Synopsis of Findings Regarding Reports on State Lands within New Mexico s Community Land Grants

Transcription

1 Synopsis of Findings Regarding Reports on State Lands within New Mexico s Community Land Grants Malcolm Ebright President, Center for Land Grant Studies Submitted to the Commission for Public Records Pursuant to Contract # /15/2009

2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction Synopsis of Findings...4 A. Coyote Creek State Park...4 B. El Vado Lake State Park...7 C. The Humphries Wildlife Management Area...8 D. Villanueva State Park...10 E. Storrie Lake State Park...11 F. New Mexico State Hospital...13 G. Manzano Mountain State Park Federal and State Laws Regarding Transfer of New Mexico State Park Lands to Political Subdivisions...15 A. Public lands...15 B. Classification of lands...15 C. Transfer of state lands...15 D. Transfer of state park lands: Conclusion...17 Appendix A -Acquisition of State Park Lands by Name of Park in Order Submitted...18 Appendix B -Chronological Summary by Date of Deed Transferring Land to State Park or other Body

3 1. Introduction This report on a Synopsis of Findings is rendered pursuant to a contract amendment between the Center for Land Grant Studies (the contractor) and the Commission of Public Records (the Agency). The contract amendment provides for a synopsis of the major findings for the deliverables 1.A.1 through 1.A.7 to include identification of any pertinent federal and state laws that would apply to the transfer of New Mexico State Parks to political subdivisions. This report is divided into three additional sections in addition to this introduction. Section 2 provides a synopsis of findings for each of the seven abstracts studied: Coyote Creek State Park, Humphries Wildlife Management Area, El Vado Lake State Park, Villanueva State Park, Storrie Lake State Park, New Mexico State Hospital, and Manzano Mountain State Park. Section three provides a listing of laws that may apply to the transfer of New Mexico State Park lands to political subdivisions. Finally, the report concludes with a brief analysis that attempts to find common pattern as well as differences in the land grants and state parks and other institutions studied. I wish to thank my research assistant Carisa Williams Joseph, former State archivist Richard Salazar, surveyor and map-maker Steve Hardin, and Director of the State Records Center and Archives, Sandra Jaramillo for their assistance. In addition, Melinda Benavidez of the Department of Game and Fish and Christy Tafoya, Rebecca Proctor and Dave Gatterman of the State Parks Division were quite helpful. Finally, I wish to acknowledge members of the of Commissioners of the Manzano Land Grant: Orlando Lopez, president and especially Daniel Antonio Herrera, who provided important documents as well as his perspective on the operation of the land grant both currently and when his grandfather Antonio Herrera was president of the Manzano Grant. 3

4 2. Synopsis of Findings A. Coyote Creek State Park The lands of the Coyote Creek State Park fall within the common lands of the Guadalupita grant which was overlapped by the Mora grant. Both the Mora and Guadalupita grants were made by the Mexican government in the mid 1830s. When the Guadalupita grant was made, the petitioners for the grant approached the principal settlers on the Mora grant and received their approval for a new grant within the boundaries of the Mora grant. After the Guadalupita grant was made, the history of the two grants and of their common lands proceeded in a parallel fashion. On the Mora grant new settlements were formed as allotments were made to the new settlers in the form of deeds called hijuelas. The communities of Golondrinas (1838), La Junta (1842), La Cueva (1844), Agua Negra (Holman, 1856), Cañada del Carro (1868), Chupaderos (1868), La Jara/ Laguna ( ), Ojo Feliz (1869), and Ciruela (1869) were settled in this way. In places such as Ocaté and Golondrinas, additional partitions of the common lands adjacent to those settlements took place. For example in 1869, thirty-three settlers at Golondrinas divided approximately 30,000 of mostly common lands for their own use, approved by Probate Judge Vicente Romero. In 1851 the Guadalupita settlers returned after a brief abandonment, and eighty settlers were placed in possession of land at Guadalupita. They received house lots and garden plots from 60 varas to 900 varas wide. Then in 1966 the lawsuit of Gold v. Tafoya revealed that the common lands in the Guadalupita Canyon (within which the Coyote Creek State Park is located), were being contested. The plaintiffs, led by George Gold, claimed that everyone had agreed that these common lands should remain open as common pasture lands, while the defendants were settling on and privatizing those common lands, constructing dams and taking out new acequias. After the court issued an injunction prohibiting settlement on the Guadalupita grant common lands, the lawsuit was finally settled in 1867 when the defendants agreed to accept the injunction and allow the common lands in the Guadalupita Canyon to remain open. Presumably the common lands in Guadalupita Canyon remained open until October of 1889 when eighty-five Guadalupita settlers agreed to partition those common lands among themselves into tracts of land 130 yards wide. This was the first privatization of common lands within the Guadalupita grant, which may have taken place because of developments on the Mora grant. 4

