The Biden administration issued a 20-year ban on oil and gas drilling on Friday on federal lands around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a major announcement that comes after years of lobbying from local Native American tribes and conservationist groups.
The plan, announced Friday by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, bans all new drilling on public lands within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Canyon. It will not affect existing federal leases or drilling on private property.
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“Today marks an important step in fulfilling President Biden’s commitments to Indian Country, by protecting Chaco Canyon, a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the indigenous peoples whose ancestors have called this place home since time immemorial,” Haaland said in a statement. “I value and appreciate the many Tribal leaders, elected officials, and stakeholders who have persisted in their work to conserve this special area.”
Native American tribes have pushed for decades to protect land near Chaco Canyon, a 30,000-acre park in New Mexico and northern Arizona that is one of the nation’s oldest and most culturally significant ancestral sites.
The park was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, and contains structures dating back thousands of years to when it served as a social and religious center for the Chacoan peoples.
Pueblo tribes, which have led the push for the land protection, have argued that the archaeological footprint of the Chacoan people extends thousands of miles beyond the park and into the surrounding desert area.
Last year, more than 41,000 tourists visited the park, helping boost the local economy.
The moratorium fulfills President Joe Biden’s 2021 pledge to prevent drilling in the area, and comes after the Bureau of Land Management published notice of the proposed withdrawal in the Federal Register last January, opening it to a 120-day public comment period.
During that time, the department received more than 110,000 written and verbal comments, which officials said they took into consideration when drafting the plan, as well as consults with two dozen tribal groups.
The bureau said Friday that it considered several alternatives to the plan, including banning drilling on a smaller, 5-mile buffer zone for drilling around the park.
Ultimately, it opted for the 10-mile withdrawal, which it said provides the greatest protection for the more than 4,700 known archaeological sites located outside the park. A 5-mile buffer, in contrast, would have protected just 2,800 of the sites, the bureau noted.
“The exceptional landscape in the Greater Chaco region has profound cultural importance,” BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said Friday. “Today’s announcement marks an important step in ensuring Indigenous voices help inform the management of our public lands.”
Still, the decision has divided local tribes. Last month, the Navajo Nation rescinded its support for the drilling moratorium, saying in a letter to the administration that the move could cause its members to lose important lose income tied to the resources.
Oil and gas industry leaders have also opposed withdrawing the lands around the site for leasing.
The bureau estimated last year that protection of the lands could result in losses to the federal government of roughly $4.8 million per year in royalties and the loss of about 49 jobs.
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Friday’s announcement also highlights the administration’s commitment to securing more land protections for Native American tribes at a time when it has also come under sharp criticism by some environmentalists for its decision to include approval of the more than 300-mile Mountain Valley gas pipeline in its debt ceiling agreement.
It comes just months after Biden created a new national monument at Spirit Mountain, another sacred tribal site in Nevada, earlier this year. He also restored or expanded existing federal protections at the Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante sites in Utah.
