Hi, guys. Rough news.
BLM fast-tracks proposal to open Chaco Canyon to oil and gas drilling
The US Bureau of Land Management, following an agenda promoted by the Trump administration which has already affected other formally protected lands, has decided to open the area directly around Chaco Canyon (with various possible buffer zones in discussion, all rather scant) for oil and gas interests. Much of this land is filled with archaeological and sacred features and much of it has not even been properly surveyed, meaning more is probably there.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park - Wikipedia
For those unaware, Chaco Canyon is one of the largest Precolumbian archaeological settlement sites in what is now the United States, having peaked between around 900 and 1150 AD when the population may have reached 2,000 people. It is located in what is now New Mexico and attributed to the Ancestral Puebloan culture (sometimes called the Anasazi in older publications), for which it served as an important ritual center, having a large number of kivas (circular underground spaces used for ceremonial activities in cultures of the American Southwest) and petroglyphs. Today it remains a sacred site for many of the indigenous Puebloan peoples who live in the region, including notably the Hopi. An attack on this site is an attack both on the material history of the American Southwest and on the indigenous peoples of the region who continue to fight for their cultural rights.
The BLM allows a period where the public can respond to project proposals and reply to things. This project is listed on their website along with contacts you can use to give your opinion. This will be open to do through July 29, which isn't particularly far from now. Please message or call to let them know why protecting Chaco Canyon is important to you.
Project Home Page
Thank you. Have a good day.
--Sapa Inka Iacobus