5 The Mora grant was submitted to the Surveyor General for confirmation in 1858, and after a favorable recommendation, was confirmed by Congress in It was surveyed at about 890,000, excluding the overlapping John Scolly grant. Since the Guadalupita grant was not submitted to the Court of Private Land Claims until the 1890s the Mora confirmation took precedence. By the late 1860s to the 1870s, Stephen Elkins and Thomas Catron had acquired the interests of the seventy-six individuals to whom the Mora grant was confirmed and at this point they owned the common lands of the Mora grant. In 1877, in order to segregate the common lands from the privatized land within the Mora grant, Elkins and Vicente Romero filed suit to partition the Mora grant. The case was not finally resolved until 1916 when the common lands of the Mora grant were sold at public auction. In the mean time, the privatized lands within the Guadalupita Canyon were divided among those in possession, leading to the first deeds in the abstract of Coyote Creek State Park. The procedure of the Mora grant partition suit was to appoint three trustees or commissioners to apportion the privatized commons among the settlers in possession or with deeds. The result was memorialized in the map by Claude Miller that shows three tracts of land owned by Abran Archuleta that contain the land out of which Coyote Creek State Park was carved out. The Miller survey and the 1914 and 1922 deeds from Emijidio Silva and Jesus Pacheco tie the first deed in the abstract to the partition of the Mora grant and the division of lands in the Guadalupita Canyon. The remaining three parts of the abstract cover the Abran Archuleta deeds for the 1,155 from which Coyote Creek State Park was carved out and numerous transactions within the Archuleta family and the family of Eusebio Romero (Part 2) the acquisition of the large (1,155 acre) tract by Peter McAtee and the various corporations through which he operated (Part 3), and the acquisition in two transactions (80 in 1969 and 382 in 2004) by the New Mexico State Park Division of the current of Coyote Creek State Park. The operation of Coyote Creek State Park is generally supported by the community and most of the Park Managers have been from the Guadalupita-Mora area. 5

6 Figure 1. Portion of 1912 survey by Claude Miller showing tracts from which Coyote Creek State Park was carved out. 6

7 Figure 2. Current boundaries of Coyote Creek State Park. B. El Vado Lake State Park The Tierra Amarilla grant embraced the land that became the El Vado Lake State Park, so a considerable part of the report covered the history of the Tierra Amarilla grant. When Charles Catron deeded the entire Tierra Amarilla grant to the Chama Valley Land Company in 1909, that deed contained an exception or Catron Exclusion for El Vado containing , as shown on the Kenneth Heron map. Other Catron exclusions contained in the 1909 deed covered the Hispanic communities of Cañones, Brazos, Park View, Ensenada, Nutritas (Tierra Amarilla), and in addition the railroad town of Chama. Land within the Hispanic communities was owned by the individuals who received hijuelas, and Thomas B. Catron had sold house lots to individuals in Chama and land for a railroad deport to the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. But in the case of the El Vado exclusion there is no record of land sales to the railroad. The Town of El Vado was an ephemeral company town operated by Edgar Biggs. The employees of the sawmill operated by Biggs at El Vado lived in wooden shacks and when the mill ceased operations in 1923 and the operation moved to McPhee, Colorado, the employees who wanted to moved to McPhee and the shacks they had been living in were loaded on the flatbed cars of the railroad that Biggs owned and moved to McPhee. Neither the railroad nor Edgar Biggs owned the land where the town of El Vado was located, so it is almost as if this was a no-mans-land. The final chapter in the El Vado story is the construction of the El Vado Dam as part of the San Juan Chama Project. The project was started by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and is managed by the Bureau of Reclamation. El Vado Dam is what created the El Vado Reservoir, a lake used for recreation that contains water 7

