Chris Estes Outside Reading #1

Chris Estes Outside Reading #1

The first article that I read was titled "Sacred Indian site protected". The Wilderness Society has written to the New Mexico congressional delegation and to committees that need it supporting a proposal by the Taos Pueblo Indians that would transfer 823 acres, known as the Bottleneck tract, in New Mexico's Wheeler Peak Wilderness in Carson National Forest to the adjacent Blue Lake Wilderness. The 48,000-Blue Lake Wilderness, now managed by the Pueblo, has a full-time wilderness ranger, forbids grazing, mining, logging, and other extractive uses, and allows only tribal members to visit. Blue Lake and the Bottleneck are sacred sites for the Pueblo, who are committed to protecting the natural, cultural, and spiritual values of both areas and who made the request to ensure that the Bottleneck tract, now under the Forest Service's jurisdiction, is protected from possible development. This shows that they are making the move to protect the sacred Indian site.