BLM Seeks to Open 336,000 Acres Near Chaco Park to Oil and Gas Drilling

Three hundred and thirty-six thousand acres surrounding one of North America's most significant archaeological landscapes could be opened to oil and gas development under a proposal that would strip away protections put in place just three years ago.

The Bureau of Land Management opened a seven-day public comment period on March 31 targeting Public Land Order 7923, the 2023 federal designation that placed the Greater Chaco landscape off limits to new leasing for 20 years. If the proposal advances, drilling operations could move to within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park's boundary, directly threatening viewsheds, night-sky quality, wildlife corridors, and the dense archaeological resources that earned Chaco Canyon its UNESCO recognition.

Ellen Montgomery, Great Outdoors Director for Environment New Mexico, put it plainly: "Chaco Cultural National Historical Park has incalculable ecological and historical value. It is too special to be exposed to oil and gas drilling." Maude Dinan of the National Parks Conservation Association leveled similarly sharp criticism, characterizing the proposal as an assault on cultural heritage and community health across the region.

The 2023 order wasn't handed down overnight. It emerged from a multi-year process that included substantial public input and was broadly seen as a landmark commitment to protecting the Greater Chaco landscape. Reversing it inside three years, through a comment window that closes within a week of opening, has drawn immediate pushback from conservation organizations, tribal partners, and civic advocates who are now racing to submit comments and push for extended consultation.

Chaco Canyon carries living cultural significance for Indigenous peoples across the Four Corners. The unbroken night skies above the canyon, the intact archaeological sites radiating outward from the park core, and the ecological connectivity of the surrounding shrublands are exactly what the 2023 protections were designed to defend. New leasing activity anywhere within the 336,425-acre footprint would put all of it in play.

Groups including NPCA and Environment New Mexico have framed the proposal as a straight trade: sacred vistas and community health for near-term industry access to an energy-rich basin. The compressed comment window gives the public almost no runway to weigh in on a decision that could reshape land use, cultural heritage management, and recreational access across the Four Corners for decades.