8 stored for the use of Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. The importance of this project was graphically illustrated at the time of the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant conflict in 1964 when armed guards were placed around all the components of multi-million-dollar San Juan-Chama Diversion Project designed to divert water into the Rio Grande Valley. Most of the land within El Vado State Park is operated under a lease agreement between the New Mexico State Park Commission and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation. C. The Humphries Wildlife Management Area The Humphries Wildlife Area was established through the consolidation of five tracts of land acquired by the New Mexico State Game Commission at different times as discussed more fully in the full report dealing with the chain of title to the Wildlife Area. While the abstract provided for the Humphries WMA was more complete than other abstracts, there were some gaps that required additional research to fill in. The files of probates, partition suits and other litigation were not included in the abstract. Copies of some of these extensive court files from the Department of Game and Fish are provided in the full report. The history of the land that comprised the Humphries Wildlife area has had its share of controversy, from the land grant activists in 1964 to the actions of Ganados del Valle in moving their sheep on the Humphries Wildlife Management Area in The land was part of the common lands of the Tierra Amarilla grant that was conveyed to Emmet Wirt and Tomas Gonzales as shown on the 1920 Kenneth Heron map. The Humphries Wildlife Management Area began with acquisition of parcels of land in 1966, 1967 and 1968 totaling about 10,950. Initially referred to as the Roque Wildlife Area it was renamed the Bill Humphries Wildlife Area and dedicated on June 27, 1976 to the memory of W. A. Bill Humphries, Assistant Director of the Department of Game and Fish, who died December 28,

9 Figure 1. A portion of Kenneth A. Heron s 1920 map of Central Rio Arriba County. In 1983 the Department of Game and Fish entered into negotiations with Ganados del Valle, a community non-profit organization in Tierra Amarilla regarding a proposed cooperative grazing program allowing owners of small flocks of sheep to graze on state wildlife areas. Ganados del Valle proposed responsible management measures to insure that there will be no overgrazing or undue disturbance of game. As negotiations continued the Department of Game and Fish raised the argument that sheep and elk were incompatible; the sheep would compete with the elk for forage. The conflict escalated, when the night of August 17, 1989 Ganados del Valle moved roughly 1,000 ewes and lambs across ten miles of rugged country onto the W. H. Humphries Wildlife Management Area. Governor Garrey Carruthers appointed a ten-member task force representing various viewpoints, chaired by agricultural economist John Fowler of New Mexico State University, to conduct a study to find out whether livestock could enhance habitat for wildlife. The main problem was whether sheep would be allowed on the wildlife lands for purposes of research. The state land managers, supported by the environmentalists on the panel, said no. Ganados and Fowler, arguing that any other plan made no sense, said yes. 1 The issue was never resolved. After the grazing controversy calmed down, there was little activity for the next two decades on the Humphries Wildlife Management Area. In 2006 a draft five-year 1 Donald Dale Jackson, Around Los Ojos, Sheep and Land are Fighting Words, Smithsonian, April 1991, 42. 9

10 plan for the Humphries Wildlife Management Area was promulgated suggesting many of the same management programs put forth in the 1984 management plan. The three highest priorities addressed were water availability, erosion, and forage problems. The management of the Humphries Wildlife Management Area has fluctuated from fairly active in the 1960s to relatively light at the present-time. Because of budget constraints, the proposed projects in the management plans have been put on hold. Possibly because of the grazing controversy with Ganados del Valle and the protest of any grazing by the Sierra Club, livestock grazing is not contemplated at the present. Elk, deer and turkey are the only wildlife hunted on the Humphries Wildlife Management Area and that is relatively light based on current estimates. The story of the land making up the Humphries Wildlife Management Area is the story of the Ute and Jicarilla Apache, the Old Spanish Trail, the Tierra Amarilla land grant, the Wirt, Garcia, Gonzales, Sanchez, Maestas, Pino and other families who owned part of the tract, and the New Mexico Game and Fish Department that presently manages the land. D. Villanueva State Park Villanueva State Park is one of thirty-four state parks managed by the New Mexico State Parks Division of the Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department. The land comprising the contained in Villanueva State Park is made up of seven parcels acquired between February 14, 1967 and October 4, A review of the initial deeds establishing the Villanueva State Park, all dated February 14, 1967, shows that the core of the park was established by two deeds from the Board of Trustees of the San Miguel del Bado Grant. These deeds cover land within the private land surveyed as tract 2 of the San Miguel del Bado Grant by Wendell V. Hall in This land was part of the allotted, occupied lands totaling 5,207 that were confirmed to the San Miguel del Bado Grant. The story of the creation of the Villanueva State Park from both the common lands (controlled by the Bureau of Land Management), and the private lands (controlled by the San Miguel del Bado Grant Board of Trustees), of the San Miguel del Bado Grant is one of the most complicated of those told in this series of reports. The San Miguel del Bado grant was made to a group of Genízaros, mixed-blood Spaniards and some Indians. It was clearly a community grant with private lands allotted to the settlers at San Miguel del Bado, and to the settlers at San José del Bado, and the remaining lands to be held as common lands. When the grant was adjudicated the first petition filed was on behalf of the villages of La Cuesta (Villanueva), San 10

