Legislation would declare Bandelier a national park

Heinrich measure would boost protection for ‘cultural landscape’

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich introduced legislation Thursday to establish the Bandelier National Park and Preserve, a move he believes would protect an area considered sacred by the pueblos and other Native people living in the area in northern New Mexico.

“When I talk to people about what makes New Mexico unique, it always comes back to our breathtaking landscapes, our deep and complex history, and our unique cultures. Bandelier National Monument encapsulates each of these in unrivaled ways,” the senator said in a press call. “It’s long past time that we recognize that Bandelier’s historical and natural resources are more than worthy of national park status. This is, after all, a living cultural landscape. Bandelier’s mesas and canyons have human history that dates back more than 10,000 years. The ancestral sites in Bandelier continue to hold deep cultural and religious significance to the pueblos.”

It isn’t the first time an attempt has been made to designate the area a national park, Heinrich said. He said a similar attempt was made in Congress early in the 20th century in response to the looting of Native American artifacts and the excavation of bones at different sites.

That attempt failed, and President Woodrow Wilson declared the area a national monument in 1916.

Bandelier is the second national monument in New Mexico under consideration for national park status. Provisions in both the House and Senate versions of the defense spending bill would grant national park status to White Sands National Monument. Heinrich is confident of the eventual passing of the defense bill with the provision intact.

Heinrich linked the Bandelier legislation to an attempt by President Donald Trump in 2017 to reduce the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah by 85%, which would open the area up to oil, gas and mineral development. A national park designation would protect Bandelier from similar development, he said.

The national park would consist of about 29,656 acres, with 4,011 acres for the national preserve.

The bill seeks to protect in statute a relationship between the National Park Service and pueblos whose history and culture lies in Bandelier, the senator said. The bill would establish a tribal commission that would provide guidance for park management that reflects traditional and historical knowledge and values. In a historic precedent for a national park, traditional knowledge would be required by statute to be considered in land management planning. Additionally, the bill would permanently safeguard tribes’ religious rights and practices in Bandelier.

Santa Clara Pueblo Gov. Michael Chavarria said he was grateful for Heinrich’s efforts to protect the area.

“We continue to visit the landscape for traditional cultural and religious activities,” Chavarria said. He said pueblo people continue to visit Bandelier “as a place of worship.”

Heinrich called Bandelier “a living landscape” where pueblo people built their homes in the cliffs and planted crops on the mesa tops. He said his family has hiked and camped portions of Bandelier, describing most of it as backcountry wilderness. He said the northwestern part of Bandelier could be opened up to more outdoor recreation.

The senator said a national park designation could also lead to more tourism in the area and increased funding for Bandelier.