8/8/2019 Local News- Blue Lake continued

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Sunday, September 19, 2010 THE NEW MEXICAN C-5

“Blue Lakewas a victory thatdidn’t comeeasy,”he said, add-ing that “sometimes the struggleis just as meaningful as the out-come.”

Ongoing Blue Lake-relatedevents organized by TaosPueblo’s Blue Lake Committee

culminated in Saturday’s event,which featured traditional songsand dances as well as speechesand an exhibit of old photo-graphs, petitions, news clip-pings and even the pen Nixonused to sign HR 471, returningBlue Lake to Taos Pueblo.

A traditional feast was alsoserved. Lillian Monroe saida group ofwomen had beencooking fordays. They used 150poundsof flour to make differenttypes of breads, cookiesand pies.RoseRomerosaid everythingwas baked outside in hornos.

Theymade dough Mondaynight, Florinda Conchasaid,andstarted bakingTuesday morning.

Conchawas stirring pots of stew over a fireSaturday morn-

ing.She said thecooksmadered-and green-chile stews, cabbagestew, vegetablestew and posole,including pork andbuffalo meatintothe recipes.“We’ve beenhere since thewee hours of themorning,”she said, addingthatshe was hopingfor timeto seesome of theold photographs.

Among the guests whoattended the celebration Satur-day were former Oklahoma Sen.Fred Harris, a former staff assis-tant to Nixon, Bobbie Kilberg,and U.S. Department of theInterior Assistant Secretary forIndian Affairs LarryEcho Hawk.

 Jack Straus,who workedas anattorney forTaos Pueblo in 1969and1970, also spoke Saturday. Herecalled a conversationwith Paul

Bernalhe hadthe day thebillpassed.Bernalwas theprincipalmemberof the tribal delega-tion thatlobbied forBlue Lake’sreturn. Straus said he toldBernalthatnothing in hisfuturecareercould match theimportanceof helpingto returnBlueLaketo theTaos Pueblo people.“Thathasprovento bethe case,”he said.

He said he still displays the

moccasins formerTaos Pueblo

CaciqueJuan de Jesus Romeropresented to himafter the victory.Suazosaid his grandchildren

have started going to Blue Lakeforthe first time in recentyears,andhe believes theareawillcontinue to be importantto TaosPueblo as young peopleinheritthe pueblo’s land and culture.

“The land remains in beauti-ful, pristine condition,” he said.

Blue Lake,closedto nonmem- bers of thePueblo, is managedas wilderness by pueblorangersandthe warchief’s staff.Twentyor more hilly miles liebetweenthepueblo andBlue Lake.

War Chief SecretaryScottFieldssaid it is an arduous climbto thearea, andtribal memberscontinue to go to Blue Lake with

a senseof reverence, recognizingthat it is a special place.Suazosaidit is significant that

after goingthroughthe patience,stress, hardships and disappoint-ments of theBlue Lake struggle,

 justice was achieved.“Theability to endurewas a

 blessing,” he said.“Patience andendurance resulted in prayersanswered.”

ContinuedfromPageC-1

BlueLake: Land isin pristine condition

BOOKSIGNING

Photographer MarciaKeegan willbe signing cop-iesof hernewly revisedand expandedbook, TaosPueblo and itsSacredBlueLake, from5 to7 p.m.Fri-day at Silver SunGallery,656CanyonRoad.

Hertext and historicphotographs documentthecelebrationin 1971 whenthelake wasreturned toTaosPuebloafter a 64-yearstruggle withthe federalgovernment over owner-shipof theproperty.

Thebook waspublishedoriginally in 1971, againin1991 andthisyear onthe40thanniversary of thesigningof a billreturningthelake and itswatershedto thetribe.The eventwillincludean exhibitofKeegan’s photographs ofNewMexico and South-west landscapes.

BLUELAKE

INTERVIEWS

Editor’s note: J.R. Logan of The Taos News interviewed anumber of people involved inthe return of Blue Lake to TaosPueblo in 1970.

Carla ApachitoWe were battling U.S. For-

estry Service people comingonto our land and building

log cabinsand sayinghow they

were goingto be bring-ing peoplein to fish. Sothen the warchiefs startedpatrolling.That’s when itstarted to cre-ate a little bit

of chaos and became an issuebecause now our Native peoplewere going against non-Nativesand the government saying,“This is a restricted area, youcan’t be here.”

