Rayellen Res., Inc. v. N.M. Cultural Props. Review Comm.

2014 NMSC 6
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 6, 2014
Docket33,497
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 2014 NMSC 6 (Rayellen Res., Inc. v. N.M. Cultural Props. Review Comm.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rayellen Res., Inc. v. N.M. Cultural Props. Review Comm., 2014 NMSC 6 (N.M. 2014).

Opinion

I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document New Mexico Compilation Commission, Santa Fe, NM '00'05- 09:46:46 2014.03.05

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

Opinion Number: 2014-NMSC-006

Filing Date: February 6, 2014

Docket No. 33,497

RAYELLEN RESOURCES, INC., DESTINY CAPITAL, INC., LYNNE E. ELKINS, PAULA D. ELKINS, JOY BURNS, CEBOLLETA LAND GRANT, FERNANDEZ COMPANY LTD., JUDITH WILLIAMS PHIFER, individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of JAMES H. WILLIAMS, ORIN CURTIS CLEVE WILLIAMS, RIO GRANDE RESOURCES CORPORATION, STRATHMORE RESOURCES (U.S.) LTD., LARAMIDE RESOURCES (U.S.A.) LTD., ROCA HONDA RESOURCES, LLC,

Plaintiffs-Appellees,

and

HON. PATRICK H. LYONS, Commissioner of Public Lands for the State of New Mexico,

Plaintiff,

v.

NEW MEXICO CULTURAL PROPERTIES REVIEW COMMITTEE and ALAN “MAC” WATSON, individually and as Chairman of the New Mexico Cultural Properties Review Committee,

Defendants-Appellants,

PUEBLO OF ACOMA and PUEBLO OF LAGUNA, federally recognized Indian Tribes,

Intervenors.

CERTIFICATION FROM THE NEW MEXICO COURT OF APPEALS William G. W. Shoobridge, District Judge

1 Long, Pound & Komer, P.A. John Bennett Pound Santa Fe, NM

for Appellants

The Simons Firm, L.L.P. Frank M. Bond Kelcey C. Nichols Santa Fe, NM

for Appellees Rayellen Resources, Inc. and Destiny Capital, Inc.

Comeau, Maldegen, Templeman & Indall, L.L.P. Michael J. Moffett Jon J. Indall Santa Fe, NM

for Appellees Lynne E. Elkins, Paula D. Elkins, Joy Burns, Strathmore Resources (U.S.) Ltd., Laramide Resources (U.S.A.) Ltd., and Roca Honda Resources, LLC.

Olsen, Parden & Crow, P.C. Brett Justin Olsen Albuquerque, NM

Albuquerque Business Law, P.C. Sarah L. Maestas Barnes Albuquerque, NM

for Appellee Cebolleta Land Grant

Cavin & Ingram, P.A. Stephen Dean Ingram Albuquerque, NM

for Appellee Fernandez Company Ltd.

Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, P.A. Stuart R. Butzier Marte D. Lightstone Albuquerque, NM

for Appellees Judith Williams Phifer and Orin Curtis Cleve Williams

2 Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, P.A. Larry P. Ausherman Stanley N. Harris Albuquerque, NM

for Appellee Rio Grande Resources Corporation

Chestnut Law Offices Ann Berkley Rodgers Peter C. Chestnut Albuquerque, NM

for Intervenor Pueblo of Acoma

June Lynne Lorenzo Paguate, NM

for Intervenor Pueblo of Laguna

Rothstein, Donatelli, Hughes, Dahlstrom, Schoenburg & Bienvenu L.L.P. Richard Warren Hughes Santa Fe, NM

for Amici Curiae All Indian Pueblo Council, American Anthropological Association, Association on American Indian Affairs, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Sierra Club, Society for American Archaeology, Pueblo of Tesuque, and Thomas Merlan

