Federal efforts to revoke buffer zone around Chaco Canyon prompts delegation letter

Federal efforts to revoke buffer zone around Chaco Canyon prompts delegation letter

Peñasco Blanco at Chaco Culture National Historical Park in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. (Photo by Mary Cornatzer/Source NM)In a new letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, New Mexico’s congressional delegation chastised federal efforts to revoke a 10-mile buffer zone for oil and gas development around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. “Pursuing increased development on [Bureau of Land Management] lands within the ten-mile area that su…

Defending the 10-Mile Protection Zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park - Archaeology Southwest

Paul F. Reed, New Mexico Director and Preservation Archaeologist  (June 11, 2025)—Interior Secretary Burgum is considering reduction options for the 10-mile protection zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park—either revocation of the entire withdrawal or reduction in size or types of minerals ordered withdrawn, with an exemption for oil and gas. Looking north along Chaco’s Great North Road toward the site of Pierre’s. (Pierre’s is also…