Pojoaque Valley residents sue feds in road dispute with pueblo

A dispute over who owns roads used to access private property adjacent to San Ildefonso Pueblo came to a head this week when a group of Pojoaque Valley residents filed a federal lawsuit to force a resolution. The group, called Northern New Mexicans Protecting Land, Water and Rights, filed the lawsuit against U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and two officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, alleging the U.S. government has “illegally clouded title” to the county roads. The suit stems from a letter federal agencies sent to Santa Fe County in December 2013. Raymond Fry, superintendent of the Northern Pueblos Agency for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, wrote in the letter that six county roads trespass on San Ildefonso tribal lands. Fry is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. “No easement or rights-of-way exist for County Road 84 and the side roads on tribal trust land of the Pueblo of San Ildefonso,” Fry wrote. He encouraged the county to quickly enter into negotiations with the pueblo and “establish legal bases for the county’s continued use of pueblo land.” The pueblo has been pursuing payments for a range of rights of way, including roads across land that tribal members say is rightfully theirs. San Ildefonso Pueblo officials also have said they repeatedly notified Santa Fe County of their grievances regarding road easements, starting in at least 1999. A. Blair Dunn, one of the attorneys representing Northern New Mexicans Protecting Land, Water and Rights in its lawsuit against the government, said the effects on property owners were widespread throughout the valley after the letter. “When somebody can’t access their property, and they can’t borrow money against their property, it basically zeroes out their property value,” Dunn said. “We believe the action by the Bureau of Indian Affairs was improper.”...more