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Kuchamaa Mountain Named to 2026 Endangered Latinx Landmarks List
September/October 2026
Kuchamaa Mountain, also known as Tecate Peak or Cerro Cuchumá, has been named to the 2026 Endangered Latinx Landmarks List, unveiled August 20, 2026 at the Latinos in Heritage Conservation Congreso Leadership Summit in Chicago. The annual program recognizes at-risk places of significance to Latinx communities and brings national attention to the threats facing these important cultural landscapes.
The 3,885-foot peak straddling the U.S.–Mexico border in San Diego County and Baja California, is a deeply sacred place to the Kumeyaay Nation, revered for countless generations as a spiritual center associated with healing, peace, and shamanic power. The designation recognizes Kuchamaa as a binational cultural landscape whose significance extends across the U.S.–Mexico border.
Today, the mountain is suffering severe destruction from U.S. border wall construction. Federal contractors have used explosives and heavy machinery to blast and bulldoze portions of the sacred landscape. The project proceeded after the federal government waived environmental and cultural reviews normally required for such construction. Kuchamaa was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
The harsh impacts extend beyond the physical damage. Indigenous leaders have described profound cultural distress from the disruption of a sacred ancestral landscape. Independent environmental research conducted on the Mexican side has also identified threats to plant and animal species, wildlife movement, and the potential for increased erosion and mudslides in communities at the mountain’s base.
The destruction is particularly painful because years of binational conservation efforts had sought to protect Kuchamaa’s natural and cultural resources. In Mexico, the controversy has reached the state government, with Baja California’s Secretary of Culture formally asking the United States to stop detonating explosives on the mountain.
SOHO board member Maria Curry, Region 1 Vice President of ICOMOS MEXICANO, nominated Kuchamaa Mountain on SOHO’s behalf.
“Your nomination represents a place of deep significance to its community, and we are honored to include its story as part of this national effort to recognize, celebrate, and protect Latinx heritage,” said Hillary Morales Robles, Historic Preservation Officer for Latinos in Heritage Conservation.
SOHO shared this statement with Latinos in Heritage Conservation:
Kuchamaa Mountain is a living cultural landscape that embodies the shared history, traditions, and spiritual identity of the Kumeyaay people in both the United States and Mexico. Sacred for countless generations, it reminds us that heritage does not recognize political or geographical boundaries. Protecting this extraordinary place is a shared responsibility and a powerful commitment to preserving a cultural legacy that transcends borders, connecting people, history, and place across generations.
The Endangered Latinx Landmarks designation does not provide legal protection, but it brings national visibility to threatened cultural resources and can help communities mobilize public support, secure preservation resources, document damage, and advocate for alternatives to further destruction.
 Construction crews work on a new border wall segment on Kuuchamaa Mountain on April 24. Photo by Gregory Bull / AP file |
Kuchamaa Mountain joins a diverse group of endangered sites selected. The 2026 nominees are:
- Texas Borderlands Anthony - Boca Chica, TX
- Kuchamaa (Tecate Peak) Dulzura, CA
- Historic Morley Avenue District Nogales, AZ
- Amesti Elementary School Watsonville, CA
- Welhausen Mexican School Cotulla, TX
- Juan Seguin Elementary School Seguin, TX
- Ozaki Migrant Dwellings/Ortiz Family Home Logandale, NV
- Alazan–Apache Courts San Antonio, TX
- Delgado Guitars Nashville, TN
- Teatro Bilingöe de Houston Houston, TX
- La Morada of San Luis San Luis, CO
Together, these places demonstrate the breadth and richness of Latinx heritage and the urgent need to recognize and protect the places that carry these stories forward, and the urgent need to protect the places where these histories, cultures, and traditions live.
SOHO press release, 8/20/26
Read more about the threat to Kuchamaa Mountain.
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