US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland last month took action described as intended to protect the area surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico from new oil and gas leasing and mining claims. Public Land Order No. 7923 withdrew lands within a 10-mile radius of the park—totaling more than 336,000 acres—from potential leasing for 20 years.
The move, cast as an effort to “better protect the sacred and historic sites and Tribal communities currently living in northwest New Mexico,” does not affect existing leases or production from existing wells. It also does not apply to minerals owned by private, state, or Tribal entities.
“Today marks an important step in fulfilling President Biden’s commitments to Indian Country by protecting Chaco Canyon, a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors have called this place home since time immemorial,” said Haaland.
Structures in the Chacoan landscape date back to 850-1250 AD, when the area was a social and religious center for the Chacoan peoples. In 2022, there were more than 41,000 visitors to the park. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) estimated the 10-mile radius would protect more than 4,700 additional known archeological sites.
The All-Pueblo Council of Governors, representing the 19 Pueblos in New Mexico, has consistently called for the withdrawal of federal lands in the Greater Chaco region. Since 2018, New Mexico’s congressional delegation has introduced legislation to permanently protect federal lands around Chaco Canyon. The state of New Mexico halted mineral leasing around Chaco Canyon in 2019.
Many nations
Native American reaction to the move, however, has not been uniform. Navajo Nation officials expressed concern that the plan effectively strands future leases on Navajo land in the area or on land held by individual Navajos. A study completed by Navajo Nation in 2022 advocated for a 5-mile buffer instead, a figure BLM noted would cut the number of newly protected sites to roughly 2,800.
By April 2023, however, as it became clear that BLM would adopt the larger radius, Navajo Nation formally rescinded its 5-mile proposal. After BLM’s decision was announced, Navajo Speaker Crystalyne Curley said that it “completely diminishes the economic feasibility of the mineral rights of allotment owners…The previous leadership of the Navajo Nation attempted to compromise…but our voices were not heard.”
When Haaland, who is a New Mexico native and member of the Laguna Pueblo, attempted to return to the Historical Park to commemorate the event the weekend after the BLM announcement, a group of protesting Navajo landowners blocked the road. Laguna Pueblo was an active supporter of the 10-mile radius.
BLM has not issued an oil and gas lease within the 10-mile buffer for about 10 years, and a moratorium on new mining claims has been in place since January 2022 while the agency undertook its assessment. It invited 24 Tribal Nations to conduct government-to-government consultations on the proposal and met with Navajo allotment holders several times in 2022-23.
The Biden administration continues to attempt to split the baby in terms of advancing an energy policy; approving some hydrocarbon projects, denying others (with differences between them that are often unclear), and generally attempting to placate everyone along the way. Lines that get drawn inconsistently justifiably lead to questions regarding the motivations of those who draw them.
The administration placed this action under the umbrella of what it calls “the most ambitious land and water conservation agenda in American history.” In taking it, however, they’ve substantially diminished the property rights of one group of US citizens in order to support the cultural legacy of another. It’s a bad look and an even worse way to govern.