Protect Our Parks: Chaco Culture National Historical Park

I hadn’t been to Chaco Culture National Historical Park before this episode. I didn’t know enough about it. And then I got a flurry of social posts about drilling and mining threats and I knew immediately I needed to learn — and share.

What I learned stopped me cold. A 14-day comment period. Over 300,000 acres of sacred public land. A UNESCO World Heritage Site listed alongside the pyramids, the Taj Mahal, and Stonehenge. Dark skies that an entire civilization built their architecture and culture around — at risk of being lost to gas flaring and industrial light pollution.

This is one of those moments where showing up matters. Here’s everything you need to know and everything you can do.

What is Chaco Culture National Historical Park?

Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico protects some of the most significant cultural landscapes in the entire United States. Visitors can walk among massive stone great houses, dwellings, and kivas built over 1,000 years ago — structures that were among the largest buildings in what would become the United States until the 19th century.

These weren’t small settlements. For generations, Chaco was a thriving regional center for the ancestral Pueblo people, drawing people from as far as southern Mexico to trade, share knowledge, and celebrate. The structures were built by hand from fir and pine trees carried hundreds of miles. The scale and sophistication of what was built here was unparalleled in the region.

Chaco is also designated an International Dark Sky Park. The ancestral Puebloans were astronomers — they integrated the night sky into their architecture, their cultural practices, and their daily lives. The Milky Way visible from Chaco today is the same sky that helped design an entire civilization.

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Listed alongside the pyramids, the Taj Mahal, and Stonehenge for its undeniable value to all of humanity.

What is being proposed?

The Department of Interior has proposed revoking the 10-mile protection zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park — a buffer established to protect the greater cultural landscape surrounding the park from oil and gas development.

If the protection is revoked, more than 300,000 acres of public land would be opened to oil, gas, and mining. The sights, sounds, and smells of industrial drilling would puncture the historic views that connect visitors to thousands of years of human history. Gas flaring and industrial lighting would pollute the dark skies that were central to the civilization Chaco represents. Air pollution and erosion from roads and infrastructure would take a physical toll on the landscape itself.

The comment period — opened with only 14 days for public input — followed very little government-to-government consultation with the tribal nations whose ancestral heritage this land represents.

Why this doesn’t add up

90% of federal land around Chaco is already leased for oil and gas. 99% of federal land in the nearby Permian Basin is already leased. According to a Wilderness Society report, of the roughly 22 million public land acres already leased for oil and gas nationally, only half are actively producing.

The Bureau of Land Management estimates that only 14 wells would likely be developed if this protection is revoked. Fourteen wells. For over 300,000 acres of land sacred to tribal nations and protected through decades of advocacy, seven public meetings, and two public comment periods totaling 150 days.

The protection that’s being dismantled in 14 days took a year and a half to establish.

How to take action

Step 1 — Submit a comment (easiest and fastest)
(NOW CLOSED) Go to npca.org/chaco — NPCA has made this as simple as possible. Takes three minutes.

Step 2 — Write your own comment
Go to the official BLM project page → scroll to the bottom → click Participate Now. A personal comment carries more weight than a form letter. Say why this place matters to you.

Step 3 — Contact your representatives
Go to congress.gov/members/find-your-member → find your senators and representative → call or write. Ask them where they stand on the Chaco buffer zone.

Step 4 — Share this page
If you can’t comment, share. Every person who sees this and acts is a voice that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Copy this link and share it everywhere you can.

Listen to the episode

I talked about this in depth with Maude Dinan, New Mexico Program Manager with the National Parks Conservation Association. She walked me through exactly what Chaco is, what this proposal would actually do, and why the timeline is so troubling.

Listen to Episode 77 — Chaco Culture: The Fight for the Buffer Zone →

Who is fighting for Chaco Culture

National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)
America’s leading voice in protecting and enhancing the National Park System. Founded in 1919. Follow them for the latest updates on this and every parks issue.
npca.org · @NPCA

Read Maude’s article: Why Chaco Culture’s Buffer Matters →

The Wilderness Society
wilderness.org

NPS — Chaco Culture National Historical Park
nps.gov/chcu

UNESCO World Heritage
whc.unesco.org/en/list/353

Stay informed

This is one issue in a pattern of decisions happening across America’s public lands right now. I cover all of it on The Parks Podcast and in my Substack newsletter — park guides, news, advocacy updates, and everything worth knowing about the places that belong to all of us.

Subscribe to In the Parks on Substack →
Follow @TheParksPodcast →

See you in the parks. 🌲
— Missy

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