Celebrating the return of Blue Lake

‘We restore this place of worship to them for all the years to come.” With those words Dec. 15, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed into law a bill to return the Blue Lake watershed to Taos Pueblo.

It was a momentous, emotional moment – capping a 64-year fight by the tribe for the return of something that should never have been taken from them in the first place.

The law ensured that Blue Lake and 48,000 acres around it, would once again be part of Taos Pueblo’s land. It was a moment that shifted the relationship between the United States government and tribes – for the better.

Rick Romancito’s story in this week’s edition details the tribe’s struggle to get Blue Lake back and what it meant to those at the time.

In many ways, the Congress that approved the bill and sent it to Nixon’s desk was as bitterly partisan and divided as it is today. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle found common ground in the return of Blue Lake. It gives hope that even today, on important issues, elected officials can set aside their differences and reach consensus.

The 50th anniversary of Blue Lake’s return is cause for celebration and reflection. COVID-19 has delayed the Pueblo’s official planned event. But all Taoseños can join Taos Pueblo on Tuesday (Dec. 15) in quietly thinking about what it means to lose sacred land and to win it back. We can all send good thoughts and wishes to the Pueblo on this special occasion.

In a time when the nation feels fractured by divisive politics and a pandemic, the words of Taos Pueblo’s Cacique Juan de Jesus Romero in 1970 as the Blue Lake bill was signed, are worth remembering. They were translated from his native Tiwa at the time:

“We have to have a brotherhood; we have to have a relationship; we have to have an understanding. We have to have an understanding that we can get along in this country to do the work, what we are responsible for, us as the leaders of this country. And this responsibility is more than the material things that we are able to call for, but to protect life and to protect what in this America is really beautiful – peace, honesty, truth, understanding, consideration.”