11 Miguel, Las Mulas, El Pueblo, Puertecito, San José, Guzano, and Bernal for confirmation as a community grant. The village of Villanueva was initially called La Cuesta named after the land mark describing the eastern boundary of the San Miguel del Bado grant: on the east La Cuesta and Los Cerritos de Bernal. The Court of Private Land Claims confirmed the entire San Miguel del Bado grant as a community grant, but that decision was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the famous Sandoval case. When the occupied allotted lands were surveyed in 1903, the San Miguel del Bado grant was reduced to 5,207 made up of ten tracts. Tract No. 2 was the largest and it is from this tract and the Bureau of Land Management lands adjacent to the tract that the Villanueva State Park was created. This is apparently the only state park initially created by a Land Grant Board of Trustees, and the only one where the land grant board, the Bureau of Land Management and adjacent private owners cooperated to create what we know today as Villanueva State Park. Ironically, after the loss of its common lands, the Board of Trustees of the San Miguel del Bado grant has helped establish a state park with over 50,000 visitors per year that provides economic benefits to the community of Villanueva and surrounding communities. E. Storrie Lake State Park Storrie Lake State Park is one of thirty-four state parks managed by the New Mexico State Parks Division of the Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department. Storrie Lake is similar to other state parks established near lakes such as Heron Lake State Park, El Vado Lake State Park, and Elephant Butte State Park, but different in that the Bureau of Reclamation established those dams and lakes, while the Storrie Lake project was established as a private irrigation project. The history of Storrie Lake State Park and its connection to the Town of Las Vegas Land Grant is somewhat convoluted partly due to the nature of the Town of Las Vegas Land Grant. The Las Vegas grant was confirmed by the U.S. Congress to the town of Las Vegas on 21 June But for the next forty years, a conflict raged on the grant over who owned the common lands. A survey of the Las Vegas grant during the months prior to December 1860 showed that the grant contained 496,446, and that it conflicted with the Town of Tecolote grant, the Antonio Ortiz grant, and the John Scolly grant. It took some forty years before the Las Vegas grant was finally resurveyed to adjust its southern boundary for the Tecolote and Antonio Ortiz overlaps, reducing its size by almost 65,

12 The Board of Trustees of the Las Vegas Grant was finally established by the legislature in 1903, the Board began investigating under the leadership of Judge Elisha V. Long the possibility of developing an irrigation project on the grant that would impound waters of the Gallinas River behind a dam, and use the water to irrigate thousands of of adjacent land through a network of irrigation canals and sell land and water to farmer/investors who would pay off their investment through the sale of crops grown on this newly irrigated land. The Irrigation Project began in 1909 with the hiring of D. A. Camfield to build the dam that would irrigate approximately 17,000. Camfield ran out of money in 1912 and the grant board repossessed the project by assuming liability for the $60,000 Camfield owed his creditors. In 1916, the grant board contracted with R. C. Storrie to complete construction of the dam, conveyed almost 17,000 with water rights to him, and made him a $200,000 loan to be paid back in installments. Storrie completed the construction of an earthen dam with a concrete core and eighteen miles of main canals with their laterals in Storrie sold the project to F. A. Reid who continued to operate the project throughout the 1920s when farmers tried to make enough money from their crops to meet their payments to the Storrie Project, which was then called the Las Vegas Water Users Association. Finally the farmers had fallen so far behind in their land and water payments that the land grant board filed a foreclosure suit against Reid, and all the farmers involved. In February, 1929 the court appointed receiver sold the Storrie Project, auctioned off at the courthouse door. Two-thirds of the project went to the Board of Trustees of the Las Vegas Land Grant in payment of debt to the board and the other one-third went to debtors represented by banker A. H. Gerdeman. The portion of Storrie Lake State Park acquired by the State Park Commission from Ben and Hazel Lingnau came from the Gerdeman one-third of the Storrie Project and the portion of the park leased from the Storrie Project Water Users Association came from the twothirds acquired by the Board of Trustees of the Las Vegas Land Grant. The farmers lost their land and the grant made very little profit. All that is left of that investment is the Storrie Project Water Users Association and Storrie Lake State Park. 12

