Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
1300–1540) also saw a continuation of shifting populations, as well as increased populations, but
this time settlement appears to coalesce in large villages that are the predecessors of the presentday
Pueblo villages. Many scholars theorize that during this period, the ancestral Navajos and
Apaches established themselves in northern New Mexico. However, Navajo traditional history
says that the Navajo did not migrate here, but originated here. These people were nomadic
hunters and gatherers who moved into and settled areas previously occupied by Puebloan groups,
and some may have adopted horticulture of corn, beans, and squash.
By 1100 A.D., the Chaco-related sites were abandoned and populations in the San Mateo Valley
declined (Benedict and Hudson, 2008). Although the results of this population shift differ in
various areas of New Mexico, with some areas gaining population and others losing, the region of
the proposed project area shows evidence of settlement dispersion with groups located near major
activity areas. Intensive habitation of the region declined; however, the area shows continued
Puebloan use of the region’s resources through to the present day.
History
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s exploration of the northern Rio Grande Valley from 1540 to
1542 marks the beginning of the Historic period, when Europeans first contacted the native
populations of the region. However, it was not until 1598, when New Mexico became a Spanish
colony, that life began to change for American Indians. Spanish settlement introduced new
technologies, such as the use of metal, and a new religion, Catholicism, which was forcibly
instituted through the establishment of missions throughout northern New Mexico. Changes in
native settlement patterns reflect the reorganization of indigenous peoples to meet Spanish labor
demands and accommodate the establishment of the missions. Rapid reductions in native
populations demonstrate the effect of introducing Old World diseases.
Puebloan use of Mt. Taylor and its environs continued from prehistoric through historic times.
While no permanent settlements were established in the northwest area in the San Mateo Valley,
this area was used for hunting, resource collecting, ceremonial activities, and sheepherding. The
Navajo had moved south into the Mt. Taylor area starting in the 1600s, and by the late 1700s, San
Mateo was being listed as one of the geographic divisions of the Navajo Tribe (Benedict and
Hudson, 2008). The 17 th and 18 th centuries saw a rapid increase in the number of Spanish
settlements in the Rio Grande Valley and surrounding areas. Beginning in 1753, Spanish settlers
were awarded land grants in the Mt. Taylor region that encroached on lands used by the pueblos
and Navajo for hunting and grazing. The Navajo retaliated by attacking Spanish settlements
surrounding Mt. Taylor. The Spanish responded by establishing military outposts in the area.
Cycles of drought, raiding, land grant occupation, military action, and temporary treaties defined
the region into the 1800s. In 1821, with the declaration of independence by Mexico from Spain,
the first officially sanctioned Anglo-American traders traveled west on the Santa Fe Trail.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848 between the U.S. and Mexico, giving the
territory of New Mexico to the U.S. Several military campaigns ended with placing the Navajo
and Ute on reservations. Allocating tribal lands to the pueblos in the form of land grants was a
part of Spanish colonial policy, and encroaching on those grants had been a practice of the
Spanish, Mexicans, and Americans. Pueblos began fighting this process in the courts in 1880, and
were finally successful with the passage of the Pueblo Lands Act of 1924, in which Congress
recognized the validity of the land grants.
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 303