Taos Pueblo

Proposed extension of the Taos Airport

The site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992. The World Heritage Committee at its eighteenth session was informed by the Delegate of the United States on the actions taken by the Taos Pueblo and the US National Park Service to ensure the conservation and the integrity of the site. The Committee reiterated its concerns about the airport extension plans and invited the authorities to report back to the nineteenth session of the Committee.

The Centre received a preliminary monitoring report and information on the airport extension from the Taos Pueblo Warchief and the National Park Service. The major issues are the size of the area determined to be affected by the proposed airport improvements. On 9 May 1995, Taos Pueblo received a document from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which defined the geographical area to be studied for impacts to traditional cultural properties resulting from the proposed airport extension. The Taos Pueblo land tracts immediately surrounding the proposed flight routes and the Pueblo village were included for the study, whereas the Blue Lake Wilderness, a federally protected area for Tribal religious activity was excluded. Most of the Tribe's complaints about expected impacts relate to this sensitive area. Neither the Taos Pueblo nor the National Park Service have been consulted by the FAA.

The Bureau may wish to recommend to the authorities of the United States that an impartial professional review of the FAA report be carried out with the cooperation of ICOMOS, the Taos Pueblo, the USNPS and the FAA, and that this report be submitted to the nineteenth session of the World Heritage Committee. The State Party may wish to table further information with respect to this brief report.

The site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992. The World Heritage Committee at its eighteenth session was informed by the Delegate of the United States on the actions taken by the Taos Pueblo and the US National Park Service to ensure the conservation and the integrity of the site. The Committee reiterated its concerns about the airport extension plans and invited the authorities to report back to the nineteenth session of the Committee.

The Centre received a preliminary monitoring report and information on the airport extension from the Taos Pueblo Warchief and the National Park Service. The major issues are the size of the area determined to be affected by the proposed airport improvements. On 9 May 1995, Taos Pueblo received a document from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which defined the geographical area to be studied for impacts to traditional cultural properties resulting from the proposed airport extension. The Taos Pueblo Land Tracts immediately surrounding the proposed flight routes and the Pueblo village were included for the study, whereas the Blue Lake Wilderness, a federally protected area for Tribal religious activity was excluded. Most of the Tribe's complaints about expected impacts relate to this sensitive area. Neither the Taos Pueblo nor the National Park Service have been consulted by the FAA.

The above report was presented to the Bureau at its nineteenth session in July 1995. The Bureau recommended to the authorities of the United States that an impartial professional review of the area defined by the Federal Aviation Administration for the impact study be carried out with the cooperation of ICOMOS, the Taos Pueblo, the United States National Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration, and that a report be submitted to the nineteenth session of the World Heritage Committee. The Bureau also requested the Secretariat to consult with the State Party regarding the possible extension of the World Heritage site to include the culturally valuable areas related to the Taos Pueblo under the cultural landscape criteria.

To date, no response has been received from the United States authorities on the above recommendations.

The Secretariat will present an up-dated state of conservation report to the Bureau, on the basis of which the Bureau may wish to revise the above recommendation. In case no new information is made available to the Bureau, the Bureau may wish to recommend the Committee to adopt the following:

"The Committee recalled that the potential impact of the extension of the Taos Airport on the World Heritage site of Taos Pueblo was discussed at various Bureau and Committee meetings and that the Committee's concerns were transmitted to the United States authorities. The Secretariat informed the Committee that it had received preliminary monitoring reports from the Taos Pueblo War Chief and the US National Park Service. Both reports indicated that the major issue was the size of the area determined to be affected by the proposed airport extension. It was reported that this area was defined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) without consultations with the Taos Pueblo or the United States National Park Service (USNPS) and did include the Taos Pueblo Land Tracts immediately surrounding the proposed flight routes, whereas the Blue Lake Wilderness, a federally protected area for tribal religious activity, was excluded. Most of the Tribe's complaints about expected impacts related to this sensitive area.

The Committee recommended to the authorities of the United States that an impartial professional review of the area defined by the Federal Aviation Administration for the impact study be carried out with the cooperation of ICOMOS, the Taos Pueblo, the United States National Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration, and that a report be submitted to the twentieth session of the World Heritage Committee. The Committee also requested the State Party to consider the possible extension of the World Heritage site to include the culturally valuable areas related to the Taos Pueblo under the cultural landscape criteria."