The BLM Gave the Public 7 Days to Comment on Reopening 336,400 Acres Near Chaco Canyon to Drilling

7 Days to Comment on 20 Years of Protections

On March 31, 2026, the Bureau of Land Management opened a 7-day public scoping period for a proposal to revoke Public Land Order No. 7923. That order created a 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, protecting 336,400 acres from oil and gas leasing for 20 years.

Seven days. For a decision that affects a UNESCO World Heritage Site, sacred tribal lands, and a quarter-million acres of public land. The BLM is now weighing three options: keep the protections, revoke them entirely, or reduce the buffer to five miles.

What Is at Stake

The Chaco Canyon protection zone by the numbers

Metric	Figure
Protected acres (current)	336,400
Buffer radius (current)	10 miles
Proposed reduced buffer	5 miles
Public comment period	7 days
NM voters who oppose drilling near Chaco	71% (Colorado College poll)
Tribal nations with ancestral ties	20+ Pueblos and Navajo Nation
Year protections were enacted	2023

Who Opposes the Rollback

A Colorado College poll found 71 percent of New Mexico voters oppose energy development on public lands near Chaco Canyon. That includes majorities across party lines.

New Mexico’s congressional delegation issued a joint statement condemning the proposal. Santa Fe County Commissioners sent a formal letter to BLM defending the protections. Archaeology Southwest called it a decision that ignores Pueblos, tribes, and the public.

Multiple Pueblos in New Mexico have not received an offer to meet for government-to-government consultation, which federal law requires before actions affecting tribal lands.

The November 2025 Protests

In November 2025, Native American activists from Protect Dinétah staged a protest at the BLM’s Santa Fe office over announced oil and gas lease sales in the Greater Chaco landscape. The activists cited threats to sacred lands, endangered species, and water resources.

The Greater Chaco region sits atop the San Juan Basin, one of the most active oil and gas producing areas in the country. Existing wells already contaminate groundwater and air quality for Navajo communities living within the basin. Expanding drilling brings those harms closer to the cultural center of ancestral Puebloan civilization.

“Revoking Chaco Canyon protections ignores Pueblos, Tribes, and the public.”

— Archaeology Southwest, April 2026

The Consultation Failure

Federal law requires meaningful tribal consultation before actions that affect ancestral lands and sacred sites. BLM has not met that standard. The combination of a 7-day comment window and no consultation offers to multiple Pueblos suggests the agency is treating this as a procedural formality rather than a genuine decision-making process.

Native News Online issued an action alert calling on the public to flood BLM with comments opposing the revocation.

What This Fight Connects To

Chaco Canyon connects to the Environment and Public Lands hub. The same BLM leadership proposing this rollback is accelerating lease sales across the West, from Alaska’s Arctic Refuge to Utah’s Bears Ears. New Mexico is the most politically popular test case for opposition because voter support for protection crosses party lines here.

What You Can Do

Write your representatives through Resist Bot and demand BLM maintain the full 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco Canyon.
Submit a public comment to BLM if the comment period reopens or extends. Monitor Native News Online for action alerts.
Support Protect Dinétah and All Pueblo Council of Governors in their campaign for government-to-government consultation.
Check the New Mexico state page for local updates and related actions.