In the remote high desert of northwestern New Mexico, Chaco Canyon was the heart of the ancient Chacoan culture, and today it is considered an important prehistoric landscape of North America. It’s a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site and living cultural landscape for modern-day Pueblo peoples and tribes that combines rich history and spiritual significance with natural systems and vast, dark night skies. 

Despite its cultural and ecological value, the Greater Chaco region faces pressure from oil and gas development within the San Juan Basin. The Trump Administration has proposed revoking the 20-year ban on new oil and gas leasing and mining claims on approximately 339,000 acres of public land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park, with a smaller alternative on the table that would shrink the cultural protection zone surrounding the park from 10 miles down to just 5. Opening this land to industrial activity risks disrupting archaeological sites, fragmenting wildlife habitat, degrading air and night-sky quality, harming community health, and eroding the cultural ties between Indigenous peoples and this unique region. 

In response, New Mexico’s congressional delegation has reintroduced the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act, which would make the 10-mile buffer permanent by law rather than leaving it subject to reversal by whichever administration is in office. The bill is currently pending in both the House and Senate. 

Meanwhile, BLM has conducted two public comment periods on the proposed rollback, drawing over 300,000 comments in opposition in just 21 days, and is now reviewing that input before issuing a final decision. No date has been announced, so the outcome could arrive at any time — stay tuned for updates as soon as a decision is released! In the meantime, you can help by urging your members of Congress to support the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act.