Taos figures prominently in new Indian Pueblo Cultural Center exhibit

This year's New Mexico Centennial has offered the state's Pueblo Indians an opportunity to show their unique perspective on the last 100 years - some of it good, some of it dismal. This point of view can be seen in a new exhibition titled "100 Years of State and Federal Policy: The Impact on Pueblo Nations," which opens Saturday (Feb. 4), 2 p.m., at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th St. NW in Albuquerque. Since the beginning of their oldest stories, the people of Taos Pueblo have looked to a sacred lake nestled high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains as a place of supreme reverence. To an outside observer, Blue Lake is a pristine body of water resting in an idyllic alpine environment not unlike many others across the country and indeed the world. But for the people of the Pueblo, it is a sacred site that holds the essence of life itself. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt designated Blue Lake and the surrounding area as part of the Taos Forest Reserve and under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service. The acquisition of 48,000 acres by the government occurred without any formal discussion or agreement with the people of Taos Pueblo. Thus began a 64-year battle to have the land returned. This struggle forms yet another chapter of the exhibit. The primary opponent to the return of Blue Lake and the land surrounding it was the U.S. Forest Service who saw the land as rich in natural resources that could be exploited, both for commercial and recreational purposes. Taos Pueblo argued that the land had been their most sacred place of worship since long before the creation of the United States and that, as a religious site, it was entitled to them exclusively...more