Zuni buys sacred land
Arizona gaming revenue financed the $8.7 million sale

A moonrise is captures by Dowa Yalanne, the sacred mountain to the Zuni people, in this 1998 file photo. On Wednesday, the Zuni Tribe conducted a signing ceremony to celebrate the purchase of ancestral land in Arizona that includes part of the Zuni's Pilgrimage Trail leading to the sacred site known as Zuni Heaven. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Staff Photo

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

ZUNI — A large portion of land in northeastern Arizona that includes part of an ancient Pilgrimage Trail leading to sacred land known as “Zuni Heaven” has been restored to the Zuni Tribe through a historic $8.7 million land purchase.

Several hundred Zuni residents celebrated the land purchase during a signing ceremony that took place in the main plaza in Zuni’s Middle Village on Wednesday morning, Zuni Lt. Gov. Dancy Simplicio said in a telephone interview after the ceremony. With the purchase of a portion of the Hinkson Ranch, which includes land in Arizona and New Mexico, the Zuni Tribe acquired 14,791 acres of private land and also acquired the use of 8,523 acres of Arizona state leased land.

According to tribal officials, the land purchase was financed with gaming revenue from the Zuni Tribe’s gaming transfer agreements with Arizona’s Gila River Indian Community.

“Since time immemorial and continuing today, every four years, religious practitioners from the Zuni Tribe leave their homeland in New Mexico and walk more than 50 miles to Kohu/wala:wa, or ‘Zuni Heaven’ as part of their religious practice,” tribal officials explained in a news release.

“Traversing the Zuni Reservation, the religious pilgrims then travel along the Zuni River through lands owned by others until they arrive at Zuni Heaven.”

With the land purchase, which was arranged through a financing agreement with First Community Bank, Zuni officials say the tribe has acquired a significant portion of the Pilgrimage Trail that contains sites and springs held sacred by the Zuni people. Members of Zuni Pueblo’s religious community helped identify the most critical portions of the ranch to acquire and protect, Zuni Gov. Norman J. Cooeyate said in the release.

Simplicio said the Zuni Tribe has been working for several decades to reacquire traditional ancestral lands in Arizona associated with the Pilgrimage Trail and Zuni Heaven.

Although the tribe doesn’t have ownership of all the land along the trail, she said it has established the right for religious leaders to pass along the trail on their quadrennial journey.

“The Zuni Tribe has long sought to restore its ancestral lands, including its sacred Pilgrimage Trail, but the acquisition became urgent because of subdivision development, already underway on the ranch,” Cooeyate said. According to Simplicio, the subdivision development has been taking place on the southern part of the Hinkson Ranch. The land purchase will now provide a protective buffer for the Pilgrimage corridor from future residential development in the area.

Cooeyate credited First Community Bank and the principal owners of Hinkson Ranch, Mark and Dan Reeb and Rick Schust, for working with the tribe to arrange the land sale.

He also credited the tribe’s Arizona gaming revenue for making the purchase possible.

“None of this would have been possible without the gaming revenues made available through Zuni’s ongoing and productive relationship with the Gila River Indian Community,” Cooeyate said.

Although there aren’t any Zuni communities located in Arizona, Simplicio explained, the tribe’s land holdings in Arizona has allowed it to be recognized as a tribe with gaming rights in the state. As a result, she said, the tribe has leased out shares of gaming devices to the Gila River Indian Community.

Thanking all involved in the sale, Cooeyate said, “We owe our deepest gratitude to all of these individuals, as well as members of our own community who have worked so hard over many years to make this day happen.”