Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced approval of new regulations today that will help several Pueblo Indian tribes in central New Mexico consolidate their land holdings and improve their livestock operations.
The new rules carry out exchange provisions of a law passed last September which transferred 69,700 acres of the national land reserve to eight Pueblo Indian tribes in New Mexico.
The Indians have grazed livestock on the land for the last two decades. The new regulations permit the Department1s Bureau of Land Management to exchange public lands any-where in New Mexico for non-Indian lands within the Pueblo's management area; the 69,700 acres of Pueblo land can thus be consolidated into one management area.
The consolidation will take place in central New Mexico near Albuquerque. It will benefit the Pueblos of Santa Ana, Zia, Jemez, San Felipe, Cochiti, Isleta, and San Ildefonso.
The Bureau of Land Management will exchange lands from the national land reserve outside the consolidation area for inholdings now belonging to others. BLM is also authorized by the act to use tribal lands for exchange with in holders, subject to approval of tribal councils.
The new regulations were proposed and published in the Federal Register on April 3, 1962, following which there was a 30-day period for public comment. No comments were received.
