As a community of nature lovers and educators, it’s our responsibility to learn about the history of the land on which we live, work, and play. We’d like to take this time to acknowledge that the Los Alamos Nature Center sits on unceded Indigenous land. This area was home to Ancestral Pueblo populations, including peoples that spoke the Tewa, Towa, and Keres languages. This area also holds ancestral significance, through trade and migration, to the Athabaskan speaking peoples, including the Dinétah and Apache. We acknowledge the Tanoan, Keresan, and Athabaskan speaking peoples, their elders, and future generations and their past, present, and future ties to this land.
We commit to learning more about the ongoing legacy of settler colonialism on the Pajarito Plateau and incorporating our learnings into PEEC’s educational offerings for the public. We welcome dialogue and will continue building connections with Indigenous peoples and local Pueblo communities.
We invite you to take the time to learn more about these communities and their histories through the list of resources below and the All Pueblo Council of Governors at www.apcg.org.
We thank the following people for their guidance in developing this acknowledgement in 2022:
Pamela Agoyo
Director: American Indian Student Services, University of New Mexico
Special Assistant to the President for American Indian Affairs, University of New Mexico
Victoria Atencio
Director of Tribal Historic Preservation
Pueblo of Santa Ana
Julie Dare
Liaison for Native American Students and Families
Los Alamos Public Schools
Geraldine Jojola
Cochiti Pueblo
Rosemary Maestas-Swazo
Los Alamos National Laboratory Tribal Liaison
Dr. Matthew Martinez
Deputy Director, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
Monica Murrell
Pueblo of Santa Ana
Ethan Ortega
Archeologist and Regional Manager for New Mexico Historic Sites in Northern New Mexico
Based at Los Luceros Historic Site
Elysia Poon
Director of the Indian Arts Research Center
School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe
Landis Smith
Guidelines for Collaboration Coordinator
Indian Art Research Center
School for Advanced Research Santa Fe
Projects Conservator
Museums of New Mexico Conservation Lab
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Santa Fe
Research Associate
National Museum of the American Indian
Smithsonian
Dr. Assata Zerai
Vice President for Equity and Inclusion and Professor of Sociology
University of New Mexico
We encourage you to learn about Indigenous communities in New Mexico by exploring the following resources:
PUEBLOS, TRIBES, NATIONS:
CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS:
Institute of American Indian Arts
Museum of Indian Arts & Culture