NM panel votes to protect Mount Taylor

The cultural and natural resources of New Mexico's Mount Taylor will now be protected by the state, ending a yearlong battle between American Indians and landowners all concerned about preserving their rights to use the mountain without interference. A state committee voted unanimously Friday to list the mountain on the State Register of Cultural Properties, a state spokesman said. The mountain, which as many as 30 Indian tribes consider sacred, is threatened by exploration and proposals for uranium mining. The protected area includes nearly 540 square miles around the 11,301-foot summit of the western New Mexico mountain down to surrounding mesa tops. Five tribes — the pueblos of Acoma, Zuni and Laguna, the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe in Arizona — nominated the protected area and worked to show why it should be preserved. But landowners and other residents of Grants, N.M., who fought the designation feared it would inhibit their ability to visit the mountain and limit what private landowners could do on their property. "It's a huge blow to private property rights and owners," said Marron Lee Nelson, whose family owns the largest piece of private property on Mount Taylor. "I do think lawsuits will be coming."...AP