Trump Administration review reignites fight over Chaco Canyon protections

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The Bureau of Land Management has reopened a review of federal protections near Chaco Culture National Historical Park, signaling that the Trump Administration may reverse a 20-year withdrawal that blocked new oil and gas leasing across more than 330,000 acres of public land in northwest New Mexico.

The agency’s Oct. 30 letter to tribal governments confirmed that Interior officials are studying whether to keep, modify, or rescind the buffer zone created in June 2023 under Public Land Order 7923. That order, signed by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland during the Biden Administration, withdrew land within 10 miles of the park from new drilling or leasing for two decades.

The review was ordered by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum after President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14154 in January directing the Interior to examine all recent public-land withdrawals. Federal officials say the process is only a review, not a final decision, and that consultation with tribes and public comment will be required.

Sacred, contested landscape

The possibility of renewed drilling immediately drew opposition from tribal leaders and environmental advocates who say the region is one of the most culturally significant landscapes in the country. The park and its surrounding area contain ancestral sites of the Pueblo and Diné, with thousands of structures, roads and ceremonial features built between the ninth and thirteenth centuries.

Five Democratic members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation sent a letter to Burgum on Nov. 6 urging him to preserve the 2023 order and to uphold the government’s trust and consultation responsibilities to tribes. U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján joined U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury and Gabe Vasquez in signing the letter.

“Chaco Canyon is a sacred cultural landscape for tribes throughout New Mexico,” the lawmakers wrote. “The value of this living landscape does not end at the park boundary. It stretches for miles throughout the greater Chacoan landscape, where Pueblo communities continue to conduct pilgrimages and share stories with current and future generations.”

Protests, response

The delegation stated the secretary has a legal obligation to consult tribes under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and cautioned that the process should not proceed on an expedited timetable.

The Greater Chaco Coalition, a network of tribal, environmental and community groups, condemned the review and called for lasting protections for the entire region. The coalition stated its members want an end to hydraulic fracturing, investment in land remediation, and stronger support for local economic development built on free, prior and informed consent.

Members of Protect Dinétah, a Diné-led organization, demonstrated outside the Bureau’s Santa Fe office on Nov. 5. The group stated the review threatens sacred lands, water, public health and the global climate.

“Our communities already live with the pollution and industrial traffic from decades of drilling,” the organization wrote in a statement. “Opening more lands near Chaco only deepens that harm.”

Environmental and legal concerns

Conservation groups note that more than 90 percent of public land around the park is already leased or within reach of existing oil and gas infrastructure. Companies have drilled tens of thousands of wells and built thousands of miles of access roads. In 2016 a fracking site exploded near Nageezi, about 23 miles from Chaco Canyon, forcing more than 50 residents to evacuate.

Critics say additional development would increase pollution, harm wildlife, and erode the visitor experience at the World Heritage Site. They also point to a 2023 federal appeals court ruling that found the Bureau of Land Management failed to fully consider the cumulative impacts of drilling near the park and ordered the agency to conduct more rigorous analysis.

Broader pushback across the West

The Mountain Pact, an alliance of community leaders from western states, joined the opposition on Nov. 6. More than 180 members signed a statement urging the administration to keep the 2023 public lands rule in place.

“Western communities depend on well-managed public lands to support our economies and our outdoor way of life,” said Mountain Pact director Anna Peterson. “This critical tool conserves key lands and waters for residents, wildlife, and future generations and brings balance to BLM management.”

Interior officials have not set a timeline for completing the environmental assessment. The department stated the review will include public meetings and continued dialogue with tribes before any decision is made.

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