Taos Pueblo welcomes 2019 tribal officials
The Taos Pueblo tribal council has named the 2019 governor, warchief and their staffs. Richard Aspenwind will serve as the pueblo’s governor. His office and staff oversee programs that deal with pueblo education, health and other administrative duties.
Bernard Lujan was chosen as the pueblo’s warchief for the year. He will oversee projects that have to do with natural resources, including land, forests, water and wildlife.
Only three weeks into their terms, the two men and their staffs are already busy with the many challenges and responsibilities of managing the day-to-day affairs of the pueblo and the tens of thousands of visitors who come from all over the world to visit. Each year, a new governing body must straddle the duties of protecting a deeply traditional and 1,000-yearold way of life while adapting to the pressures of a rapidly changing modern society.
Taos Pueblo’s governor, warchief and their staff are all male, serve one-year terms and are chosen each year by the pueblo’s tribal council.
Gov. Aspenwind, serving his first one-year term as governor, said the “tribe has a road map that it is following, which are priorities that were established over the years, more intensely I would say in the last three years. We established education, housing, economic
Drivers on Paseo del Pueblo Norte may soon have another stop for gas as the Taos Pueblo government has announced plans for a new travel center.
The center is to be located on the corner of Paseo and Hail Creek Road where the current smoke shop sits and will provide travelers with tobacco, gas and various other convenience store amenities. The efforts have been supported by the previous Taos Pueblo warchief and governor’s staff and will launch sometime in early 2019.
“Taos Pueblo will bring to Taos area drivers a new kind of travel center, offering competitive prices on gasoline and new goods and services for the Taos community, our members and Taos visitors,” said former Pueblo Governor Gilbert Suazo in a press release. “The project that started in 2017 made great progress in 2018 and will become a reality in 2019.”
According to the release, the center will be designed by NCA Architects of Albuquerque, and StoneCreek Partners, a Nevada- and Californiabased consulting company, will be assisting the pueblo with the project. The center will also provide information on Taos Pueblo for guests. The current smoke shop will be moved inside the center.