13 Figure 2. Map showing location of land comprising Storrie Lake State Park. State Parks Division. Ironically, the park is one of the most successful in the state and some of the income realized goes to the Storrie Project Water Users Association under the lease agreement discussed earlier. Storrie Lake is one of the most popular state parks in New Mexico. The latest figures available in 2004 show that Storrie Lake State Park generates average annual revenue of $92,470. F. New Mexico State Hospital The New Mexico State Hospital was established in 1889 by an act of the New Mexico Legislature and property acquired for the first building in The property was acquired from Benigno Romero for $500 but this deed is not in the abstract. While Benigno Romero was the brother of Eugenio Romero, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Las Vegas Grant, there is no connection between the Las Vegas Grant and the New Mexico State Hospital. 13

14 All the tracts of land shown in the abstract as being deeded to the New Mexico State Hospital were private tracts within the Las Vegas grant, not common lands. While the lands upon which the New Mexico State Hospital is built are private lands, the Las Vegas Grant does own common lands a little north of the State Hospital adjacent to Luna Community College. In 1912 the Hospital owned of land. In a 1981 quiet title suit the state hospital was declared the owner of of land. Today the State Hospital s land is about 300. G. Manzano Mountain State Park Manzano Mountains State Park was established in 1973 after a period of negotiation, preparation, and planning that lasted ten years. The park is located eighteen miles northwest of Mountainair and south of the village of Manzano, As early as 1703, the pastures in the Estancia Valley at the foot of Manzano Peak had been used for grazing by shepherds and stock-raisers as far away as Santa Cruz. Well before the petition for the Manzano Grant in 1829, the town of Manzano began to be formed around a lake that still exists near the community. It is said that Governor Alberto Maynez started to form the settlement in 1815 with settlers in the Tomé area, including Miguel and Juan Lucero who were interested in forming a new community. The Manzano settlement was mentioned in the 1823 petition for the Casa Colorado Grant since forty-one persons from Manzano formed the nucleus of that grant, and by 1829 there were over 170 families in the settlement of Manzano. The Manzano Land grant was a community land grant made in 1829 by the Territorial Deputation of New Mexico. Although it may have been reduced in from the amount of land originally claimed, it was confirmed for over 17,000 and a patent was delivered to a commissioner of the Manzano Land grant on February 8, According to the current president and vice-president of the grant, only about 200 of common lands remain in the Manzano Land grant. While loss of lands for non-payment of taxes accounts for some of that lost land, it would appear that much of the common lands of the Manzano grant were privatized by earlier land grant commissioners. It appears also appears that some land was lost to pay lawyers fees. When the Quiet Title Suit was filed against the grant by Desiderio and Rosenda Candelaria in 1961 the grant commissioners tried to contact a lawyer to represent the grant but were unsuccessful. As a result, the lands that form the central core of Manzano Mountain State Park were acquired as a result of a default judgment in the quiet title suit. 14

15 3. Federal and State Laws Regarding Transfer of New Mexico State Park Lands to Political Subdivisions The following is a list of some of the laws that might affect the transfer of New Mexico state park lands to political subdivisions. These laws would probably apply to lands of wildlife management areas, like the Humphries Wildlife Management Area, as well. If and when a specific transfer is contemplated it would be advisable to obtain legal counsel, as the following constitutes historical research and not a legal opinion A. Public lands Chapter 19 of New Mexico Statutes Annotated (NMSA) deals with public lands. Article 2 deals with United States lands ( to NMSA 1978) and Article 7 deals with sale and lease of lands ( to NMSA 1978). B. Classification of lands The legality of a transfer of state trust lands to a political subdivision is governed by the New Mexico Enabling Act (Act of June 20, 1910, 36 Statutes at Large 557, Chapter 310), the terms and conditions of which were adopted into the New Mexico Constitution. N.M. Const. Art. XIII. The New Mexico Enabling Act granted nearly 13 million in trust to the state. Under this authority the management and disposition of state lands is entrusted to the Commissioner of Public Lands and the PLRB, who owe a fiduciary duty to the public to manage the lands for the benefit of the public school system. 36 Stat. 557, ch Lieu lands were indemnity to take the place of such of sections 2, 16, 32, and 36 as might be lost to the state by reason of being mineral, or having been sold, reserved, or otherwise appropriated or reserved by or under the authority of any act of Congress, or where they were wanting or fractional in quantity, or where settlements thereon with a view to pre-emption or homestead or improvement thereof. Id 6 C. Transfer of state lands State transfer of lands for other than a fair market appraisal value, or an exchange for other lands of equal or greater value, would be strictly prohibited if the lands are state trust lands or lieu lands. Gifts of state-owned lands are governed by the New Mexico constitution, which reads in relevant part: Section 14. Neither the state nor any county, school district or municipality, except as otherwise provided in this constitution, shall directly or indirectly lend or pledge its credit or make any donation to or in aid of any person, association or public 15

