Conservation enforcement on Santa Ana Pueblo lands expected at end of July

A mesa overlooks prairie in Tamaya Kwii Kee Nee Puu. (Photo courtesy of Santa Ana Pueblo)

Once Tamaya Kwii Kee Nee Puu is signed into trust with the federal government, people who are not members of the Santa Ana Pueblo and who trespass will be subject to tribal and federal law enforcement.

In June, Santa Ana Pueblo officials were joined by the Southwest Regional Office of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to host a fee to trust signing ceremony at the Prairie Star Restaurant.

But the final signatures aren’t expected until around the end of July, said Doug McKenna, director of the Santa Ana Pueblo’s Natural Resources Department.

Santa Ana Pueblo takes back ancestral land, declares conservation efforts, trespassing enforcement

Mckenna said the land is almost entirely fenced off and signs are posted prohibiting trespassing.

To do anything on the land, one would need permission from the Santa Ana Pueblo Governor’s Office, he said.

Until the final signatures are made at the end of July, the land is considered private property and any trespassing would be prosecuted by either the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, or the local district attorney, he said.

With the lands being signed into trust, the tribal government will be able to enforce trespassing and other laws through civil actions in tribal court, McKenna said. Non-Native people cannot be tried in tribal court for criminal charges, but can for civil charges, he said.

“It enhances the authority for conservation officers to do their job to better protect the natural and cultural resources out there,” he said.

People who are hunting, fishing or gathering once the lands are in trust can be brought into federal criminal court, he said.

People could also be prosecuted federally for tearing down signs or fences; or digging for pottery, burial sites or other cultural resources, McKenna said.

“It’s for the betterment of the community,” he said. “I think people will think about things before they trespass, cut fences, or come across Indian land.”

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