Protecting Chaco matters to all New Mexico

Efforts by New Mexico’s congressional delegation to create a buffer zone around Chaco Canyon to protect the landmark are essential to safeguard this sacred place.

U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Deb Haaland and Ben Ray Luján have introduced legislation that would withdraw federal lands around Chaco Canyon from further mineral development by the federal government by creating a 10-mile buffer zone. That, in turn, would protect both the Chaco ruins and the greater landscape around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

If the act becomes law, there would be no future leasing or development of minerals owned by the U.S. government inside the zone — most of all, no more watching and waiting to see if the government would decide approve potentially damaging lease sales. Additionally, State Land Commissioner

Stephanie Garcia Richard will be instituting reforms of her own, ensuring that state trust lands inside the area are off-limits to future oil and gas exploration.

Taken together, these actions would mean the legacy of Chaco Canyon and the lessons this place still has for our generation would be safeguarded. As a World Heritage Site, the protection of Chaco Canyon matters to all people on the planet.

Locally, Chaco Canyon is a homeland for many tribal peoples in the Southwest; it is where they came from, the place where they still return. As Haaland said in a news release about the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act: “By introducing these protections we’re going beyond protecting a beautiful piece of New Mexico, we’re recognizing the significance Chaco holds for the Native American community and to all New Mexicans. By keeping Chaco from being destroyed by the fossil fuel industry, future generations will have access to this special place.” She is chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

There is knowledge to be gained from artifacts and structures still at Chaco; the sorts of disturbances that follow as drilling for oil and gas starts up could damage both the ruins and lead to the destruction of artifacts that will tell us more about the people who lived at Chaco — the center of a culture that spread through and dominated the Four Corners area during the ninth, 10th and 11th centuries.

This is not about opposing oil and gas development. This is about developing resources responsibly while protecting other treasures too precious to lose.

In recent years, the booming energy industry in the San Juan Basin has concerned area tribes — activity has moved ever closer to Chaco itself. Tribes and New Mexico’s senators, among others, had asked the federal government to stop the issuing of new oil and gas leases and permits until new protections could be adopted. That should be happening through the Bureau of Land Management’s land-use-planning process. However, the Trump administration had announced new leases would be issued — this legislation, if somehow passed through both the House and Senate and signed by the president, would protect Chaco Canyon without having to depend on the whims of an elected official.

Working with the Navajo Nation, the All Pueblo Council of Governors, the National Congress of American Indians and others, New Mexico’s representatives to Congress are doing their best to protect the past. This is important, necessary legislation to preserve our collective heritage for people yet to be born.