SANTA CLARA PUEBLO — Calvin Tafoya, CEO of Santa Clara Development Corp., has never forgotten May 2000, when the Cerro Grande Fire raced from Bandelier National Monument through Los Alamos.

The fire burned 354 homes in Los Alamos and 29,00 acres of forested land. The silt and debris from the ridge tops washed down into the pristine waters of Santa Clara Canyon.

The fire also destroyed 11 square miles of tribal land, but stopped just short of the ancestral cliff dwellings at Puye, where a firefighter staging area had been set up. The adjacent canyon — long used by the tribe and open to the public for fishing and camping — has been closed ever since.

On Wednesday, nine years after the fire, the tribe celebrated a renewal of the area and a reopening of public tours to the Puye Cliffs and the Mesa Top, a refurbished Harvey House that was part of the Fred Harvey Company's travel and hotel empire. Puye is the only Harvey House built on Indian land, according to the tribe's Web site.

Visitors can now climb up to the dwellings or ride a van to the mesa top to see the ancient ruins excavated by Adolph Bandelier and Edgar L. Hewett from 1901 through 1926.

The lush canyon is still closed, though there are discussions about opening it up in future.

The reopening event Wednesday morning was marked by prayer, dance and some reflection from Santa Clara Gov. Walter Dasheno, who talked about the reforestation and the care that went into the work.

"We never thought it would reopen because of the devastation of the fire," he told visitors.

The new Puye Cliff Dwellings complex includes a scenic byway, a roundabout that leads into a gas station and visitor center, and a gift shop and restaurant beneath the cliffs.

Gone are the days when visitors could drive up and walk the cliffs unescorted. Tribal leaders say the previous do-it-yourself tourism caused too much destruction to the ruins, with graffiti left on ancient brick and the theft of potsherds and artifacts. Photos are allowed on tours, but etiquette calls on those visiting to leave everything in its place.

"Be good caretakers," Dasheno urged. "We hope we can preserve this area for our children."

Tafoya said it took four years to rebuild roads, reforest and make repairs, with much of the work done by tribal members. Some money came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as restitution for the fire, which was started as a controlled burn by a Bandelier park ranger and then raged out of control.

Tafoya hopes the new tours and access can provide up to 20 jobs.

One of the new employees is Porter Swentzell, whose grandfather was a caretaker at the Harvey House and whose mother is Roxanne Swentzell, a well-known Santa Clara artist who has a gallery in Pojoaque.

Swentzell said he used to scamper up the ladders and rocks as a child and peer into dwellings, but hadn't been back for 10 years — until he got a job as a tour guide three weeks ago.

He described for a group of Wednesday's attendees how the people of Santa Clara migrated down from Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, settling first on the mesa, which has clear views of Sandia Mountain, Santa Fe Baldy and the top of Pajarito Mountain.

"The people who settled here decided this was the place, this was the center of the universe," Swentzell said.

Tafoya said he took on the restoration after speaking to a group of tribal schoolchildren and finding out nearly all had been to Cliff's Amusement Park in Albuquerque, and only two had been to their own Puye Cliffs.

"Pueblo people are about sharing," he said. "We need to get back to it."

Contact Bruce Krasnow at 986-3034 or bkrasnow@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Puye Cliff Dwellings

Directions: From Santa Fe, take U.S. 84/285 north to Pojoaque, then go west on N.M. 502 toward Los Alamos, then north on N.M. 30 to the Puye Cliffs Welcome Center. Buy tickets there and then continue seven miles to the ruins. Driving time is about 40 minutes.

Tours: The dwellings are open all year, except for select feast days and from the end of December to early January. Four different tours are available, lasting from one to three hours. For tour times and costs, visit puyecliffs.org or call 505-747-2455. No reservations necessary, except for groups.

History: Santa Clara Pueblo has 1,800 members, two-thirds of whom still live on the pueblo. It was first occupied in the late 1100s by former residents of Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde and the Four Corners area. Santa Clara shares the Tewa language with Nambé, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Ohkay Owingeh and Tesuque pueblos.