16 or private corporation or in aid of any private enterprise for the construction of any railroad except as provided in Subsections A through F of this section. N.M. Const. art. IX, 14 (2008) However, according to the Attorney General, gifts to political subdivisions are exempted from this prohibition. The "subordinate unit of government" exception is the only exception to the applicability of N.M. Const., art. IX, 14, unless the action can be characterized as something other than a gift or donation Op. Atty. Gen. No Support for this proposition can be found in New Mexico case law: See generally, City of Gallup v. N.M. State Park and Recreation Comm'n, 86 N.M. 745, 527 P.2d 878 (1974); Wiggs v. City of Albuquerque, 56 N.M. 214, 242 P.2d 865 (1952); White v. Board of Education of Silver City, 42 N.M. 94, 75 P.2d 712 (1938). The underlying rationale in the City of Gallup series of cases was that the State has ultimate control over its agencies and subordinate units of government and that a donation from one to another is essentially only a donation to itself. D. Transfer of state park lands The Director of the State Parks Division serves as Executive Secretary to the State Parks Advisory Board. The Secretary has the power to authorize transfer of park lands. "The secretary has the right to authorize the Commissioner of Public Lands to quitclaim to any state educational institution or other state agency, department or public body having authority to hold, and a use therefore, any lands acquired for state park or state recreational purposes for such nominal consideration and upon such conditions and subject to such reservations as in each case may be prescribed by the secretary; provided, however, that disposition of any such lands shall, in any case, relate only to lands held in excess of the reasonable needs of the state park and recreation division [state parks division] of the energy, minerals and natural resources department for public parks and recreational purposes." NMSA "Upon receipt of written notification from the secretary containing a recommendation for transfer to a named grantee, a recitation of the nominal consideration and such reservations and conditions of transfer of specifically described lands as may be required, the commissioner of public lands, in conformity with the notification, shall execute and deliver to the named state educational institution or other state governmental agency, as grantee, a good and sufficient quitclaim deed conveying all the right, title and interest of the state in and to the lands described in the notification. The commissioner of public lands shall, in due course, transfer any 16

17 receipts derived as consideration actually paid in the transaction to the state treasurer for credit to the proper fund." NMSA Some deeds transferring land to state parks such as the Villanueva State Park, contained clauses providing that the land was intended to be used as a state park and if used for other purposes the land would revert to the grantor. The presence of such reversionary clauses indicates that all deeds transferring land into a state park should be examined when making an analysis of the transfer of New Mexico State Park lands. 4. Conclusion A review of Appendix B, Chronological summary of the establishment of the state parks studied for this project, shows that the parks studied were established between 1959 (Storrie Lake) and 1973 (Manzano Mountains). Leaving aside the State Hospital which was established in 1891 and does not fit the state park model, four of the six state parks were established between 1961 (El Vado) and 1969 (Coyote Creek). This period coincides with the period of greatest land grant protest activity, particularly on the Tierra Amarilla grant. In September 1964, officials of the Tierra Amarilla grant posted the sign depicted on the cover of this report, serving a notice of eviction on all residents of the Tierra Amarilla grant who were not land grant heirs. The well-known Courthouse Raid took place on June 5, Since it appears that the transfers to the state parks took place during this period of land grant activity, one wonders if there is any connection between the two phenomena. The records do not provide any definitive answers, but a pattern does emerge that might suggest further study. The Humphries Wildlife Management Area, the Villanueva State Park and the Coyote Creek State Park were all established between 1966 and 1969 during the peak of the land grant protest movement. It is possible that land owners transferring property to these parks were encouraged by the prospect of receiving payment of fair market value for property that had a cloud on its title (in several of the abstracts land grant boards of trustees recorded claims asserting that transfers of land within the grant were invalid). There is no indication that the State of New Mexico was involved in encouraging transfer of land grant common lands to the state parks, but this is a possibility for further study. It is noteworthy that the Villanueva State park and Coyote Creek State Park were established during the term of Governor David Cargo ( ), who served during the Courthouse Raid and was responsible for organizing the states response to that action. 17

