{"id":16234,"date":"2021-09-27T22:39:31","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T02:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=16234"},"modified":"2021-09-27T22:39:31","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T02:39:31","slug":"source-new-mexico-visitors-encouraged-to-respect-tribal-lands-and-sacred-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/09\/27\/source-new-mexico-visitors-encouraged-to-respect-tribal-lands-and-sacred-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Source New Mexico: Visitors encouraged to respect tribal lands and sacred sites"},"content":{"rendered":" \"The<\/a>
The Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument<\/a> in New Mexico is located on lands ancestral to the Pueblo of Cochiti. Photo: Dave Malkoff<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Popular app AllTrails leads people to sacred sites, some on tribal lands<\/div>\r\n
Rangers push back by launching a campaign to educate respectful outdoor enthusiasts<\/div>\r\n
Monday, September 27, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Shaun Griswold, Source New Mexico<\/a><\/div>\r\n
sourcenm.com<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/P> Leaving the hazy Albuquerque skies, escaping the smoke of distant wildfires covering the Sandia Mountains, you cross west past Nine Mile Hill \u2014 maybe make a quick stop to place a wager at the casino \u2014 and then drive on until you reach the red rocky mesas.\u00a0<\/span>Here, 18-wheelers from the east are the only things that will pull your attention from the impeccable land that is still home to Pueblo citizens.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/P>It\u2019s a sight. Users on the crowdsourced hiking app called AllTrails gush about places like this, especially in New Mexico, looking for so-called \u201chidden gems.\u201d But many of these places are sacred. \u00a0What\u2019s an inviting landscape to you might actually be tribal land or private property, and you\u2019d be trespassing if you took a road off the highway, jumped down from your car, ignored the signs and went for a hike. <\/span>

<\/P>Adesbah Foguth has a message for hikers: If you don\u2019t belong, don\u2019t be long. Better yet, don\u2019t come at all.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/P>Foguth works outdoors, and still, she needed an outlet.<\/span>\u00a0<\/b>

<\/P>\u201cI was tired of the micro-aggressions I faced every day working so I started to call myself a Power Ranger,\u201d she said. \u201cThen I was like, no, I\u2019m a Native Power Ranger.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>

<\/P>\r\n \"Chaco<\/a>

A campground is seen in Chaco Culture National Historical Park<\/a>, which is located on ancestral Pueblo land in New Mexico. Photo: Robert Shea<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>The Din\u00e9 citizen and park ranger at <\/span>Chaco Culture National Park<\/span><\/a> took the label further, creating the Instagram page <\/span>Native Power Rangers<\/span><\/a> to educate people about outdoor spaces and how they connect to Indigenous people and cultures.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/P>Foguth was creating a tour initiative at a park she worked at to bring forward Indigenous perspectives.<\/span>

<\/P>\u201cThese are the types of conversations I wanted to bring into the interpreter program I was creating.\u201d She counted 2,000 visitors that interacted with the program over the course of five months. \u201cI began to think to myself: How can I make this impact greater? How can I reach more people? [Instagram] could be used as an educational tool in this way.\u201d<\/span>

<\/P>Today, more than 5,000 people follow the page she started in August 2020. \u201cI was somewhat surprised by how quickly the page has been growing, and I had to enlist the help of other friends and Indigenous folks,\u201d she said. <\/span>

<\/P>Recently, Foguth saw an increase in engagement when she posted about trails through Navajo Nation outdoor spaces that were being shared on the popular recreation app AllTrails.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/P>\u201cMy first thoughts were just fear, and fear of wanting to protect the land and the Navajo Nation,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then, of course, naturally my next emotion was anger. I do not want these spaces on the Navajo Nation to be open to just anybody. Because they deserve to be protected. I\u2019ve seen what happens to areas that get published online.\u201d<\/span>

