New Mexico advocates, elected officials decry federal proposal to curtail Chaco Canyon protections

The Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday began a two-week public comment period for its proposal to roll back or completely undo Biden-era protections against oil and gas operations near Chaco Culture National Historical Park, prompting outcry from environmental advocates and members of New Mexico’s federal delegation.

Current protections make more than 336,000 acres off-limits to mining and mineral leasing for 20 years, effectively creating a 10-mile buffer around the site, which holds spiritual and cultural significance for several tribes and pueblos. The proposal has three options: leave the 10-mile buffer intact; reduce it to five miles; or do away with it completely.

The public comment period ends July 29.

Environmental advocates and Indigenous New Mexicans said the area has already “endured serious damage from decades of unchecked development.”

“To strip away protections now, against the clear opposition of Tribal Nations, shows a disregard for our sovereignty, our health and our future,” Keegan King, executive director of the New Mexico-based Native Land Institute, said in a statement.

Democratic members of New Mexico’s federal delegation similarly criticized the proposal. All five of New Mexico’s Democratic U.S. senators and representatives in 2025 introduced legislation to permanently protect Chaco Canyon.

In a statement posted to social media, U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) wrote that President Donald Trump’s administration “seems hellbent on destroying an irreplaceable historic and cultural landscape that has 4,700 archeological sites that could be lost to the bulldozers of oil and gas development.”

Greater Chaco Cultural Landscape named one of country’s ‘most endangered’ historic places

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who serves as ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, called the proposal “out of touch and immoral” and urged New Mexicans to submit public comments online.

The Bureau of Land Management did not respond to Source NM’s request for comment.

Chaco Culture National Historic Park sits in northwest New Mexico, near the Navajo Nation and the Four Corners region. The area, full of unique, sprawling dwellings such as those found in Pueblo Bonito, was a cultural and economic hub for the San Juan Basin about 1,000 years ago, according to the U.S. National Park Service.

The move also drew outcry from state-level elected leaders. New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard, a Democrat who is in the running to be gubernatorial nominee and former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s running mate in the Nov. 3 general election, in a statement said that the Trump administration is “showing a complete disregard for Indigenous cultures and for New Mexicans in general.”

“Chaco Canyon is one of the most special places on the planet, cherished by the state’s Nations, Pueblos, and Tribes, and it deserves to be protected at all costs,” she wrote, adding that she had previously removed nearly 73,000 acres of state land in the 10-mile buffer from mineral leasing.

Garcia Richard wrote that the two-week public comment window is not sufficient time for New Mexicans to weigh in on the proposal.

“Under my direction, the State Land Office is looking into administrative options to make the protections for state lands in the Greater Chaco Region more permanent and binding,” she wrote. “New Mexicans love Chaco Canyon, and we will keep fighting to protect it from vicious attacks like this one. I call on every New Mexican to make their voice heard on this critical threat.”