
Cultural Properties Review panel to hear Mount Taylor discussion

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

SANTA FE — Following quickly on the heels of last week’s announcement that Mount Taylor is one of the nation’s 11 most endangered sites on this year’s National Trust for Historic Preservation list, the New Mexico Cultural Properties Review Committee will hear public discussion concerning a possible permanent determination of the sacred mountain as a Traditional Cultural Property.

The National Trust’s annual listing includes a set of sites, most often buildings, that the non-profit preservation organization determines to be of cultural value and threatened in some way, according to the NHT’s Web site.

The listing is designed to draw attention to the sites and spur public action.

The Web site says their past efforts have been “so successful in galvanizing preservation efforts across the country and rallying resources to save one-of-a-kind landmarks that, in over two decades, only six sites have been lost.”

The Cultural Properties Review Committee, on the other hand, is part of the Historic Preservation Division in the New Mexico Department of Cultural affairs. A designation by the committee to put the state list of Traditional Cultural Properties has the effect of law in that certain procedures governing development and alterations come into effect.

Last June, the committee gave a temporary and controversial TCP listing to a large part of Mount Taylor after an emotional charged public hearing in Grants.

The public hearing on the revised nomination “Mount Taylor Cultural Landscape” as a permanent Traditional Cultural Property to the State Register of Cultural Properties will be held May 15, the state Historic Preservation Division announced Friday.

“The Cultural Properties Review Committee, the policy and advisory committee to HPD, will take comments on the nomination, but will take no formal action until its meeting scheduled for June 5,” Tom Drake, Public Relations officer for the division said.

The public comment meeting will be from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the House chambers of the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.

The meeting will begin with regular business by the committee. CPRC Chairman Alan “Mac” Watson will provide an introduction of the nomination followed by presentations by HPD staff and the nominating tribes.

The U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, state Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department, state Land Office and the state Engineer’s Office have been asked to be available for questions from the CPRC.

The afternoon will largely be devoted to comments from the public attending the meeting, Drake said.

Those who wish to address the committee will have two minutes to speak and must sign a sheet either for or against the nomination before comments open, after the introduction of the nomination. The chamber will open at 9 a.m.
If approved by the CPRC next month, the nomination of Mount Taylor Cultural Landscape as a Traditional Cultural Property will be permanently listed in the State Register. If it is not approved, the nomination cannot be considered again for five years.

Anyone interested in viewing the proposed Register nomination, a map showing the boundaries of the Mount Taylor Cultural Landscape, and related materials including an agenda to the May 15 meeting can find them on the home page of HPD’s Web site, http://www.nmhistoricpreservation.org, Drake added.

The same material is available on compact disc; call the HPD (505) 827-6320 or e-mail HPDplanning.program@state.nm.us to request a CD.

Anyone who cannot make the meeting but would like to provide comments can submit comments though May 20 by e-mail to HPDplanning.program@state.nm.us or by standard mail to the Historic Preservation Division, 407 Galisteo St., Suite 236, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87501.