Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Natural Resources
Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
Natural resources, while they may not exhibit human-caused modifications, can be ascribed with
cultural meaning and, thus, have a cultural element. This is true for the involved tribes. Plants,
animals, water, and minerals are collected for food, fuel, medicine, and ceremony, and the
locations of these items are pantry, medicine cabinet, and sanctuary, all at once. However, natural
resources are not only material resources to be used by the tribes. Animals and plants are included
in songs, prayers, and histories; play an integral role in stories needed to pass along important
tribal lessons; and are sometimes intermediaries between the people and the Spiritual Beings. The
wholesale integration of natural resources into the cultural practices and identity of the tribes is
demonstrative of the significance of these resources to the ethnographic landscape.
Because natural resources are used in various forms in ceremonies and ritual, there is a need to
maintain pristine sources of these materials in order for rituals to work. When collecting
resources for ritual or ceremonial use, the collection trip itself is often a religious event (Colwell-
Chanthaphonh and Ferguson, 2012b:17), accompanied by prayers and offerings. Prayers are
conducted for the well-being of animals and, in turn, the animals are depended upon for the
people’s spiritual welfare (Colwell-Chanthaphonh and Ferguson, 2012b:22). The land provides
the resources that are necessary for the cultural life of the tribes to continue and flourish and, in
turn, these resources are used in rituals that bind the people to the land.
Water
Water and those places associated with it are particularly significant within the tribal cultures.
Tribal histories regarding Mt. Taylor emphasize the provision of water by the mountain and the
Spiritual Beings within, and the appropriate uses of the water by the people. The mountain is seen
as a “spiritual beacon for moisture” (Colwell-Chanthaphonh and Ferguson, 2012b:23). Many
ceremonies and rituals are focused on water and bringing water to the people. Because water is
integral to the earth, plants, animals, and humans, and without it there is nothing (Colwell-
Chanthaphonh and Ferguson, 2012b), water is a central theme for many ritual activities. Water
has both economic and cultural importance, and is an essential element of tribal social identity
and cultural history (Colwell-Chanthaphonh and Ferguson 2012a). Water is the common link that
joins the spiritual world, the clouds, the mountain, and the people, and this interconnectedness
informs many aspects of traditional belief (Anschuetz 2012).
The tribal ethnographic assessments and tribal consultations revealed that those places associated
with water, specifically springs and tinajas (water catchments formed in bedrock outcrops and
boulders), have such significance. They may have served an important role in the past occupation
of an area as they would have provided a reliable source of surface water, as a result of rain and
snowmelt. The importance of these resources stems from the pathway of the water, and the
provision thereof, being traditionally tied to the interior of the mountain and the Spiritual Beings
(Anschuetz, 2012). These places are believed to play an integral role in maintaining the balance
of the cosmos through renewal of important supernatural associations and, thereby, are tied to
many aspects of traditional belief and practice. Water from these these places in general is
collected for medicines and ceremonies performed back in the communities, and associated items
such as cattails and certain insects from these places also play specific roles in rituals.
Tribal Concepts of Landscape
The involved tribes view the proposed project area, Mt. Taylor, and the larger ethnographic
landscape as an integrated whole. To consider cultural and natural resources in an area separately,
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 319