Preservation Archaeologist
(June 10, 2024)—On the one-year anniversary of the administrative withdrawal of Federal lands in the 10-mile zone around Chaco Canyon to protect its cultural resources from oil & gas drilling, I reflect on this hard-won victory. I am grateful to everyone who spoke up to #ProtectChaco and to @POTUS & @Interior for listening.
Together with our many Tribal, environmental, and preservation partners, we have pursed protection of the Greater Chaco Landscape for more than 10 years. The culmination of our effort was our film, “Protecting Chaco’s 10-Mile Zone,” produced with award-winning filmmaker David Wallace of David Wallace Visuals. The short film highlighted Puebloan and Diné cultural leaders voicing their support for protecting their ancestral lands—the amazing sacred sites and landscapes of Greater Chaco. This widely shared film won a regional Emmy award in 2023, underscoring the great need for and importance of cultural and landscape protection across the Greater Chaco Landscape.
As I look ahead, I see these next steps that must happen in order to protect the Greater Chaco Landscape:
- Pass a bill through the Congress and be signed into law by the President that creates permanent protection for the 10-mile zone.
- Encourage the Farmington Field Office of the BLM to restart the Resource Management Plan process and put in place the protections that the Greater Chaco Landscape needs.
I know we can count on your help and support to make those happen!