My uncle, Dad Paul (Bernal),did a stint in the Navy. Andduring that time he becameacquainted with so many peo-ple and he began to understanda little about what violation wastaking place in our pueblo with

our land and our spirituality.Dad Paul sat down with his

dad, my grandfather, Jose Igna-cio Bernal, who was a religiouscaretaker. (They) made a pactthat this was going to be hiscommitment and that this iswhat he was going to do for hiscommunity, for his tribe, for hispeople.

Carla Apachito is the niece of Paul Bernal, who was a princi- pal member of the tribal dele-gation that visited Washington,D.C., to lobby for support of theBlue Lake bill.

FredHarrisThe great old cacique and

three other Taos Pueblo lead-ers came to see me in Wash-ington. I was so impressed

with those leaders. It was justhow deeply sincere they wereabout the vital significanceof Blue Lake. It was just theirlife. There wasn’t any questionin my mind that this was justcentral to them and their reli-gion. I said, after my meetingwith them in my Senate office,“Let’s get them their land backif it’s the last thing we do.”

The bill had been totallystalled because Sen. ClintonAnderson of New Mexico was

still a greatpower in theSenate. Hewas a very

dominantmember ofthe SenateInterior Com-mittee, whichhad jurisdic-tion over thisquestion. Theywere just ada-

mantly opposed to returningthe land.

(Anderson) later said to me,“I don’t mess with your Indiansin Oklahoma, and you oughtnot to mess with mine in NewMexico.” Well, I didn’t thinkof them as being his Indians.To give people back not onlycontrol of their land, but alsoof their affairs, that is whatLaDonna (former wife LaDonnaHarris) and I had been pushingfor and what we began to seeput into fruition.

I’ve said several times and Ibelieve that it was really one ofthe most important things andthe best thing I ever did duringmy years in the Senate.

Fred Harris is the former Democratic senator fromOklahoma who sponsored theamended Blue Lake bill to returntitle of the land to Taos Pueblo.

LaDonnaHarrisIt was a wonderful time. It

was the ’60s. It was an excitingtime for civil rights and human

rights, andthings werebeing donethat werepositive.

Fred workedon the legisla-tive part andI worked onmaking it ahuman rightsand religiousrights issue. I

got these groups of people thatI had worked with in the civilrights movement to come andhelp us because we had neverworked on an Indian issue as acivil rights issue.

It was such a beautiful storyand a beautiful cause thateverybody wanted to be a partof it.

The fact that I was a senator’swife helped me to be able to dothose things, but also that I hadbeen active in the civil rightsmovement back home in Okla-homa, and nationally I was onthe Urban League Board.

Up to that time there hadnever been an Indian nationalcause. And we made it anational issue rather than justa local issue.

LaDonna Harris, a Comanche,

is the former wife of Sen. Fred Harris of Oklahoma and presi-dent of Americans for IndianOpportunity.

BobbieGreenKilberg

We brought the cacique,who must have been in his 90sthen, and Paul Bernal, who wasthe tribal secretary and transla-tor, and the rest of the delega-tion into the gallery for thevote. And they sat there, andit wasn’t clear where the votewas going at that time.

When thefinalvotewascounted andit wasannounced,thecacique stood— you’re notsupposed to stand— he stood inthe galleryand heheldup inhishands thecane that PresidentLincoln hadgivenand thereplicacane that we hadbrought himinJuly 1970 fromPresident Nixon.Heheld those aloft intheairandall thesenators turnedand

looked, and applause justburstout of nowhere.

You’re not supposed toapplaud. You’re not supposed tosneeze. Butthe applause waslike a wave andit wasdeafening.

Bobbie Green Kilberg was aWhite House Fellow and staff member of the Domestic Policy Council in the Nixon WhiteHouse.

Gilbert Suazo gives a historical perspective and talks about his role in the struggle toregain control of the Blue Lake Watershed at the celebration. RICK ROMANCITO/THE TAOS NEWS

CarlaApachito

FredHarris

LaDonnaHarris

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