Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
social meaning by people associated with them”, and such a landscape is “a relatively contiguous
area of interrelated places that contemporary cultural groups define as meaningful because it is
inextricably and traditionally linked to their own local or regional histories, cultural identities,
beliefs, and behaviors” (Evans et al., 2001: 53-54). Such landscape is a geographically definable
area possessing a concentration, linkage, or continuity of landscape components. It is based upon
an integrative perspective that examines relationships among natural and cultural features.
The importance of a landscape and the individual components therein arises from the
interrelationships between cultural resources and natural resources such as plants, animals,
minerals, landforms, and bodies of water that give the landscape meaning through their
association with a people’s history and cultural identity. Within the landscape, often the space in
between individual components is in itself meaningful. Landscapes provide a framework within
which to map the relationships between people and the landscape’s resources. A landscape that is
culturally significant to one group may contain elements that are significant to other groups in
other ways within their own culturally defined landscape. The distinction of ethnographic
landscapes lies in what makes the landscape significant and who determines the nature of that
significance. Ethnographic landscapes are identified and defined by the cultural groups associated
with them and are not rooted in historic analysis. Such landscapes are not rooted in the NRHP, are
not pitted against defined criteria of significance, and are not dependent upon NRHP eligibility
for their existence or importance.
Landscapes in the Region of Influence
There are five defined ethnographic landscapes that overlap the proposed project area and the
region of influence. The analysis presented in the Mt. Taylor Cultural Property nomination
(Chestnut Law Offices, 2009: Continuation Sheet, Section 15, page 2) describes how the
landscapes associated with traditional land use for each of the involved tribes (Pueblos of Acoma,
Laguna, and Zuni, Hopi Tribe, and Navajo Nation) encompass the region of influence, with all
five overlapping at Mt. Taylor and the proposed project area. These landscapes are vernacular in
origin, meaning that the cultural and natural resources within the landscapes and the distribution
of those resources across the landscapes, evolved through function or use, reflecting the physical
circumstances and cultural character of daily life, and are demonstrative of past land uses rather
than a conscious planned design. The cultural resources, their spatial organization, and their
relationship and connection to natural resources and landforms demonstrate and inform about
how this area was used and why it developed the way it did over time. Additionally, the patterns
of land use shown by this landscape form a context for the traditional histories and beliefs of the
involved tribes and a foundation for group identity.
In the ROI, the juxtaposition of mountain slopes, the San Mateo Valley, and the low-lying mesas
influenced how this area was used, and this use is demonstrated by the types and distribution of
archaeological remains, other culturally important resources, and natural resources within the
landscape. Evidence of land use points to hunting, gathering of plant and mineral resources,
farming, herding, and use of the area for ceremonial activities. Archaeological remains indicate a
variety of habitations, from temporary use of camp sites and rock shelters, to more substantial
structures that point to long term or repeated seasonal use.
Based on previous studies as well as the resource identification work conducted for this EIS, the
types of cultural and natural resources associated with the ethnographic landscapes and located
within the area of overlap is expected to include habitation sites (villages, family hamlets, field
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 317