18 Appendix A: Acquisition of State Park Lands by Name of Park in Order Submitted No. Name of Park or other entity Current Date of Primary Acquisition Grantor Purchase price/ Date of Secondary Acquisition[s] Grantor[s] Purchase price[s]/ 1. Coyote Creek State Park Coyote Creek Investment Corp. 80 for $200 per acre=$16, Trust for Public Lands Probably a donation 2. Humphries Wildlife Management Area Tract 1 Nolan or Wirt and Garcia Tract (Simms Tract) Tract 2 Sanchez Tract Tract 3 Tomás Gonzales Tract 10, Consuelo B. Gonzales (Tract 3) Cecilia Wirt Simms (Tract 1) Joe and Juanita Pino (Tract 2) Gonzalo Gonzales (Tract 3) Miguelita S. Maestas (Tract 2) Matias Sanchez (Tract 2) Oriola S. Garcia (Tract 2) Gonzalo Gonzales (Tract 3) 3. El Vado Lake State Park (Park created by State Legislature in 1962) Lake 3220 Northwe stern shore United States through the General Services Administratio n (Tract 3) (Tract 4) + easement (Tract 4E) NA NA NA 4. Villanueva State Park Board of Trustees of the San Miguel del Bado Grant Pete Gallegos and Josephine Gallegos = , 960 square feet BLM Patent # Crisostomo and Adelaide Vigil BLM - Patent #

19 No. Name of Park or other entity Current Date of Primary Acquisition Grantor Purchase price/ Date of Secondary Acquisition[s] Grantor[s] Purchase price[s]/ 5. Storrie Lake land leased from Storrie Lake Water Users Associat ion (16.6 ) Ben and Hazel Lingnau = San Miguel County Game Protective Association New Mexico State Hospital Benigno Romero $500 for 5 = $100 per acre Many Many 7. Manzano Mountains State Park Eleno Candelaria, et al $200 per acre for 160 = $32, after 2005 after 2005 Steven Jennings and wife James and Veronica Lopez

20 Appendix B Chronological Summary by Date of Deed Transferring Land to State Park or other Body No. Name of Park or other entity Current Date of Primary Acquisition Grantor Purchase price/ Date of Secondary Acquisition[ s] Grantor[s] Purchase price[s]/ 6. New Mexico State Hospital Benigno Romero $500 for 5 = $100 per acre Many Many 5. Storrie Lake land leased from Storrie Lake Water Users Association (16.6 ) Ben and Hazel Lingnau = San Miguel County Game Protective Association El Vado Lake State Park (Park created by State Legislature in 1962) Lake 3220 Northwester n shore United States through the General Services Administrat ion (Tract 3) (Tract 4) + easement (Tract 4E) NA NA NA 2. Humphries Wildlife Management Area Tract 1 Nolan or Wirt and Garcia Tract (Simms Tract) Tract 2 Sanchez Tract Tract 3 Tomás Gonzales Tract 10, Consuelo B. Gonzales (Tract 3) Cecilia Wirt Simms (Tract 1) Joe and Juanita Pino (Tract 2) Gonzalo Gonzales (Tract 3) Miguelita S. Maestas (Tract 2) Matias Sanchez (Tract 2) Oriola S. Garcia (Tract 2) Gonzalo Gonzales (Tract 3) Villanueva State Park Board of Trustees of the San Miguel del Bado Grant Pete Gallegos and Josephine Gallegos = , 960 square feet BLM Patent # Crisostomo and Adelaide Vigil BLM - Patent #

21 No. Name of Park or other entity Current Date of Primary Acquisition Grantor Purchase price/ Date of Secondary Acquisition[ s] Grantor[s] Purchase price[s]/ 1. Coyote Creek State Park Coyote Creek Investment Corp. 80 for $200 per acre = $16, Trust for Public Lands Probably a donation 7. Manzano Mountains State Park Eleno Candelaria, et al $200 per acre for 160 = $32, after 2005 after 2005 Steven Jennings and wife James and Veronica Lopez