Sandia Pueblo land transfer plan sparks access concerns on Sandia Mountain

Sandoval County commissioners unanimously endorsed a proposal to transfer nearly 10,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service land on the western face of the Sandia Mountains to Sandia Pueblo, setting up a fight over who controls the trails, roads and forests above the Rio Grande valley. The land is inside Cibola National Forest and includes popular hiking and climbing areas used by residents from Albuquerque, Bernalillo and Rio Rancho.

The sharpest access concern centers on Forest Service Road 333, which is the only way to reach some of the Sandias’ most iconic trails. Outdoor recreation advocates fear the transfer could change public access to the Sandia Crest area and alter how trailheads and roads are managed, while Sandia Pueblo says the federal government is not doing enough to maintain the land and is seeking to regain control of territory it says historically belonged to the Pueblo.

The political stakes widened after county support and backing from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other officials. County residents have also spoken against the proposal, warning that recreation access could be reduced on the mountain side. For Sandoval County, the dispute is no longer just about land management; it is about whether public access, forest-thinning and wildfire prevention efforts, and local recreation economies should yield to tribal authority claims and long-running sovereignty concerns.

The legal fight around the Sandias has stretched across generations. A 2002 U.S. Senate report described legislation to create the T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Trust Area as a way to resolve a land claim involving the Sandia Mountain Wilderness, and a 2014 House report addressed the Sandia Pueblo Settlement Technical Amendment Act. The Sandia Mountain Wilderness itself was established by the Endangered American Wilderness Act of 1978, and a 1995 federal appellate case involved the Pueblo of Sandia and environmental groups in litigation over forest land issues.

The Forest Service has also been planning work around Sandia Crest, including wildfire-risk mitigation projects, which gives the Pueblo’s argument about more active stewardship added weight. The fight now sits at the intersection of tribal sovereignty, federal land policy and the public’s long-running use of the mountain.