Cibola National Forest: The Sacred Mountain Above Albuquerque

Mount Taylor rises to eleven thousand three hundred and one feet above Albuquerque's western horizon, visible from the city on clear days as a snow-capped peak standing above the Cibola National Forest and the surrounding plateau. It is the highest point in the San Mateo Mountains and one of the defining geographic features of the Pueblo and Diné worldview.

The Diné, the Navajo, know the mountain as Tsoodzil, the Turquoise Mountain, one of the four sacred mountains marking the boundaries of the Dinetah, the Navajo homeland. It marks the southern boundary. The Acoma, the Laguna, the Zuni, and several other Pueblo nations also regard Mount Taylor as sacred, with specific ceremonial and geographical significance articulated in each community's oral tradition. The mountain is not a symbol for these communities. It is a geographic fact with active spiritual significance.

In two thousand eight, fears of a new uranium mining boom near Mount Taylor led to a coordinated effort by six tribes, including the Navajo Nation, Acoma, Laguna, Zuni, and Hopi, to have the mountain registered as a traditional cultural property under the National Historic Preservation Act. The designation was granted, then challenged by mining interests, then reinstated. The legal status has been contested through multiple administrative rounds since.

Cibola National Forest, which takes its name from the mythical Seven Cities of Gold that Coronado searched for in fifteen forty, administers over one and a half million acres across several non-contiguous units in New Mexico, including the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque, the Magdalena Mountains to the west, and the Mount Taylor unit. The Sandia Crest Byway climbs from the city to roughly ten thousand six hundred and eighty feet in forty minutes.