Sandoval County backs federal transfer for Sandia Pueblo trust land

Sandoval County commissioners approved a June 24 resolution backing a federal transfer of part of the T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Trust Area from U.S. Forest Service oversight to the U.S. Department of the Interior. If Congress advances the proposal, the question for Sandoval residents is simple: who would steer access, road upkeep, communications and long-term stewardship on a culturally significant stretch of Sandia Mountain.

The tract sits on the west side of Sandia Mountain and crosses into both Sandoval and Bernalillo counties. County officials said the current federal setup has left the Forest Service stretched by limited staffing, resources and funding, and that a different federal home could better support the day-to-day work of managing the area while keeping it open to the public.

County Manager Wayne Johnson said the county’s backing was not meant as a criticism of the Forest Service, but as recognition that the agency is spread thin. He said a transfer to Interior could better support roads, communications and other infrastructure needs tied to the preserve. For Sandoval County, that makes the issue less about paperwork than about who has the capacity to manage a landscape that draws both local users and outside visitors.

Sandia Gov. Stuart Paisano framed the request around funding, resources and preservation. He said the trust area has faced vandalism, trash and overuse, along with the constant burden of maintaining trails and roads. The Pueblo has treated the land as a special trust area since 2003, and the county’s resolution supports keeping it accessible rather than closing it off.

The land has been at the center of federal law for decades. Congress created the T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Trust Area in 2003 to settle a long-running dispute between the Pueblo of Sandia and the federal government. Legislative findings said the Pueblo received a Spanish land grant in 1748, that Congress confirmed it in 1858, and that the Pueblo filed a federal lawsuit in 1994 over surveys that it said wrongly excluded land from the Cibola National Forest and part of the Sandia Mountain Wilderness.

Federal materials say the trust area covers 9,890 acres and was designed to recognize and protect the Pueblo’s rights and interests, preserve the national forest and wilderness character, and protect public use and enjoyment. That public-access piece matters in a region the Forest Service describes as a major open-space refuge for more than 700,000 people in the Albuquerque metro area, with millions of visitors each year.

Sandia Pueblo’s Environment Department lists co-management of the T'uf Shur Bien special trust area among its duties, while the Pueblo’s Lands Department says it has 16 employees and a mission to preserve cultural and traditional uses of Pueblo land. Sandoval County says it is home to all or portions of 12 Native American Pueblos and Tribal Nations, making land-management decisions like this one a local sovereignty issue as much as a federal one.