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Native\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\tNative Power Rangers on Instagram: “I am not a fan of the New Mexico True campaign. It\u2019s come under some spot-on criticism from Indigenous people and Indigenous led organizations in New Mexico in the past year who have called NM True out for their exploitative language, promotion of settler colonial ideologies, and of course because NM True ads encourages extractive tourism. \n\nI follow NM True because I want to see how they word their ads. I\u2019ve noticed they\u2019ve refrained from lengthy posts and captions, which is probably wise! Remember when @nationalparkgeek posted a misinformed and offensive caption on their Mesa Verde post earlier this summer? They wrote that \u201cno one really knows the fate of the Ancestral Puebloans\u201d (which implies that the Pueblo, Hopi, Navajo don\u2019t know their own history or that only white settlers\u2019 versions of history are \u201cofficial\u201d). When corrected by Native folx, they called the Indigenous commentators \u201chostile\u201d, deleted their own post, gave no apology or acknowledgment of the harm they caused or acknowledgment that they were perpetuating colonial myths, and proceeded to repost a new MV post with no descriptive captions at all. I think NM True is trying to avoid these same mistakes by writing a one word caption, or a safe and simple one liner like the ones above. And yet! Their colonial ideologies of land and sacred sites are still very noticeable! \n\n1. It\u2019s not okay to \u201cadventure\u201d in, on, or around Indigenous sacred sites like Chaco. This caption should read \u201cWhere did you learn about the Indigenous people and the history of the land you live you on today? \n\n2. White settlers should stop \u201cexploring\u201d Indigenous land\/sacred sites. Period. It\u2019s not a good look @newmexicotrue . Re-word this to: \u201cRespectfully learning about the history of the people who lived here and who still thrive here.\u201d\n\n3. My grandmother used to say, \u201cWhite people play on everything\u201d. She was referring to how destructive white settlers can be when they \u201cplay\u201d on the land. There needs to be a balance between respect and \u201cenjoyment\u201d (not \u201cplay\u201d) of our earth. Instead of \u201cwhere did you play today\u201d, it should read, \u201cwhere did you find joy and respect for nature today?\u201d \n\n#newmexicotrue#chacocanyon”\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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926 likes, 32 comments – native_power_rangers on August 6, 2021: “I am not a fan of the New Mexico True campaign. It\u2019s come under some spot-on criticism from Indigenous people and Indigenous led organizations in New Mexico in the past year who have called NM True out for their exploitative language, promotion of settler colonial…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t\"Instagram\"\t\tInstagram\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAllTrails is an app that allows users to crowdsource, rate and review hiking or climbing areas. It\u2019s in the editor\u2019s choice category in the Apple app store. AllTrails refused to comment on concerns about posts that are showcasing illegal trails on tribal lands. The company did not answer questions about safeguards within the app that could limit areas people share, such as sacred sites for Indigenous communities. It\u2019s also unclear if AllTrails has any consultation with Native American leaders on how outdoor spaces \u2014 many on tribal lands \u2014 are presented on the app.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat made me angry was that these places on my own homeland, which are completely off limits to non-Navajo people, were going to be opened up to the public,\u201d said Foguth. \u201cAnd that was a scary thing.\u201d\r\n\r\n

<\/P>\t \t\t Foguth said the trails she reported to the app were swiftly removed by the developers. She said one trail was a waterfall location that required people to not only illegally access the Navajo Nation but also trespass on a residential plot of land.<\/span>

<\/P>\u201cI can\u2019t imagine how that would feel if it was my own home \u2014 some strangers, driving through my yard and accessing the trails on my land that I cared about for so many generations, and now it\u2019s just accessed by anybody from off the highway.\u201d<\/span>

<\/P>Highways that go through the Navajo Nation are open for drivers to pass. Taking outlets, dirt roads,and entering neighborhood roads is trespassing. Getting out of your vehicle and wandering off the highway is not allowed for non-Navajo people.<\/span><\/strong>

<\/P>The digital space is creating an entirely new perspective on how people interact with the outdoors. People needing to physically distance or stay away from public indoor spaces during the pandemic energized more individuals to find time in parks of all scales.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/P>\u201cThe parks were shut down during the pandemic,\u201d Foguth said. \u201cBut I did notice overall that there were more people on the public trails on public lands than I\u2019d ever experienced before. So yeah, there definitely was some kind of increase of people going out.\u201d<\/span>

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