The New Mexico State Land Office’s possible trade of certain land near Las Cruces to the Mescalero Apache tribe implicates a lot of value judgments, history and potential collisions of interest.

The parcel is about a mile and a half from Tortugas Mountain and under two miles East of I-25. Years ago, we fought vigorously against an effort to develop the area near Tortugas Mountain. Hikers, conservationists, and local tribes, which climb that hill annually, united. No one wanted to see the mountain’s natural peace mucked up by shops. (I don’t know whether local tribes have any interest in or history with this parcel.)

As Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richards sees it, this land was tribal land before the Feds took it, then gave it to New Mexico so that income from the land could help

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