Marc Simmons: Taos Pueblo fought for decades for sacred lake

Of New Mexico’s 19 pueblos, Taos is among the most conservative in preserving traditional ways and religious ceremonies. Its huge adobe apartment blocks are the very last ones to rise to five stories, as many pueblos did when the Spaniards first saw them in the 1540s.

For generations, the 1,500 or so Pueblo residents of Taos have made an annual pilgrimage in August to their holy lake. There they hold secret rites, including the Red Deer dance, from which all outsiders are rigorously excluded.

Soon the lake began to suffer abuse from campers, fishermen and others. When the Pueblo people arrived for their ceremonies, they would find beer cans and similar trash, along with blackened stone rings left from campfires. For them, such thoughtlessness was intolerable.

As early as 1924, the federal Public Lands Commission had offered Taos $300,000 to give up its ancient claims to the mountains and Blue Lake. The offer was refused.

In 1933, the pueblo was happy to have Congress grant it a 50-year special-use permit for 32,000 acres surrounding Blue Lake. The Forest Service, however, still had ultimate jurisdiction, and it continued to allow public recreation in the area. The problems grew.