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of its land to its lawyers and all
of the lands of the Tejon grant, which the members of
the San
Antonio de las
Huertas grant claimed was part of
its original 130,000 acre grant, and that
even
though the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was supposed to protect Spanish and Mexican land
grants, people
had to go to Washington, D.C., to prove ownership. He said that while a
number
of books and
articles have been written that touch upon the history of the San Antonio de
las
Huertas land grant, including books by
Suzanne Forest and Charles Minton, the truth still eludes,
and the story of
the people still needs to be told. According to Mr. Lucero, though the
original
grant was made in 1767, the
area was already settled in the 1660s, as evidenced by the Estancia
de las Huertas, and the area was
used by nearby Pueblo communities before that. He noted that
despite articles
that say the land grant was abandoned due to
attacks by the Apache, Navajo and
Comanche tribes
after the Spanish left in the 1820s, the land was never abandoned
during this
period.
As for current
and future plans, Mr. Lucero reported that the water system, which is
fed
by seven
springs, is being rejuvenated, and that the land grant hopes to exchange some
land with
the bureau of land management (BLM) that
are more suitable for use by the community.
Possible
projects include establishment of an ecolodge next to national forest lands, a
small
business
incubator and a wellness center.
When asked
whether the BLM lands were formerly part of the original land grant, Mr.
Lucero replied
that they were, and that he thought there is still a viable claim to some lands
due
to mistakes in
the survey that established the boundaries of the land grant—much like
what
happened with
the Pueblo of Sandia lands on the east side of the Sandias. However, he said,
the
land grant does not have the
millions of dollars for lawyers that it cost the Pueblo of Sandia
to
regain its claim
on the land it lost. When
asked about development going on along the road
leading to
Placitas, he explained that that area is technically Bernalillo heights, and
that there has
been a bit of
identify theft going on when some parties placed signs indicating that the town
of
Placitas begins
out near the interstate, rather than at the red bluffs several miles from
the
interstate.
In closing, Mr.
Lucero said that the land
grant forum has been a
good forum for
discussion, and
that the next step would be to create an association to work with
other
organizations
and promote common goals. He asked that the committee support the trading
for
or acquisition
of BLM land by the land grants.
Guadalupe
Hidalgo Treaty Division Role and Budget
Don Trigg,
director of the civil division of the office of the attorney general, began
by
reviewing the
history of the Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty division, noting that the
legislature
created the
division in 2003 to "review, oversee and address concerns relating to the
provisions
of the Treaty
that have not been implemented or observed in the spirit of New Mexico law . .
.".
A total of
$50,000 was appropriated at that time to do that work with the further
understanding
that the
attorney general would also research and prepare a written response to the
governmental
accountability
office (GAO) report on compliance with the treaty. He explained that because
the
funding amount
was inadequate to build an internal capacity in the office of the attorney
general,