Zuni Salt Lake

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Zuni Salt Lake
Zuni Salt Lake - c. 2000
c. 2000
Location New Mexico
Coordinates 34°27′00″N 108°46′04″W / 34.450000, -108.767738
Lake type maar
Primary outflows evaporation
Basin countries United States
Surface elevation 6,224 ft (1,897 m)[1]
References [1]

Zuni Salt Lake, also Zuñi Salt Lake or Fence Lake (Navajo: Áshįįh[2]), is a rare high desert lake, and a classic maar. It is located in Catron County, about 60 miles south of the Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, USA. Zuñi Salt Lake is extremely shallow, with the depth only to four feet in the wet season. During the dry season, much of the water evaporates leaving behind saltflats. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.[3]

[edit] History

For centuries, the Pueblo people of the Southwest, including the Zuni, Acoma, Laguna, Hopi and Taos pueblos, have made annual pilgrimages to Zuñi Salt Lake to harvest salt, for both culinary and ceremonial purposes. Ancient roadways radiate out from the lake to the various pueblos and ancient pueblo sites, such as Chaco. The lake itself is considered sacred, home of the Salt Mother deity, known to the Zuñi as Ma'l Okyattsik'i.

The Zuni Salt Lake was not part of the Zuñi reservation originally recognized by the U.S. government, but the U.S. returned the lake itself, and 5,000 acres (20 km²) surrounding it, to Zuni control in 1985.

[edit] Controversy

From 1994 to 2003, there was a proposal to develop a coal mine near the Zuni Salt Lake.[4][5] It would have involved extraction of water from the aquifer below the lake as well as construction between the lake and the Pueblo of Zuñi. [6] [7] The proposal was withdrawn after several lawsuits, and is regarded as an important exercise of native rights in the United States.

[edit] Notes

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