Puye Cliff Dwellings, Rio Arriba County

Current Population: 1,350

Language: Northern Tewa

Early Societal Stucture: Patrilineal clans with ritual patrimoieties with kivas for each moiety

Location: 350 acres located 1.5 miles south Española

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Standing Their Ground

Santa Clara Pueblo, also known as the village of wild roses, was first visited by Europeans when Francisco Coronado’s came to the area in 1541. They met Juan de Oñate and his exploration party on July 11, 1598. At that time, the Spanish established a more permanent settlement in the region, bringing colonists and Franciscan priests who began establishing missions. At the time of the Spanish arrival, the Tewa had been subject for many years to raids by Apache and Navajo warriors. The people at Santa Clara Pueblo saw an opportunity to use the Spanish as allies.

But, pressures to convert to Catholicism and the Spanish demands on native labor fostered resentment. and so Santa Clara abandoned the mission and joined the other Pueblos in the Pueblo Revolt.

In 1692, when the Spanish returned, led by Don Diego de Vargas who was set to to re-establish their control in the region, the people of Santa Clara Pueblo joined with the people of San Ildefonso Pueblo to oppose the Spanish. Together at a fortified settlement on Black Mesa, they resisted the Spanish until 1696. Afterward, they escaped and lived with the Hopi and Zuni. Many later returned to Santa Clara Pueblo in 1702, rebuilding the community and farming again in the Rio Grande Valley.

In 1782, a small pox outbreak decimated the population

First For United States Recognition

In 1854, Congress mandated a census of the newly acquired possessions of the US government. In review of the land's title, Santa Clara presented a Spanish Royal decree dated October 15, 1713, which assured protection of the pueblos' right to protection of their homelands from encroachment. The result was Santa Clara became the first tribe recognized by United States Congress.

Battle for Land

The Santa Clara Pueblo Land Grant was patented in 1864. But, Santa Clara did not receive title to their traditional lands. Years of litigation began. In 1905, Roosevelt issued an Executive Order which enlarged the acreage of the Grant. ANd, in 1909 the grant was confirmed.

While all of that was happening, people continued to settle on the land. This settlement by non-Indians was declared to be illegal by the Supreme Court in 1913. In 1924 the Pueblo Lands Act was passed. This act created a board which was to determine who owned the lands which were claimed by both the Indians and non-Indians. This board, however, was not empowered to deal with the Santa Clara claim which alleged that boundaries of both the original grant and the Executive Order lands were short of the actual amount confirmed to the Indians under Spanish and Mexican law. Therefore, the Indians of Santa Clara Pueblo petitioned the Indian Claims Commission for redress. The Commission found the lands were taken illegally and offered the Pueblo the value of the land at the time it was taken.

Twentieth Century Colonization

In the 1940s, the U.S. government asked Santa Clara’s neighbor, San Ildefonso Pueblo, to give up part of their land for military purposes; the San Ildefonso Pueblo relinquished the land with the understanding that it would be returned after World War II. 1n 1943, this sought-after patch of land became the site of LANL, where most of the research for the top-secret Manhattan Project would take place.2 For the next fifty years, the various Pueblo peoples living near to and downriver from LANL would have essentially no knowledge or voice concerning the dangerous materials that LANL was leaking and dumping into the air, water, and land.

The land taken by LANL is culturally and spiritually significant to the people of San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Cochiti. Pojoaque, and Jemez Pueblos. In a 2008, the National Nuclear Security Administration conducted an Impact Study as part of their process of deciding if operations at LANL cease, reduce, or expand. (They chose no change but listed expansion as the preferred alterantive.) In that study, the NNSA states:

The NNSA recognizes that the operation of LANL over the last 65 years has affected the people of neighboring communities in northern New Mexico, including Tribal communities. These effects, which vary in nature across communities, include alterations of lifestyles, community, and individual practices. While the analysis conducted NNSA found no disproportionately high and adverse impacts to minority or low-income populations, based on comments from the Santa Clara Pueblo,…the NNSA has agreed to provide one-time funding to the Pueblo to develop a mutually acceptable plan to address specific environmental justice and human health concerns and issues identified by the Santa Clara Pueblo.”

Climate Change

Pueblo elders recall when the valley was verdent. But three devastating fires over 13 years has changed the landscape and lives of the people living there. These fires burned more than 80% of the tribe’s forested land. The last one, the 2011 Las Conchas fire — then the largest in New Mexico history — burned so hot it hardened the ground like concrete. Two months later they experienced a severe flood which sent tree trunks, boulders and vast quantities of sediment surging through the Pueblo. It buried sections of a Santa Clara Canyon Road with 50 feet of muck. It blew out earthen dams and drained ponds where the tribe planned to reintroduce native trout. It decimated habitat for beavers, bears, elk, mule deer and eagles.

The people are trying to adapt by returning to their roots: embracing natural methods to restore their watershed and make the forests more resilient, growing trees and crops from native seeds that evolved to withstand drought. But they’re also willing to embrace new ways if that helps them stay. Read more about their efforts here.

Click here for the FEMA case study about Santa Clara, analyzing how the tribe used creativity, perseverance, and a long-term mindset to manage and build resilience through a challenging wildfire and flood recovery.

Sisters Autumn Borts-Medlock and Tammy Garcia are clay and bronze artists who come from a long line of skilled women. They learned to make pottery from their mother and grandmother, who taught them how to gather and process the clay, to draw rthe shapes symbolic of the natural world, waiting for a calm day to fire the pots on cedar they gathered. Their great-great-great-grandmother Sara Fina Tafoya was a renowned potter.

Several years ago Autumn began working on a series of parrot-shaped forms, inspired by her long fascination with the presence of these birds in Tewa art and culture both ancient and modern. These birds are a clue about the international trade network with central America.

Pottery ties me to an ancient tradition. It connects me to my ancestors. Knowing that a thousand grantmothers did this before me is amazing... to have been born into this heritage is a gift.

Autumn has won numerous awards for her pottery at Santa Fe Indian Market, and her work is in the permanent collections of museums such as the Denver Art Museum and the Heard Museum.