More than 100 New Mexico leaders call on President Biden to designate the Caja del Rio a national monument

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More than 100 spiritual, faith, and tribal leaders from across New Mexico sent a letter last week to President Joe Biden, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, and the New Mexico congressional delegation calling for the protection of the Caja del Rio as a national monument. 

The Caja del Rio has dramatic geological features and diverse wildlife, millennia-old petroglyphs and Pueblo cultural resources. Nearby tribes consider the land sacred. Each year, First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe hosts its Easter Sunrise and Prayer Service there.

“The Caja del Rio is one of the most remarkable cultural, spiritual, and archeological landscapes in America. Spanning over 106,000 acres of public land, the Caja contains cacti forests, river canyons, and grasslands that provide important habitat for elk, deer, bear, cougar, bald and golden eagles, and desert songbirds. What originally started as wild game migration trails across the Caja became Pueblo footpaths. Thousands of years later, one of these paths became the famed El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Spanish trade route that ran from Mexico City to Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. Centuries later, portions of this route were designated New Mexico Highway 1 running up La Bajada Hill.

“Considered one of the world’s greatest engineering feats, this highway became part of New Mexico’s vie for statehood. Decades later, portions of N.M. 1 crossing the Caja became part of Route 66, the ‘Mother Road’ that brought forth western expansion and hope out of the Great Depression. For millennia, the Caja del Río has told the complex story of the confluence of New Mexico’s cultures and speaks to the sacred connection between the people, land, water, and wildlife that makes us who we are today,” the signers wrote in the letter. 

The letter emphasizes the diverse cultural, spiritual, and ecological values present on the Caja del Rio as well as how collaborative efforts to protect the area have brought diverse cultures and communities together. Unfortunately, the Caja del Rio’s irreplaceable values have been impacted by years of mining, illegal dumping, defacement of petroglyphs and sacred sites, poaching and unregulated shooting, illegal off-highway vehicle use, development, and wildfires, all of which put local and Indigenous communities at risk as well as threaten wildlife.

Designating the Caja del Rio as a national monument will help protect the area from the aforementioned threats and ensure that the ancient practices of prayer and pilgrimage and other traditional and communal land uses of herb and medicinal plants, piñon and firewood gathering, and hunting and grazing can continue in perpetuity. In calling for a national monument, the letter’s signers noted, “national monument status will also ensure that this fragile landscape gets dedicated federal resources for increased law enforcement, public education, and landscape-scale planning.”  

Signers of the letter include leaders from more than 30 different spiritual and faith traditions. “Faith, spiritual, and tribal leaders across New Mexico are united in calling on the Biden administration and the New Mexico congressional delegation to protect the Caja del Rio as a national monument and promote long-term responsible stewardship of this remarkable landscape. Having the president safeguard the Caja del Rio’s sacred lands and waters, diverse wildlife, and important cultural areas is critical to preserving the rich history and diverse cultures of New Mexico and the United States,” said the Rev. Andrew Black, founder of EarthKeepers 360, a member of the Caja del Rio Coalition and the associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe. “The unified support of spiritual and tribal leaders across New Mexico sends a loud message to the administration and delegation of how important the Caja del Rio is as a place of national significance with incredible history, culture, spirituality and wildlife.” 

The letter concludes with a call to conscience to the federal leaders, saying, “while we recognize that time is short with this administration, to quote the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., ‘The time is always right to do right.’ The time is right for federal leaders to take a stand to permanently protect the Caja del Rio by making it a national monument.”

Several spiritual leaders released statements of support

•    “The Caja del Rio is the heartbeat of emergence in our identity due to the setting where native Pueblos staked down. This sacred landscape holds my ceremonial power point and is alive each and every day. Our connection to this sacred site will always be active in ceremonies today and tomorrow’s youth are especially proud to be part of the sacred site. … We Earth people are stewards of the environment and have been able to keep the land from further destruction, but the Caja del Rio needs permanent protections from unlawful activities by making it a national monument.”— Brophy Toledo, Member of Jemez Pueblo, FlowerHill Institute and EarthKeepers 360 Tribal Advisor.  

•    "All religious traditions are called to care for our land, water, air, and communities as a sacred trust. Saint Francis of Assisi invites us to listen to ‘our sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us.’ Our Native American brothers and sisters have listened to Mother Earth from time immemorial and now we must stand in solidarity to care for our Holy Mother Earth and special places like the Caja del Rio." — Sister Joan Brown, Franciscan Sister and co-founder of New Mexico & El Paso Interfaith Power and Light.

•    “The Caja del Rio is sacred land. As such, the Caja merits our protection. When faith leaders and local communities work together to protect sacred sites like the Caja del Rio, we honor the deep spiritual connections, rich history and diverse traditions of New Mexico and the United States.” — Rabbi Nahum Ward-Lev, author of “The Liberating Path of the Hebrew Prophets: Then and Now.”