NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A survey is asking people how the state should best preserve historic sites. The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs launched the survey on Monday asking people for their opinion about the future of preserving places like the Coronado Historic Site in Bernalillo. The site is named after the 16th-century Spanish explorer Francisco Vazquez de Coronado. Francisco traveled through the area in search of the Seven Cities of Gold.
The survey asks 15 questions including which communities could be better represented in historic preservation. KRQE News 13 asked if this could open the doors to how the state addresses some of the negative histories surrounding some of the sites.
According to the department, Coronado may have stolen food and supplies from Native Americans and Fort Stanton, near Capitan, was established as a military post to control the Mescalero Apache Indians. “It does present the opportunity to evaluate things further. We take the information and the hope is that we can develop goals and objectives out of what we hear from the public,” said Historian of the Historic Preservation Division Karla McWilliams.
This is part of a state plan, they re-evaluate every five years. McWilliams says the survey helps them find out what the public’s interest is when it comes to the historic sites to create their plan. The survey is open through June 10.
For more information or to take the survey, visit media.nmculture.org/release/1299/new-mexico-historic.
