 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Petroglyph National Monument
Report by Amy Corbin HistoryThe petroglyphs found in the area date back thousands of years and are viewed by the various Pueblo groups as a place to convey messages between ancestor spirits and the living. The ancestors chose this spot because of the dramatic alignment of five volcanoes—a place “born with Mother Earth’s great labor and power,” says Bill Weahkee. Since the first drawings were made on the rock, the petroglyph area has been used as a place for ceremonies, gathering medicinal plants, and offering thanks. During the mid-twentieth century, as Alburquerque expanded, the petroglyph area was littered with trash, imitation rock drawings, and bullet holes. The 1980s gave birth to a movement to protect the petroglyphs and the area was designated a National Monument in 1990. Soon after, however, John Black, a local landowner, declared his intention to build a 19,000 home development west of the park. The development would require extending the Paseo Del Norte highway, a proposal supported by part of Albuquerque’s City Council and Senator Pete Domenici (R, NM). In 1998, the U.S. Senate overrode Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s recommendation and approved a bill that removed a key 8.5 acre corridor from the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and returned it to the city, enabling the city to move forward with building the highway extension. In 2001, SAGE Council and other opposing groups succeeded in blocking all four of the state legislature bills that appropriated money for the highway. A second road was constructed in the area in 2002 to bring temporary traffic relief until Unser Boulevard could be re-aligned and extended northwest through the petroglyph area, intersecting with the Paseo del Norte extension. In October 2003, voters rejected a bond measure that included the Paseo del Norte and Unser road projects. Threat
The SAGE Council, a local citizens’ group fighting the road, also asserts that the Environmental Land Use Authority approved Black’s housing development without consideration of adequate water and land requirements. Because the Paseo del Norte extension is on city land, not federal, a full Environmental Impact Study was not required. In lieu of environmental protections, activists have focused on preventing the appropriation of money for the project. They have succeeded on a local level but New Mexico State Senator Joseph Carraro is mounting a campaign to get Governor Bill Richardson to fund the construction. The Governor has so far held $3.3 million of state money until the city council weighs alternative routes and approves the original plan. SolutionThe Paseo del Norte extension must be stopped on both the local and state level. SAGE Council and environmental and citizen groups are working hard on a grassroots campaign to convince voters and the city council that no more roads should be built in the Petroglyph area, and that the road projects are a wasteful use of public money. Further, New Mexico residents should ensure that the Governor sticks to his strict conditions and does not release state money. In the long term, the Petroglyph National Monument should be regarded as one whole park, instead of pieces to be broken up by new roads. Take ActionWrite to Ken Sanchez, Chair of the Urban Transportation Planning and Policy Board, and tell him to take the Paseo del Norte and Unser Blvd extensions out of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan 2025:
Call Governor Bill Richardson at (505) 476-2200 to make sure that the state does not fund this construction. Donate to the SAGE Council or volunteer your time. For more information, contactSAGE Council (Sacred Alliances for Grassroots Equality) Resources
|
The conflict surrounding 17,000 petroglyphs west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, demonstrates that even a national monument is not safe when it comes to suburban development. A developer and members of the Albuquerque City Council want to build a six-lane highway through the northern portion of the park to give a new housing development access to the city of Albuquerque. At stake is not just a national monument, but an area of great spiritual significance: “The petroglyph area is where messages to the spirit world are communicated. We consider each of these petroglyphs to be a record of visions written here of some spiritual being, event, or expression,” says Bill Weahkee of the Five Sandoval Indian Pueblos, Inc.
The proposed six-lane highway extension goes through the area that was removed from the National Monument. It is clear that such a roadway running through the center of the petroglyph area will destroy the integrity of this ancient ceremonial place. As with other sacred places, the difficulty for Native Americans is in convincing the public and lawmakers that they cannot just point to specific pieces of rock art that are sacred: the entire area is a coherent whole and needs to be understood and respected on its own terms. The potential traffic noise represents an infringement on religious practices at the petroglyphs. Increased access to the rock art brings graffiti, target practice, and vandalism has already increased due to other housing developments nearby. |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|