Below is a news item from Caldera Action, an advocacy group for the Valles Caldera Preserve in New Mexico. The Jemez Pueblo won a lawsuit that, among other things, gives them "aboriginal title" to a portion of Valles Caldera Preserve.

The suit essentially gives the tribe exclusive privileges to the Jemez Pueblo to hunt, gather plants, and utilize a part of the Preserve while denying other citizens and even other tribal people the same opportunities. It is still being determined whether the National Park Service or the state can regulate these activities (states usually manage hunting). Will the Jemez Pueblo act in a way that is consistent with general national park policies? Could this lead to similar" claims of "aboriginal title to other national parks and federal lands?

It needs to be clarified why the Jemez Pueblo have to do these activities in a national park unit, especially when hunting, plant gathering, camping, and so forth, are available to all citizens, including Jemez Pueblo folks on surrounding federal, state, and private lands. Below is the Caldera Action notice about the lawsuit.

CALDERA ACTION NOTICE 

You may recall that Jemez Pueblo sued the US Government in 2012 to gain ownership of the Valles Caldera. The Pueblo claimed that they had been the exclusive users of the great caldera at the top of the Jemez Mountains for hundreds of years. Other native groups persuaded the federal courts that many others had also used the Valles Caldera for hunting, obsidian gathering, etc. since prehistoric times. The court rejected Jemez Pueblo’s claim.  

In 2020 Jemez Pueblo returned to court and claimed that a few areas of the Valles Caldera were used by them exclusively and that they should have “aboriginal title” to those areas. The district court granted Jemez Pueblo’s petition, in part, and allowed them to pursue their claims only in the Banco Bonito area on the southwest corner of the Valles Caldara. In March 2023 the court granted aboriginal title to Banco Bonito to Jemez Pueblo. 

Following this ruling, negotiations have been ongoing between the Pueblo and the US Department of Justice which represents the National Park Service. On October 16, the two parties reached a settlement agreement which is meant to put an end to litigation and spell out the terms of Jemez Pueblo’s use of the Banco Bonito portion of the Valles Caldera National Preserve. 

 The Settlement Agreement between the US Government and Jemez Pueblo lays out the following rules of use for both parties:

1           Banco Bonito remains part of the VCNP with all provisions of the Preserve Act binding. The Preserve Act mandated National Park Service Management in 2015.

2           Jemez Pueblo has the right to occupy and use Banco Bonito for cultural and religious purposes without NPS permission. These uses include hunting, plant gathering, other material gathering for religious purposes. They can do anything else allowed by the Preserve Act without seeking NPS permission.

3           The American people retain full access to Banco Bonito except on days when the Pueblo closes the area for cultural uses.

4           The NPS will not build more trails (including the Rim Trail) in Banco Bonito and will not build a proposed campground at Banco Bonito. The NPS may continue “administrative actions” Does this include prescribed burning which the NPS has done extensively in Banco Bonito?

5           The NPS will incorporate into the Preserve’s Foundation Document the fact that the Pueblo holds aboriginal title at Banco Bonito and the natural resources hold significance to the Jemez people. The NPS will include tribal consultations in the General Management Planning process. (The NPS was already engaged in such consultations.)

6           Amend the VCNP Foundation Document to “recognize the centrality of pueblo and tribal issues.”

7           The agreement does not authorize commercial timber production, mining or other “industrial development” on Banco Bonito. It is unclear if livestock grazing is an industrial development since it is a commercial activity.  

Caldera Action welcomes the government’s acknowledgment of Pueblo traditional interests in the Caldera and Banco Bonito specifically. Given New Mexico’s long history of native habitation, we need to facilitate long-standing cultures to protect and practice their unique connections to the land. We are pleased that the court also allowed the public to continue to access Banco Bonito within reasonable guidelines. 

Our concern only is that the terms used by the court in the settlement agreement are sometimes vague and could be open to various interpretations. We wonder who will interpret the meanings in the settlement agreement if tribes propose a use that may not be consistent with the Preserve Act or if the NPS engages in an activity that Jemez objects to?

Time will tell what changes Jemez and other tribes seek in the Preserve’s management, if any.Caldera Action will continue to seek protection of the watersheds, wildlife, and plant life in the Preserve.

For more information or to join Caldera Action, calderaaction@gmail.com