{"id":10203,"date":"2026-04-06T22:24:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T22:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=10203"},"modified":"2026-04-06T22:24:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T22:24:57","slug":"trump-admin-fast-tracks-rolling-back-protections-for-sacred-chaco-canyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=10203","title":{"rendered":"Trump Admin Fast-Tracks Rolling Back Protections for Sacred Chaco Canyon"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Published April 6, 2026 04:20PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The federal government wants to open fragile landscape surrounding the 1,100-year-old Chaco Canyon historical site in New Mexico to oil and gas drilling. Experts warn the proposal could irreversibly damage one of North America\u2019s most culturally significant sites and the environment that has sustained them for more than a millennium.<\/p>\n

On March 31, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced a plan<\/a> to strip environmental protections from land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Par<\/a>k, a UNESCO World Heritage Site<\/a> in New Mexico. The National Park Service (NPS) manages the site.<\/p>\n

In 2023, after years of tribal advocacy, the federal government established the zone around the protected area. The buffer encompasses roughly 336,425 acres\u00a0and\u00a0halts<\/span> all new federal oil and gas leasing for 20 years. If officials accept the latest rule change, oil and gas developers will be able to operate within Chaco Canyon\u2019s protection boundaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis proposal suggests that no place, no matter how culturally or historically significant, is off limits to oil and gas drilling,\u201d Maude Dinan, National Parks Conservation Association<\/a>\u2019s New Mexico program director, told Outside<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The rule is open for public comment through April 7\u2014a short timeframe that critics argue is inadequate. Federal comment periods are typically open<\/a> between 30 and 60 days.<\/p>\n

In an email to\u00a0Outside<\/em>, a BLM spokesperson said that the agency is reviewing the order in accordance with the Trump administration\u2019s energy independence initiative. The spokesperson\u00a0did not comment on whether the seven-day comment period is standard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Secretary of the Interior has the authority to make, modify, extend, or revoke withdrawals of public lands under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Chaco Canyon contains over 4,000 recorded archaeological sites<\/span> (Photo: kojihirano\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Local Leaders Consider Chaco Canyon a Sacred, Ancient Site<\/h2>\n

Chaco Canyon, the epicenter of the Ancestral Puebloans, features massive, multi-story stone houses that ancient groups meticulously engineered to align with solar and lunar cycles. The park is one of the largest and most significant archaeological sites in the nation, containing sites dating back to 850 CE.<\/p>\n

Din\u00e9 tribesman Daniel Tso has served three terms as a delegate to the Navajo Nation Council. A veteran local activist and guide, Tso takes visitors to oil and gas development sites in the Greater Chaco landscape. He was also instrumental in the fight to establish the ten-mile buffer in 2023 and said the zone\u2019s removal would be catastrophic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hold this place sacred,\u201d Tso told Outside<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s my birthplace. It\u2019s our home. Our job as a people is to not let the fire burn out. The homefires, the teachings, the history, the language, the customs, the culture. This land is part of that heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tso said oil and gas drilling operations already jam the area around Chaco Canyon outside the buffer zone. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the harm that\u2019s come to the lands outside that buffer zone,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want that type of destruction to be occurring within that buffer zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Eisenfeld is the energy and climate program director for San Juan Citizens Alliance<\/a>, a local environmental watchdog. He\u2019s lived and worked in the region for more than three decades, and said the buffer zone around the park is a crucial protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes Chaco Canyon so special is how remote it is,\u201d Eisenfeld told Outside<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible to be out there. So the vibrations, the noise, the lights, the industrialization that would come if this land were opened to drilling, it\u2019d be like putting up a compressor station in the Sistine Chapel, or building a power plant next to Denali.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chaco
Chaco Canyon was the center of Ancestral Puebloan culture between AD 850 and 1150<\/span> (Photo: Teresa Kopec\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Experts Say a One-Week Window Is Inadequate<\/h2>\n

Rose Rushing, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center<\/a>, told Outside<\/em> that the public comment window was inadequate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump administration is trying to undo years of collaborative work in a matter of days,\u201d she told Outside<\/em>, noting that the process that formally established the ten-mile buffer zone in 2023 took two and a half years and included a 120-day public comment period. \u201cNow the administration wants to reverse all of that through a seven-day online only scoping window,\u201d Rushing said.<\/p>\n

She called the plan \u201cless of a meaningful public comment process than a procedural formality designed to foreclose real public participation.\u201d Rushing added that the expedited nature of the process could violate portions of federal law, including the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the public will be prepared to challenge the administration\u2019s process and enforce our right to meaningful participation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The short comment period is particularly challenging for many of the Din\u00e9 living in the area. The remote New Mexican landscape has limited Internet access and connection to the electrical grid. Mario Atencio, a Din\u00e9 activist, told Outside<\/em> many of the local inhabitants are older, and some don\u2019t speak\u00a0English\u2014only the Din\u00e9 language\u2014making it harder for them to comment on the proposal.<\/p>\n