East Mountain Trails & Bikeways Master Plan - Bernalillo County

appropriate level of location of trail development
in the area between Madera and Tejano
Canyons.
The US Forest Service has undertaken a number
of measures in the David Canyon area to
improve wildlife habitat and restore native
species, including thinning of forested areas and
construction of wildlife drinkers. Trails and points
of access to National Forest lands will need to
avoid these areas.
Three important pueblo sites are in the Project
Area, including Tijeras Pueblo, the San Antonito
Pueblo and the Paa-Ko pueblo along the San
Pedro Creek. Other cultural sites include early
Hispano settlements and plazas, such as those
found at San Antonio and along the Tijeras
Arroyo. Decisions whether or not to make the
sites destination points will be made on a caseby-case
basis with the affected community.
Cultural sites will generally need to be avoided by
the trail system to avoid damaging the resource.
Section B. Socio-Cultural
Landscape
The Sandia Man Cave, which is on the western
edge of the Project Area in the Sandia
Mountains holds clues to the earliest known
inhabitants of this landscape several thousand
years ago. In more recent times, pueblos had
settlements along the Tijeras Arroyo, San Pedro
Creek and San Antonio Arroyo. Hispanic settlers
arrived in the 18 th century and Anglo settlers
began to arrive in the latter part of the 19 th
century. Over time, hunter-gatherer and
subsistence farming systems were replaced by
large-scale extractive industries, such as mining
and cattle ranching, and these in turn are being
displaced by residential communities populated
largely by commuters and second homeowners.
In the process, the cultural landscape is being
reconstructed by new ways of working and living
on the land. These recent additions coexist
simultaneously with vestiges of earlier eras.
Important elements of the socio-cultural
landscape are shown in Figure 6.
1. Cultural Sites & Resources
As in many upland areas in New Mexico, there
could be numerous cultural sites in the Project
Area. Cultural resource surveys may have to be
done as part of designing any segment of the
Master Plan. The Campbell Ranch development
had a survey done that catalogued over 500 sites
on its land alone. Sites tend to be clustered near
riparian areas because of the need for water.
2. Land Grants & Traditional Land
Uses
Four land grants dating back to the early
Hispanic settlement have at least a portion of
their boundaries in the Project Area: Elena
Gallegos Land Grant, San Pedro Land Grant,
Carnuel Land Grant and the Chilili Land Grant.
The first two no longer exist as organized land
grant associations. In the north end of the Project
Area, the owner previous to the Campbell
Farming Corporation bought the San Pedro Land
Grant. The last of the Elena Gallegos Land Grant
was bought by the High Desert Corporation and
was subdivided into new residential areas, an
Albuquerque Open Space and the Sandia
Wilderness. Chilili and Carnuel are still
functioning as land grants, although the land
grants do not hold title to all of their former
holdings. Carnuel Land Grant has several
functioning acequia systems today. Ownership
of land grant lands is shared among members of
the original land grant families.
Land grants were anchored by historic Hispanic
towns, which were often built on top of older
pueblo settlements with a small plaza area and
church. Traditionally, the land grants provided for
a range of land uses to support the populations
of these small rural communities. Riparian areas
and mountain springs were diverted to provide
irrigation water for crops and orchards.
Mountainous woodland areas provided fuel,
pasture and game. Trails and cart paths were
integral to the livelihood of these communities.
EAST MOUNTAIN TRAILS AND BIKEWAYS MASTER PLAN Page 21