Tribal Transportation

Consulting with Tribes/Pueblos in New Mexico Through a Long Range Major Transportation Investment Study (LRMTIS)

Background:

There are twenty-two federally recognized sovereign tribes in New Mexico, representing almost 20 percent of the land base within the state, and 10 percent of the state population. There are 19 Pueblos (a term used by the Spaniards to denote a town or village), two Apache tribes of Mescalero and Jicarilla, and the Navajo Nation. These governments existed prior to contact with Europeans, and maintain sovereign governments, but were strongly influenced by Spanish, Mexican, and United States occupation and settlement. The history and traditions of each Pueblo and reservation are very unique, and are recognized as an important part of the traditions and history of the state, as well as the contemporary structure of governments. Since the passage of ISTEA, and subsequently TEA-21, the New Mexico State Highway Transportation Department (NMSHTD, hereafter $quot;The Department$quot;), has worked to build a solid relationship with the Pueblos and reservations.

Starting with tribal involvement in a regional corridor study, the Department has developed strong and positive participation by the Pueblos and Tribes in transportation planning and program implementation. In the mid 1990s, The Department began work on long range plans for the transportation corridor between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. This included the identification of seventeen pueblos and tribal entities along the corridor that controlled major land holdings. In an effort to determine the best way to proceed with a meaningful consultation process with the Pueblos and Tribes, the Department believed that the first step was to develop a management and organizational long-term strategy with the Pueblos.

In November of 1997, the Department contracted the Pojoaque Construction Service Corporation, a tribally owned engineering company, to provide coordination and organizational assistance with tribes and to help communicate the transportation needs of the Pueblos. What followed was a six-month, in-depth planning project that brought together the collective needs of both parties in order to foresee the impact of a highway investment on the greater good of each Pueblo's cultural base. This planning was the initial phase of the long-term strategizing that focused on development of a plan that would allow all parties' needs to be met. While the government-to-government relationship between the Department of New Mexico and the individual Pueblo governments has existed, the Department, the Pueblos and the Tribes agreed that the relationship has been turbulent and that a need existed to improve those relations in order to benefit both parties in the future. Initial goals were to quickly establish a memorandum of agreement between the Department, the Pueblos and the Tribes. As this process unfolded, it became clear that efforts to establish positive, long-term relationships between the Department, each Pueblo and Tribe would be needed.

Middle Rio Grande Corridor Transportation Investment Study:

The Department was initiating a Long Range Major Transportation Investment Study (LRMTIS) for the Middle Rio Grande Corridor of which thirteen Pueblos would be most impacted. The study included a 130-mile corridor from Belen, New Mexico to Los Alamos and Espanola, a major economic and densely populated corridor with 13 Pueblos impacted by the study. This project made the preliminary contacts with each Pueblo government, and began to involve the participants in the long-term transportation plan. Historically, the relationship between the Pueblos, the Department and other involved parties had been adversarial and reactive. In November 1997, the Department agreed to develop a long-term strategic plan for involvement of Pueblos in the LRMTIS.

The Tribal Consultation portion of the LRMTIS set out three objectives for the overall study: (1) To inventory existing data of the Pueblos' transportation programs and planning; (2) Outreach: contact and meet with the thirteen Tribes specifically impacted by this plan (eventually include 7 more nearby Tribes at the request of tribal leaders), and (3) To make recommendations and documentation from all data collected. The Tribal Consultation Final Report was published in May of 1998.

1. Inventory:

Early in the process it was clear that the most comprehensive data kept for any Pueblo was to be found in the Bureau of Indian Affairs data through IRR planning and road inventory studies done in 1992, which served as a starting point for baseline information about tribal transportation. The BIA inventory reports contained transportation data, discussions on existing transportation systems and services, estimated road costs and funding needs, projections, priorities, and recommendations for future programs and plans. This information was used as a starting point for discussions because the Pueblo leaders stated that priorities set out in the BIA inventory reports had changed, and that almost every Pueblo was moving quickly on new projects that hadn't even been considered during the time the BIA inventory reports were completed.

2. Outreach:

In its interaction with Pueblos as part of the LRMTIS the Department recognized d that although Pueblos conduct business outside of their Pueblo in an Anglo-manner, the Pueblos still conducted internal business in their own unique traditional manners based on their own tribal processes and worldviews. The Department acknowledged that for future studies and interactions, the participants and the actual process needed to be mindful and respectful of each Pueblos individual's communication process. The Department's outreach efforts consisted of initial contacts with key Pueblo organizations and then presentations to programs like the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council representing Taos, Picuris, Santa Clara, San Juan, San Ildefonso, Nambe, Tesuque and Pojoaque.