Hinkle, Hensley, Shanor & Martin, L.L.P. Andrew J. Cloutier Roswell, NM

Armstrong Energy Corporation Ronald D. Hillman Roswell, NM

Pittman Law Firm, P.C. Jennifer M. Heim Roswell, NM

for Amici Curiae New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau

Brennan & Sullivan, P.A. Michael W. Brennan

3 Santa Fe, NM

for Amici Curiae New Mexico Mining Association and New Mexico Oil and Gas Association

Law & Resources Planning Associates, P.C. Charles Thomas Dumars Albuquerque, NM

Youtz & Valdez, P.C. Stephen Curtice Albuquerque, NM

for Amicus Curiae New Mexico Land Grant Council

Elizabeth S. Merritt William J. Cook Washington, DC

for Amicus Curiae National Trust for Historic Preservation

OPINION

DANIELS, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

{1} We accepted certification from the Court of Appeals to review the decision of the New Mexico Cultural Properties Review Committee to recognize approximately 400,000 acres of public land on Mount Taylor as a registered cultural property under the New Mexico Cultural Properties Act. We affirm in part the Committee’s decision and hold that the Mount Taylor listing was lawful under the Cultural Properties Act and that the proceedings before the Committee did not violate the constitutional guarantee of due process of law. We reverse the Committee’s inclusion of 19,000 acres of Cebolleta Land Grant property and hold that land grant property is not state land as defined in the Cultural Properties Act.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Factual History and Administrative Proceedings

{2} In February 2008, the United States Forest Service released a report determining that Mount Taylor was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a traditional cultural property. The detailed report, written by two archaeologists who spent months working with several of the mountain’s surrounding tribal communities, documents

4 the cultural and ethnographic history of Mount Taylor, which, at more than 11,000 feet, is the highest point in the San Mateo Mountains of New Mexico. The report chronicles the history of the mountain and its importance to various cultures, noting prehistoric archaeological sites predating 500 A.D. and rock inscriptions from Spanish settlers who may have passed through the area as early as 1540 with the historic Francisco Vasquez de Coronado expedition.

{3} The report concludes that Mount Taylor satisfies three out of four possible criteria for National Register listing based on the mountain’s “significant contributions to the broad patterns of our history,” its association with “persons significant in our past,” and its past and potential future yield of information about our history. See 36 C.F.R. § 60.4 (2008) (providing the four “National Register criteria,” each of which qualifies a site for National Register listing). The report also concludes that Mount Taylor meets the overall “integrity” criterion for National Register listing because the property was, and still is, integral to the tribal communities’ practices, from traditional gathering of plants and minerals to performing pilgrimages and ceremonies, noting that the mountain’s physical features that historically have attracted various cultures still exist today. See 36 C.F.R. § 60.4 (requiring “integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association” as the “quality of significance” for each candidate property); accord Nat’l Register Bulletin 38 at 11-12 (rev. 1998), http://www.nps.gov/nr/publications/bulletins/pdfs/nrb38.pdf.

{4} Ten days after the report’s release, the Pueblos of Acoma, Laguna, and Zuni, the Hopi Tribe, and the Navajo Nation (collectively, the Nominating Tribes) submitted an emergency application to the New Mexico Cultural Properties Review Committee, requesting that Mount Taylor be temporarily registered as a cultural property under Section 12 of the New Mexico Cultural Properties Act, NMSA 1978, §§ 18-6-1 to -17 (1969, as amended through 2013), our state’s counterpart of the National Historic Preservation Act.

{5} Under the Cultural Properties Act, the Committee is allowed to approve an emergency listing “for not more than one year, during which time the [C]ommittee shall investigate the property and make a determination as to whether it may be permanently placed on the official register” of New Mexico cultural properties. Section 18-6-12. Once a property is listed, other state departments must consult the New Mexico historic preservation officer before taking any action “which may affect a registered cultural property . . .

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2014 NMSC 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rayellen-res-inc-v-nm-cultural-props-review-comm-nm-2014.