Picuris, Raton near casino agreement

Signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 as part of the federal appropriations bill funding is available for an existing portion of US 87 to become a newly constructed I-327 connecting I-27 at Dumas, Texas with I-25 at Raton, New Mexico.

A crowded Raton City Commission chamber discussed the pros and cons of future economic development and, after a lengthy discussion, passed a resolution on a 4-1 vote declaring 132.6 acres of city-owned land east of Raton as surplus property and approving a government-to-government transfer of the property to the Picuris Pueblo. It does not transfer ownership and the next step in one of many, is up to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Dept of the Interior to approve the transfer and then NM State Dept. of Finance and the Governor’s office, must also sign-off. After current City Manager Rick Mestas read the Resolution out loud, former City Manager Scott Berry was called upon to give some of the background of the discussions and Berry likened the project to a catalyst for other economic development. [City Moves Ahead With Initial Step for Land Transfer for Casino]

Before the European invasion Puebloans in what’s now northern New Mexico hunted bison on the high plains along the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and today Picuris is one of 76 tribal entities represented on the Rapid City, South Dakota-based InterTribal Buffalo Council (ITBC). 

A thin layer of iridium, an element found in the Chicxulub bolide or impactor and separates the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods can be found near Raton.

The Picuris and the Pojoaque Pueblos have entered agreements with State of New Mexico to market cannabis product outside tribal borders. The Tewa words wõ poví translate to “medicine flower” and so far half of Pojoaque's clients are from Texas and other red states.

Learn more at KRCC radio.