The Department representatives subsequently presented frameworks for tribal participation in long range planning to the Southern Pueblos and included the Navajo Chapter of Canoncito. Each presentation outlined the Department's proposed process for consultation and the importance of Pueblo or tribal involvement. They asked questions and delivered the challenge to each Pueblo to identify its key concerns and issues that each felt would help guide the process as well as develop a consensus within in each Pueblo government participating in the study. As result of these presentations, the initial contact list was expanded from the thirteen originally identified Pueblos to a total of twenty Pueblos.

Each tribe was then consulted individually. Each of these interactions included a summary of what had been covered in the earlier presentations, but also included more one-on-one sharing. These discussions included the Departments' past concerns and its commitment to work with the Pueblos to establish effective involvement and consultation. It also addressed recognition and discussion of each Pueblo's transportation priorities, issues and concerns; and an outline of the larger process of regional planning through the LRMTIS and how the other entities would be involved.

The goal of these meetings was to inform, involve and request Pueblo participation in the LRMTIS process. After the initial visits to each individual Pueblo, 20 Pueblos gave verbal consensus that they were willing to participate in the long-range LRMTIS corridor planning process, which would allow them to have their concerns addressed and to provide meaningful input on issues that will affect their communities. It was important to approach and deal with each of the Pueblos and tribes individually, as each one has different ideals, needs, and customs to address those issues. One-to-one interactions allowed the Department to begin to earn the Pueblos' trust, which had been a problem in previous projects.

3. Recommendations and Documentation:

Based upon the success of work with the Pueblos in the LRMTIS, the Department came up with several strategies to involve the Pueblos on an on-going basis in all aspects of transportation planning. The Department looked at ways to maintain the government-to-government integrity, to work directly with the individual Pueblo and reservation governments, and to continue to expand tribal participation throughout the four-year period (1998-2002). The Department selected ELG Engineering to provide Native American liaison service and gathering of transportation information for the tribes. As a subsequent report notes: $quot;They had limited transportation information on tribal transportation issues, concerns, and how to consult and coordinate with these tribes. As the study progressed, it became evident to tribal governments and the NMSHTD that the study had much larger implications, including the need to visit NMSHTD policies in working with tribal governments, jurisdictional issues, concern for lack of coordination on s mall and large projects, safety, maintenance and other key transportation issues that could have impact to all NM tribes and the state$quot; (2002, p. 1).[1]

This expanded effort led to a number of successful and effective products, agreements, and exchanges. First, ELG Engineering completed the first Tribal Coordination/Organization report in May 1998, which was the basis for the first Tribal-State Transportation Summit held in 1999. Six Memorandums of Agreement (MOA's) were signed with tribes, and in December 1999, a $quot;Joint Agreement on Continuing Study and Action$quot; was signed by all New Mexico Tribes, the governor of New Mexico, the State department secretary, the New Mexico Attorney General, FHWA, the Department of Energy, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. At the project level, the Department assisted the districts in coordination of projects and involvement of tribal leaders in planning, project coordination and decision-making.

Conclusion:

The New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department has successfully engaged tribes in transportation through on-going relationship building under the Long Range Major Transportation Investment (LRMTIS) study and the subsequent activities and products. This effort has been continued by a second contract with ELG Engineering for 2000-2002 that has led to publication of a second $quot;Tribal Coordination/Organization Assistance$quot; report (2002). This report described the history of the LRMTIS process; identified critical tribal transportation processes, programs, and issues; and provided a social/economic profile, map and identification of critical transportation issues for each Pueblo and Tribe. Copies of this report are available on a first come, first served basis by contacting the Department. This formal document represents a continuing dialogue and active relationship building between the Department and the tribes. The level of success of this effort has led to meaningful participation by tribes, and greater awareness within the Department of tribal issues and concerns. Ultimately, this improved relationship has and will continue to produce improved transportation systems that effectively and efficiently address the needs and issues of tribes and the state, and promote tribal economic development and tribal sovereignty.

[1] ELG Engineering. 2002. Tribal Coordination/Organizational Assistance for the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department. Santa Fe, New Mexico: The New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department.