ABQJOURNAL NORTH: Bureau Couldn't Intervene, Letter Says

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Saturday, September 13, 2008

Bureau Couldn't Intervene, Letter Says

By Mark Oswald
Of the Journal
      The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs has reiterated its position that the BIA had no authority to intervene in the recent demolition of old buildings on the Santa Fe Indian School campus.
       The 19 New Mexico pueblos that run the Indian School “are the beneficial owners of the (SFIS campus) land held in trust by the United States and they can use the land according to their needs without intervention from the federal government,” BIA regional director Larry Morrin wrote in a Thursday letter to Katherine Slick, director of the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division.
       Slick said Friday afternoon she's still not convinced. “It doesn't settle it for me,” Slick said of Morrin's letter.
       “They (the BIA) say clearly that they didn't transfer the property out of federal ownership, so it seems to me to that they still have a responsibility,” Slick said.
       She recently wrote Morrin, asking for clarification on why the Indian School demolitions — which have provoked controversy among historic preservationists and other Santa Fe residents — were not subject to the National Historic Preservation Act.
       If the demolitions fell under the act, the Indian School would have had to consult with the state Historic Preservation Division before tearing down the buildings along Cerrillos Road.
       A few old buildings still stand at the school, which in the last few years built a new campus behind the old structures.
       Morrin said in his letter responding to Slick that the BIA has not transferred the SFIS campus out of federal ownership and that by legislative act, Congress mandated that the SFIS land “be held in trust for the benefit of the 19 pueblos.”
       Under this status, Morrin wrote, no compliance with the Preservation Act's “Section 106” — which requires federal agencies to take into account the effects of their undertakings on historic properties and calls for consultation with preservation agencies — is required unless pueblo activities “involve a federal undertaking or action.”
       “Trust status was never intended to invoke government oversight or control over every facet of the daily lives and business decisions of tribes and tribal members...,” Morrin's letter says. “Tribes have varied views of historic preservation, which are addressed according to their own tribal and cultural standards.”
       Slick said she still needs to “parse through” the letter and doesn't know if her agency will continue to pursue the matter. “I'm thinking about it,” she said.
       A BIA survey in 1994 determined that a district of 24 buildings on the Indian School grounds was eligible for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2002, the BIA reconfirmed a National Register-eligible district at SFIS, Slick has said.
       She said Friday that it was important that Morrin also noted in his letter that he would be “happy to assist in arranging a meeting” between Slick and the pueblo leadership.
       SFIS officials have said little about the demolitions other than a brief statement issued several weeks ago saying that the buildings were torn down to protect the public and the campus community. Many of the old buildings were dilapidated.
       The school has not disclosed any plans for the cleared area along Cerrillos, although one source who spoke with SFIS officials shortly before the buildings were torn down has said they indicated a museum and retail space are in the works.