Friends of Talpa Foothills
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The Community of Talpa
Talpa, New Mexico is a strong, vibrant and proud community in which some families have been neighbors for 300 years.
Established in the 1700s, Talpa has a proud legacy of symbiosis with nature, traditions practiced for more than 10 generations, and a reserved, honor based culture. For that entire time, the Talpa Foothills have provided a tranquil, sacred backdrop for both the people and the many animals that call them home.
What the developers of this trail system fail to understand, is that even if each and every person drawn by this MASSIVE trail system is kind and polite (which we all know will not be the case), the presence alone of this many people will drive the animals away, pollute the land, and threaten the very culture that they profess to respect.
Please, find somewhere else to recreate.
We don't mind that people come," several residents have said. "It's that they don't come with respect for the land."
For centuries the Talpa Ridge, on the Rancho del Rio Grande Land Grant has been an important place, the "backyard", for the traditional communities of the Ranchos Valley. Today, this land grant is under the stewardship of the US Forest Service. Located just beyond the historic communities of Talpa and Llano Quemado, it has served as a vital resource base. Over the years, it was at times controlled for the benefit of the heirs of Cristobal de la Serna Grant and, to some extent, its downstream neighbor, the Francisca Antonia de Gijosa Grant.
The Rancho del Rio Grande Grant was officially confirmed for a group of petitioners who resided on the Serna Grant in 1795, as a community grant. The Rancho del Rio Grande Grant played a multifaceted role: it served as a source of forest products, provided grazing land for livestock, and offered a habitat for wildlife and hunting. However, its most critical function was safeguarding the headwaters of the Rio Grande del Rancho and the Rio Chiquito. These streams supply water to more than a dozen acequias which sustain the communities of Talpa, Llano Quemado, Ranchos de Taos, La Cordillera, and Los Cordovas. Essentially, the grant functioned as a community watershed preserve, shielding it from external encroachments and appropriations.
In exchange for this privilege, the Spanish crown required the grantees to serve as protectors of the settlements in the Taos Valley. This deep sense of ownership and love of place: querencia, and heritage: herencia, has persevered through the ages. It continues to endure even after the direct ownership of the grant passed into the hands of outside entities over a century ago, including timber operators at the turn of the twentieth century and ultimately the US Government in the 1960s. A profound connection persists between the lands on the outskirts of Talpa and the traditional residents of the community.
Learn more at the Ranchos de Taos Neighborhood Association website.
