Federal court grants Pueblos of Acoma, Laguna right to intervene in Chaco Canyon protections
WINDOW ROCK
A federal court has granted the Pueblo of Acoma and the Pueblo of Laguna permission to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the Navajo Nation challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s 2023 decision to withdraw over 336,000 acres of federal land around Chaco Culture National Historical Park from new oil and gas leasing.
The ruling, issued April 15 by Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory B. Wormuth, marks a significant shift in the high-profile case by allowing two more tribal governments to enter the legal fight in defense of long-sought cultural protections.
The Pueblos initially filed their motion to intervene on Feb. 24 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. In the motion, they argued that the buffer zone, set up under Public Land Order No. 7923, was the culmination of decades of advocacy to preserve ancestral and sacred lands in the Greater Chaco Region.
To read the full article, please see the April 17, 2025, edition of the Navajo Times.
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