11 Most Endangered
Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary Zone
Year Listed: 2003
Location: New Mexico
Current Status: Favorable
Threat: Poor Public Policy, Road Construction
Located in a remote region of western New Mexico, this salt lake and its surrounding area are considered sacred ground by no less than six Native American tribes. According to Zuni belief, the lake gives life to Ma’l Oyattsik’I, Salt Woman, one of the tribes’ central deities, and has long been an important source of salt for domestic and ceremonial use. But now an Arizona utility -- the Salt River Project (SRP) -- wants to strip-mine coal on 18,000 acres of public and private land and build a 44-mile rail line from the mine to an existing power plant in Arizona. The project will have a disastrous impact on sacred sites: the rail line will cut a swath across the Sanctuary Zone, destroy many burial and cultural sites, and traverse across pilgrimage trails used by the Zuni, Navajo, Hopi, Acoma and Laguna people. Groundwater pumping associated with the mine might even dry up the spring-fed lake. Opponents of the plan are waging a spirited battle, but it may take divine intervention by the deities who guard Salt Lake to prevent the desecration of this hallowed place.
Update
After nearly three years, an Administrative Law Judge with the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) issued a decision in late 2006 setting aside 44 oil and gas leases adjacent to the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary Zone. The judge agreed with the Trust that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had failed to satisfy the requirements of Section 106 of the NHPA prior to auctioning the leases. The judge recognized that BLM had failed to examine whether cultural resources were potentially affected on the leased parcels before the BLM issues the leases.
