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Thursday, June 26, 2008
Land-Review Hearings Must Be Honest
By Patrick Lyons
Commissioner of Public Lands
Government should be a help, not a hindrance. That is a fairly obvious truism, but more often than not government is a divisive, not a unifying, factor in our lives and communities. The most recent example of this here in New Mexico is the action taken June 14 by the Cultural Properties Review Committee in Grants.
By a 4-2 vote the committee listed a huge swath of northwestern New Mexico near Mount Taylor, an area encompassing over 400,000 acres or slightly larger than Rhode Island, as a temporary listing on the state's registered cultural property list. The horribly flawed process used by the committee to list this huge area has fractured the community.
The Cultural Properties Review Committee is a seven-member board; six of its members are appointed by the governor. It has an admirable goal: to preserve and protect the historical and cultural heritage of the state. The committee maintains an official register of cultural properties deemed worthy of preservation.
As commissioner of public lands, I manage 13 million mineral acres and 9 million acres of surface estate held in trust to help support public schools, universities, hospitals and a number of other notable beneficiaries.
In its most recent action, the committee considered an application by numerous tribes and pueblos to put on the official register for one year an area around Mount Taylor that has historic and cultural significance to many Native Americans. This all sounds well and good, and all New Mexicans have a common goal in preserving and protecting our unique and diverse cultures.
So what's the problem?
First, one needs to understand the specific makeup of the area that was sought for designation, along with cultural property laws. In the 400,000 acres, almost the entire eastern half is private land.
When pertaining to private land, cultural property laws are completely voluntary but may apply to state actions such as the permitting process of state agencies. So, in the minds of many private landowners and residents, this move was perceived as a land grab, a back-door attempt to control large chunks of private property.
Second, every New Mexico resident should be concerned about the way the committee handled its responsibility to disseminate correct information to the public so concerned residents could ask questions about how this decision may affect their own property.
Several months ago, the committee held what would generously be described as a poorly advertised meeting — in the minds of many locals, it was the equivalent of a back-room meeting — to approve the temporary listing without any significant input by people who for generations have made their livelihood off this land.
Only after legitimate public uproar and counsel from Attorney General Gary King that the process was flawed did the committee acquiesce and seek significant public input. So in the eyes of many community members, a governmental entity has created another process where the deck is stacked against them and the outcome predetermined.
Needless to say, the second meeting, held June 14, was not much improved — but on the bright side more people attended.
Misinformation was the rule of the day. Of all the missteps, perhaps the most glaring was the very first presentation where the “expert” advancing the application stated emphatically that private property would not be impacted. That would have gone a long way to alleviate the fears of many landowners who attended; unfortunately, it was inaccurate. In the end, the second meeting was conducted in such a way that it created more problems, more misinformation, and more distrust for a community that did not deserve it.
As land commissioner, I was concerned about the impact on the several thousand acres of school trust lands in the area, and I hoped for an open, honest and fair process.
When the process is the opposite of that, it creates an angry and divided community.
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