Taos County Invites Community to Identify Cultural Treasures That Shape the Region
Taos County is inviting residents across the region to help identify and safeguard the places, traditions, and lifeways that define the community through an initiative called the Cultural Treasures Project (CTP). The project is an initiative of Taos County and is led as part of the county's broader effort to guide thoughtful and inclusive planning for the future. Community members are now encouraged to submit local treasures that they would like to be recognized, documented, and considered in current and future development and planning efforts.
The Cultural Treasures Project maps the people, places, traditions, and landscapes, both existing and no longer present, that matter to Taos County communities so they can help guide future government planning and decision making. This project ensures that local lawmakers, political leaders, planners, and community decision makers understand what residents value and believe are the places, traditions, and lifeways that matter most. By identifying these cultural treasures, the community creates a clearer picture of what should be considered and protected when decisions about growth, land use, and development are made. These treasures help inform and influence better policy and planning decisions. After all, how can something be protected if the people making decisions don't know it exists?
County leaders say the project comes at a pivotal time. As the region receives increasing attention from visitors, developers, and outside investment, many residents have expressed concern that Taos County could be "loved to death" if growth is not managed thoughtfully. The Cultural Treasures Project responds by asking a simple question: what do the people who live here value and believe should be protected? What do local residents want to leverage for themselves and build upon that may also be attractive to visitors? This strategy is also at the heart of Destination Stewardship, which Taos County fully supports.
"We cannot steward what we have not identified," project organizers note. The project begins by listening to residents and identifying the places, traditions, and lifeways they value.
Cultural treasures can take many forms. They may be physical places such as trails, acequias, community centers, libraries, gathering spaces, cultural venues, waterways, or vacant buildings with community value. They may also include language, traditions, land based practices, stories, ceremonies, artistic expressions, and places that hold memory and meaning, even if they no longer exist in their original form.
In this project, cultural treasures are broadly defined as people, groups, customs, places, the natural world, and events that hold aesthetic, knowledge based, or historic value and contribute to shared community identity. These treasures may be tangible, intangible, emotional, or spiritual.
Through community submissions, storytelling, and participatory mapping, the Cultural Treasures Project will document these assets to help inform future planning decisions. By identifying what matters most now, Taos County aims to ensure that growth and development move forward with a clearer understanding of what makes the region unique. The County also recognizes that not everything should be shared publicly. Some places, stories, and traditions are meant to remain protected, and residents are encouraged to use their discretion when participating. This project is grounded in consent and respect, focusing only on what community members choose to share and collectively uplift.
Residents across Taos County are encouraged to participate. Submissions may include places, practices, traditions, landscapes, stories, community spaces, or other elements that reflect the culture and lifeways of the region. By sharing what matters most, community members can help ensure that local voices and values remain central to decisions about Taos County's future.
Please share your treasures at culturaltreasuresproject.org
