MOU materials: a solution to preserving public access over the Galisteo Dam Road

The Galisteo Dam was completed in 1970 by the US Army Corps of Engineers and built solely for flood control and sediment impoundment on the Rio Galisteo because of its long history of violent floods including one that wiped out the Kewa or Santo Domingo Pueblo. To accommodate the dam project both the Pueblo and main line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad were relocated and a newer rail bed serves Amtrak's Southwest Chief and the New Mexico Rail Runner. 

Sam Peckinpah shot a bunch of scenes for the 1978 film Convoy out here but the Corps has long since abandoned responsibility for the dam road's maintenance and blocked access to a recreation area at the dam in 2018. In research for its 2024 Master Plan the Corps found trespassing cattle were the most significant impact on the Galisteo Dam. 

In July 2010, the federal government returned 310 acres of land to the Kewa Pueblo originally condemned by the Corps decades after the dam's completion. USACE officially determined this specific parcel was in excess of its active operational needs so a transfer solidified the Pueblo's boundaries but surrounded several pre-existing private tracts with tribal land. While the transfer successfully solidified the outer boundaries of the Kewa Pueblo, it created a complex "checkerboard" property map. Because several private tracts of land had already been established in the area before the 2010 transfer, the return of the surrounding federal parcel effectively landlocked private real estate, leaving some virtually encircled by sovereign tribal land. 

The 2012 trust action was reviewed then the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) action published in the Federal Register and specifically states that existing rights-of-way and easements of record remain in place and the memorandum of understanding or MOU with Santa Fe County for a Rural Addressing network with the dam road as Mile Zero means a record exists.

The Specific Target: Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Title Status Reports (TSR) and the formal boundary description appendices of the Santo Domingo Pueblo Claims Settlement Act of 2000. 

What it Shows: The federal "Grants of Easement" that preserve public access over tribal trust territory. These notes trace the "existing public ROW" and confirm how the trust land boundaries interact with highway infrastructure. 

How to Get It: Contact the Realty Officer at the BIA Southern Pueblos Agency in Albuquerque (505-563-3680). Request the Title Status Report and underlying easement deeds for Township 15 North, Ranges 6 and 7 East. 

Any sudden decision by the Pueblo to completely block historical access routes can be legally challenged as a willful, arbitrary, and capricious action because residents' life-safety access is fundamentally altered by federal land returns and shutting down routes without adequate review or mitigation violates administrative notice standards. 

Based on the principles of federal Indian law and property encumbrances, here is the breakdown of the terms and legal effects of the 2012 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Trust Action regarding the Galisteo Dam road Right-of-Way (ROW).

Administrative Order: The publication of the trust acquisition in the Federal Register creates a permanent, legally binding administrative record. 

Preservation of Rights: This action explicitly protects existing infrastructure rights, ensuring that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) retains full operational and maintenance access to the Galisteo Dam. 

Access Guarantees: Local resident ingress and egress rights over the designated road are legally preserved and cannot be unilaterally terminated by the tribe. 

Title Encumbrance: The BIA accepts land into trust status subject to all existing valid rights-of-way, easements, and liens. The federal government does not wipe the title clean when taking land into trust.  

Kewa Pueblo Acceptance: The Kewa Pueblo (Santo Domingo Pueblo) took beneficial ownership of the land with the explicit legal condition that the Galisteo Dam road ROW remains intact, valid, and enforceable.

Legislative Carve-Outs include the leverage of federal representatives to introduce specific Acts of Congress or force a permanent access easement via the ongoing Galisteo Dam Master Plan updates.  

Red Rock Road is an unpaved, gravel and caliche mostly two-track trail on private ground connecting NM-14 to NM-16 over a remote and historic mesa in Santa Fe County. The adjacent area, often locally referred to as part of a Galisteo Dam neighborhood comprises about 29 remote households divided between Red Rock Road and Baja Waldo Road many of whom have occupied these off-grid in-holdings for over 30 years believing they had prescriptive easements assigned to the Corps' right of way over the Galisteo Dam Crest Road. Any closure of the dam road would be catastrophic for the people living on Baja Waldo, which is an arguably more horrible road than Red Rock is. 

So, the foundational goal of one plan is to formally convert disputed tracks into explicitly defined public roads. This is achieved by granting long-term rights-of-way either to Santa Fe County or directly to the BIA. 

Santa Fe County routinely works with the BIA and local Pueblos to survey, secure, and maintain long-term rights-of-way (often 99-year agreements) so regional historic tracks and access roads remain designated as public and stay integrated into tribal transportation inventories. By legally formalizing the easement where private driveways cross Pueblo land, one plan can be designed to satisfy title companies, allowing residents to firmly secure insurable access to their homes. 

Under standard Pueblo road settlements in Santa Fe County, once a right-of-way is granted by the Secretary of the Interior, a Road Maintenance Agreement (RMA) is executed. The County takes over regular maintenance of the road surface to an agreed level of service. However, the Pueblo retains sovereign authority over the surrounding land, meaning the County is not responsible for side fencing, private utilities, or ejecting trespassers from tribal land. In exchange for granting permanent easements, a Pueblo like Kewa ensures that strict boundaries are maintained to protect agricultural land and sacred sites. Non-pueblo traffic is strictly confined to the defined ribbon of the road easement and trespassing or veering off-trail onto tribal land remains strictly prohibited. 

Because Red Rock Road connects NM-14 to NM-16 across private tracts, Santa Fe County could attempt to condemn or formalize a public right-of-way along the unpaved portions that sit strictly on private ground, bypass tribal land where possible or negotiate a government-to-government infrastructure agreement with the Pueblo. 

But, proposals for toll gates and an offer to the Pueblo to share a well on private property were rejected because the tribal council and governor don't want an agreement so they're forcing the community into federal court. And, unless lawyers are talking to lawyers it's just noise and the Baja Waldo/Red Rock Community Coalition doesn't seem to realize that the Pueblo wants as much property as they can acquire so the tribe will block the road then buy the LOBCO parcels at a steep discount and landowners will start falling like dominoes. And, after the Pueblo closes the road it's going to cost far more than what the coalition has in the bank to sue for a permanent injunction unless attorneys for the stakeholders agree on an MOU before 30 September. 

Because of my good faith negotiations with the Pueblo's attorney the coalition officers are hoarding information and excluding me from community emails.

Negotiations favor the bold.

A previous post addressing this issue has been unpublished but can be restored at any time.

This proposal is cross-posted at my Faceberg page.