Land grant heirs have seen several laws pass in the last four years that will aid in their fight for property rights, but there is still room for improvement, said Juan Sanchez, president of the New Mexico Land Grant Council.
The Southwest Hispanic Research Institute Land Grant Studies Program hosted a panel discussion in Zimmerman Library on Friday, titled "Land Grants: Current Perspectives and Future Prospects."
The discussion featured four speakers from four New Mexico land grants, pieces of land that have belonged to families for generations. The speakers offered historical accounts and insight into the ongoing fight for land grant rights.
The heirs to the land do not have as much say in the development of the property as they would like, said Daniel Antonio Herrera of the Manzano Land Grant. The government frequently decides to use the land for projects that do not necessarily help the people who live there, he said.
Herrera said relations between land grant heirs and the government have long been strained.
"They're actually recognizing us as human beings. In the past, they would totally ignore us," he said. "The Forest Department would always ignore us. The state would ignore us. The town would always ignore us."
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Progress is slow, Sanchez said, but legislative victories have created a window of opportunity for the next few years.
Legislators passed House Bill 85, the Land Grant Support Act, this legislative session. The law will create a five-member, Governor-appointed council to work with federal, state and local governments on land grant-related issues.
"Now, when somebody from Washington calls and they're looking for a department or an agency that deals with land grants, the state will be able to point them in the right direction, to an agency that can answer some of their questions," Sanchez said.
However, other bills presented did not pass, such as House Bill 39, Land Grant Inclusion in Public Land Use Plans. That bill would have required state agencies that own property within the boundaries of a land grant to include the land grant's board of trustees in the planning process for the use of the property.
Land grant heirs have been fighting for hundreds of years to protect the land given to their ancestors during the Spanish and Mexican periods of New Mexico's history. Although the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo protected these lands, concerns over the validity of land grants resulted in the government often taking away vast amounts of previously protected land.
"Everything changed when they took all of our land away," Herrera said. "There's a reason why many of our people had to go to Santa Fe and Albuquerque to pursue living. We were an agricultural society, and they took away our method of living."
Herrera said the Manzano Land Grant once had 48,000 acres of land. It now has 118.
Wayne Sandoval, of the San Antonio de las Huertas Land Grant, said the people living on common lands deserve more consideration from the government.
"We're trying to establish things for our future, for our kids' future, and that is the most important resource," he said. "Common lands are important, but the most important aspect is the people."
Sandoval said the San Antonio de las Huertas Land Grant is looking for help in other places. The board of trustees is asking Bernalillo Public Schools to donate portable buildings to be used as headquarters for the land grant.
He said it is a struggle to get the state to support these kinds of projects.
"Like everything else in government, it's very slow moving," he said. "It's like, 'Yeah, we'll do it. Maybe we'll do it tomorrow.'"
Sandoval said his land grant is asking contractors to donate leftover dirt and rocks to fill in the arroyos that cover much of the land.
Sandoval said filling in the arroyos would create more surface land, which could be used to develop economic opportunities for the people living there.
He wants to establish a farmers market on the land to create more jobs.
"We're a broke land grant like everybody else," Sandoval said. "We may have land, but we do not have money."
Sandoval said he would like to see San Antonio de las Huertas' long-range projects benefit the community.
"We just have to keep pushing forward," Sandoval said. "We want to keep walking forward, but always giving back."
