Colorado State Historian says the fight over "one of the most contested pieces of real estate" offers blueprint for working together

Colorado State Historian Nicki Gonzales says real change happens when people who don't always agree find a way to work together anyway. She wants to focus this term, her second, on that lesson.

"My focus this year is on coalitions in history, how different Colorado communities have created coalitions in pursuit of shared goals, and in many cases, justice," Gonzales said.

Her own research examines a decades-long fight over a Mexican-era land grant in the San Luis Valley.

The roots of the dispute go back to the mid-1800s, before Colorado was a state. Mexico granted communal rights to a tract of land known as La Sierra. Longtime residents had the right to graze livestock, fish and gather timber there.

Over the generations, Gonzales said, speculators and others tried to steamroll the community. Looking at a museum photograph of the area, she called the mountainous landscape "one of the most contested pieces of real estate in the United States."

In the 1960s and 70s, land rights activists in the small town of San Luis reached out to various groups to form a coalition that kept the struggle alive, Gonzales said. The coalition-building involved reconciling with Native American nations and with environmental groups.

That effort eventually led to a victory at the Colorado Supreme Court in 2002.

Shirley Romero Otero, co-founder of the Land Rights Council, said families in the community are heirs to the land grant.

"We've got historical documents. There was a treaty that was signed," Romero Otero said. "So yes, we know that we are on the right track, and we will continue to do what we have to do to maintain our way of life, to maintain our access for as long as it takes."

Romero Otero led efforts to bring people together to preserve the land rights. She said collaboration was a huge part of that work, and she still practices it in her community.

For Gonzales, the story is more than history, it's a blueprint.

"Look past some of the differences we have as different communities, and look at what our shared, foundational values are in the pursuit of justice, or fairness," she said.

Gonzales's family has deep roots in Southern Colorado, and she is now writing a book on the San Luis land rights movement. She wants Coloradans, especially young people, to start digging into their own family histories.