John,

Expanded oil and gas drilling is once again threatening one of America's oldest national monuments.

Now a national historic park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, Chaco Canyon was first protected by Teddy Roosevelt in 1907, becoming one of our first national monuments.1 Now, after more than a century of protection, drilling could soon occur right on the doorstep of Chaco Canyon.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has taken the first steps toward nullifying a 2023 action that created a 10-mile no-drilling zone surrounding the park. This protected zone is supposed to remain in place for the next 20 years.2

Tell the BLM to maintain protections for Chaco Canyon.

If you travel outside the confines of Chaco Canyon and its threatened buffer zone, you'll find much of the surrounding area already heavily trampled and drilled, driving away wildlife and damaging flora.

Containing hundreds of bird species, pronghorn, rattlesnakes and bobcats, much of the wildlife that call the greater Chaco area home are concentrated in the safety of Chaco Canyon national historical park. It's one of the last sanctuaries in the area for desert animals seeking respite from drilling, roads and human interference.3,4

Untouched by light pollution, Chaco Canyon and the buffer zone surrounding it also constitute one of the last true night skies where you can witness the vast majesty of our universe in all its splendor.5

Opening the area to drilling would instead intrude on the dark sky with smog, headlights and oil flares, dimming a once pristine sight, and depriving us not only of beauty but our connection to the very cosmos.

Tell the New Mexico BLM to protect this beautiful and unique place.

From a single vista atop one of Chaco's towering mesas, you can glimpse ridges dotted with elk and willow awash in the red of the desert sun, contemplate the twilight of the ancestral puebloans and their impressive works, and end your day basking in the vastness of our universe beneath true night skies.

Chaco Canyon is also one of the most important and impressive archaeological sites in North America. Pueblo Bonito, one of the Pueblo people's impressive "Great Houses," was built in the canyon around 800 AD.6

This monolithic structure is believed to have been the largest building in North America until the invention of skyscrapers, rivaling other archaeological wonders like Machu Picchu and the Colosseum.7

Chaco Canyon deserves protection not just for its ecological, natural and recreational importance, but for its critical place in human history.

Help us protect one of America's greatest treasures. Urge the BLM to protect Chaco Canyon today.

Thank you,

The team at Environment America Research & Policy Center

1. Ellen Montgomery and Bergen Schmidt, "Why does Chaco Canyon need protection?," Environment America, June 2, 2023.
2. Hannah Grover, "What will Trump's actions mean for the Chaco buffer zone?," New Mexico Political Report, January 31, 2025.
3. "Nature and Science," National Park Service, February 5, 2024.
4. Ellen Montgomery and Bergen Schmidt, "Why does Chaco Canyon need protection?," Environment America, June 2, 2023.
5. "Chaco Night Sky Program," National Park Service, February 5, 2024.
6. "Chaco Canyon and the Antiquities Act," National Park Service, March 13, 2023.
7. Ellen Montgomery and Bergen Schmidt, "Why does Chaco Canyon need protection?," Environment America, June 2, 2023.